SMEG 50’s Retro Style Drip Coffee Maker

3.6

(5)

Verdict

A stylish retro drip maker that brews a decent pot and is easy to program, but its mostly plastic build, awkward water tank design, short 60 minute keep warm and high price make it best for design lovers rather than buyers focused on convenience or value.

Pros

Filter 4.6 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4 reviews 4.6

It includes a reusable mesh cone filter with a handy handle that can be emptied straight into the compost and rinsed under the tap, but also accepts number 4 paper filters for a cleaner cup, and the conical basket handles one to four cup brews effectively with little sediment reaching the carafe when used correctly.
Capsules, pods & consumables 4.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1 review 4.5
Environmental packaging sustainability 4.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1 review 4.5

Reviewers note that the Smeg drip coffee maker arrives in neat cardboard packaging with no plastic inside the box, reinforcing its low waste, eco conscious presentation.
Popularity 4.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1 review 4.5

Highly visible on Instagram, in design blogs and in best retro coffee maker guides, this brewer is often praised as one of the most eye-catching retro drip machines, with popularity driven much more by its aesthetics and brand cachet than by specialty coffee performance credentials.
Assembly & Setup 4.3 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2 reviews 4.3
Capacity 4.0 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 reviews 4.0

The roughly 10 cup 1.4 liter carafe suits most households and translates to about four large mugs, and options to brew smaller batches with the 4 cup button add some flexibility and adjust flow for better extraction, but preset choices are limited if you regularly want only one or three mugs and the modest carafe still feels mismatched to the large, showy machine body.
Design, ergonomics & footprint 4.0 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 reviews 4.0
Brewing performance & consistency 3.7 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 3 reviews 3.7

Brews smooth, consistent drip coffee from 2 to 10 cups, and the 4 cup mode plus aroma or intensity settings help dial in strength, with the intense option producing a noticeably bolder, fuller cup, but even with freshly ground specialty beans the overall flavor still tastes fairly standard and lacks the nuance or clarity of higher end SCA-style specialty brewers.
Cup, tray & carafe handling 3.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2 reviews 3.5
Speed & time-to-cup 3.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1 review 3.5

Cons

Build quality & durability 3.2 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 3 reviews 3.2
Overall user experience 3.1 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4 reviews 3.1

Simple front buttons, a clear LED display and intuitive controls make programming and daily brewing straightforward, and options like aroma strength, 1–4 cup mode, water hardness setting, a silent mode and a pause-and-serve carafe add flexibility, but awkward water tank filling, a hand-wash-only carafe, frequent cleaning alerts and a relatively short, inflexible keep warm cycle mean the overall experience can still feel less convenient than other drip machines at this price.
Water system, maintenance & descaling 2.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4 reviews 2.9
Pot function 2.8 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 reviews 2.8

The programmable timer reliably has a pot ready when you wake up and the warming plate keeps coffee warm for roughly 40 minutes, which some see as an acceptable compromise for drip coffee, but many users still find the pot only moderately hot after a short time, note that the keep warm function does not run when you brew less than a full or 4 cup carafe, and often decant into another vessel or reheat in the microwave while wishing Smeg offered a true thermal carafe.
Value & Price 2.8 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 reviews 2.8
Design flaws 2.0 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1 review 2.0

Reviewers highlight several design quirks, including an oversized, very wide footprint, a tall dome lid that often needs to be pulled out from under cabinets, an awkwardly narrow water tank opening that clashes with the carafe shape and a half pot button that feels redundant when you can already control batch size by how much water you add.