BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Vortex Brewing

BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Vortex Brewing

By BLACK+DECKER · Coffee Makers · Kitchen & Cooking

  • 12-cup drip carafe
  • Vortex brewing technology

Lowest price seen
$37.99
from $37.99 at Spectrum Brands (BLACK+DECKER appliances D2C) · Checked Sep 28, 2026

Prices are snapshots. Check the current price with the store.

Problems, parts and running costs

Summary

A budget 12-cup digital drip coffeemaker with 24-hour auto brew, a Sneak-A-Cup pause and a 2-year warranty. Check the spec sheet before you buy: the published dimensions look wrong, there is no brew-strength control, and no one has measured the brew temperature.

Strengths

  • 24-hour auto brew programming with a clear digital screen.
  • Sneak-A-Cup lets you pour a cup mid-brew.
  • Basket and carafe are dishwasher safe on the top rack.
  • A 2-year limited warranty, stated consistently across sources.
  • A 2-hour auto shutoff and a front water window.
  • The manual documents a simple monthly vinegar clean.

Weaknesses

  • No brew-strength selector and no small-batch setting.
  • Owner reports of hot-plate corrosion and condensation around the lid and display.
  • Noise is the largest owner complaint cluster.
  • The carafe handle feels weak when the carafe is full.
  • No instrumented test of the exact model, and the published dimensions look implausible.
  • Repairability is limited to the wet-path parts.

Verified specifications

ModelCM1160B (official suffix CM1160B-1); GTIN 50875816671.
Electrical120 V, 60 Hz and 975 W.
Type12-cup digital drip coffeemaker; one cup is about 5 oz.
Carafe12-cup Duralife glass with measurement markings and an easy-grip handle.
ProgrammingQuickTouch with 24-hour auto brew and an easy-read screen for clock and brew time.
Sneak-A-Cuppauses flow mid-brew; the carafe must return within 30 seconds or the basket overflows.
Auto shutoff2 hours.
Keep-hot platenonstick; the keep-warm duration is stated inconsistently.
Water windowfront-facing easy-view.
Brew basketremovable and washable.
Dimensionspublished as 11.0 in high, 8.3 in long and 12.3 in wide.
Weight4.5 lb.
Warranty2-year limited.
In the boxcoffeemaker, one filter and one carafe.
Manufacturer of recordSpectrum.
Full research notes and sources

Brewing and features

The machine brews about 12 five-ounce cups through a showerhead into a removable washable basket, controlled from a digital panel with large rubberized buttons that show the clock and brew time. The useful features are the QuickTouch programming with 24-hour auto brew, the Sneak-A-Cup pause that stops flow so you can pour early, the 2-hour auto shutoff and the front water window that shows how much water will become coffee. Note the Sneak-A-Cup rule: the carafe must go back on the plate within 30 seconds or the brew basket overflows.

What the machine does not have matters as much. There is no brew-strength selector and no small-batch setting; those belong to other BLACK+DECKER models in the same 12-cup family, which is a common source of confusion when comparing listings. The keep-hot plate is nonstick but plated rather than insulated, so a full pot is kept warm on residual plate heat, not for hours. The manufacturer page carries a stray note about espresso tamping, grind size and yield that does not belong to this drip model and should be ignored.

Owner reports

Owner evidence for the exact model points in two directions. Retailer review text praises ease of use, coffee quality, simple cleaning and the programmable timer, and individual owners report the machine still working after two and seven years. The same pages and a third-party aggregation concentrate the complaints on a few physical issues: corrosion on the hot plate, condensation dripping around the lid and display, and noticeable noise. Two verified owners separately mention that retained water under the top lid spills out the back when it is opened after brewing, and that steam escapes from the top. One two-year owner reports a part breaking off the filter basket, and a troubleshooting thread has an owner whose unit would not accept a clock time past the 2-minute mark. None of that is quantified, and the troubleshooting advice in circulation is mostly to descale it, which points back to the manual’s monthly-vinegar instruction.

Maintenance and parts

Maintenance is documented and simple: the basket and carafe go in the dishwasher top rack or get hand-washed, the body is wiped with a damp cloth, and a full vinegar clean is recommended about once a month because hard water clogs the system. The manual’s cleaning sequence uses vinegar to the 6-cup mark, cold water to the 12-cup mark, a brew partway, a soak of at least 15 minutes, then a full water cycle to flush.

Repairability is modest. The manual identifies the brew basket, brew-thru lid and carafe as removable and part-numbered items, and no broader service-parts channel for pumps, valves or control boards was found. Note that the manual supplied with the CM1160B numbers its parts in the CM1100B series, so verify fitment before ordering spares.

Which model this is

This page covers the BLACK+DECKER CM1160B 12-cup programmable coffeemaker in black, with a white sibling, the CM1160W, that shares the same manual. Do not merge it with the other BLACK+DECKER 12-cup machines that carry Vortex branding or a different feature set, including the DCM100B. The US Amazon listing for this model is ASIN B01GJOMWVA. The “Vortex Brewing” wording in marketplace titles is not a feature BLACK+DECKER claims for this model on either official page.

Sources

Manufacturer:

Independent reviews:

Owner reports:

Buying guides for this category

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