Keurig K-Elite Review: Is It Worth the Money?

The Keurig K-Elite is one of the more expensive single-serve coffee makers from Keurig, but it comes with some additional features that help improve the taste of your coffee and enhance the overall user experience. I’ve tested the K-Elite extensively over the past few weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a great option for people who want more convenience and better coffee quality compared to a basic Keurig, and don’t mind paying extra for those upgrades.

In this in-depth Keurig K-Elite review, I’ll provide my honest take on how this premium Keurig performs to help you decide if it’s the right pick for your kitchen.

Quick Keurig K-Elite Overview

The Keurig K-Elite is Keurig’s top-of-the-line single serve coffee maker. It brews coffee, tea, hot cocoa and more at the touch of a button with predictable, consistent results every time. The 75oz removable water reservoir allows you to brew multiple cups before having to refill, saving you time and trips to the sink.

I like the large color touch display screen, which makes programming brew settings incredibly easy. You can adjust brew temperature (which almost no other Keurig machine let’s you do!), strength, and size for each drink.

Also, the “Strong” brew setting actually makes a noticeable difference unlike other Keurigs I’ve used. The included iced coffee setting is fantastic — it brews a super concentrated shot for bold iced coffee that won’t get too watered down when you add ice.

My main complaints are that it’s very large and takes up a ton of counter space. And like all Keurigs, the coffee still doesn’t quite match the taste of what you’d get from a manual brewing method, in my opinion. But overall, if you want the convenience of K-cups and the best quality brew Keurig offers, the K-Elite is tough to beat.

Keurig K-Elite Pros and Cons

Keurig K-Elite In-Depth Review

Now that you have a general overview of the Keurig K-Elite’s highlights, let’s take a deeper look at how this premium single-serve coffee maker performs in a variety of categories. I’ll break down the specifics to help you determine if the K-Elite is worth the investment over a more basic Keurig model.

Appearance

One of my favorite things about the look of the K-Elite is that the water reservoir is hidden, giving it a much cleaner, integrated appearance than other Keurigs where the tank is front and center. I’m personally not a fan of the visible water reservoirs on a lot of Keurig machines — even though it’s convenient to see the water level at a glance, the look just seems cluttered to me. The reservoir is integrated beautifully on the K-Elite.

The all-black color scheme looks modern and matches most kitchen decors. The large color touchscreen really makes it feel high-tech.

At 9.9” wide, 13.1” tall and 12.7” deep, the K-Elite has a larger footprint than your average single-serve coffee maker. But in my opinion the sleek, sophisticated look and the oversized water reservoir are worth the extra counter space. If you have limited space though, you might want to opt for something like the Keurig K-Mini.

Related Article: Keurig K-Mini Review: Pros, Cons & Do I Recommend It in 2024

Ease of Use

The Keurig K-Elite couldn’t be much simpler to operate on a daily basis. The touch screen is intuitive and delivers clear instructions and options. It makes selecting your options incredibly intuitive.

I love that you can fully program the clock, auto-on, and auto-off settings. So, the machine can be ready to brew with the touch of a button when your alarm goes off in the morning.

The menu lets you adjust brew temp, strength, and size on an individual basis for each drink. Having this level of customizability for each cup is really nice and makes the K-Elite shine over a standard Keurig. It’s not quite the same as a manual brewing method like pour over, but it’s a shining example of what a single-serve coffee maker can provide in terms of customizability and convenience.

The water reservoir is easily removable for quick filling. And a separate strong brew setting for iced coffee eliminates the need to program a larger size manually and water down your drink.

Overall, the K-Elite couldn’t be much easier to use. The settings allow customizing each drink without complication. It’s ideal for someone who wants Keurig convenience but with additional options to personalize their coffee.

Coffee Quality

Settings and convenience don’t mean much, though, if the coffee is garbage. So, does the K-Elite brew good coffee?

I’ll be upfront and say I’m generally not a huge fan of Keurig coffee. In my experience, Keurig machines struggle to achieve the proper brewing temperature, saturation is usually poor, pre-ground coffee starts to go stale quickly after being packaged, and a brewing time under a minute, while convenient, is far from ideal for full-flavor coffee.

The K-Elite has features that help elevate two of the four issues I have with most standard Keurig machines.

First, you can adjust the brew temperature between 187°F and 192°F, giving you more control than almost any other Keurig. The ideal coffee brew temperature is between 195 and 205 degrees (F), so the max setting gets you at LEAST in the ballpark. Most Keurig machines top out around 185 degrees, which is well below ideal.

The Keurig K-Elite also uses Keurig MultiStream technology, which uses five needles instead of one to deliver water over the grounds inside the K-cup. This saturates the coffee grounds better for a more balanced extraction and fuller flavor.

While it’s still not at the level of a manual pour over with freshly ground beans, I found the coffee from the K-Elite to be stronger and have more flavor and body than most Keurig machines I’ve tried.

If convenience is important but you still want a quality cup, using your own grounds in a reusable filter pod can get you pretty close. That would provide a solution for three of the four issues I have with Keurigs.

Ultimately, the K-Elite gives you enough custom settings to optimize variables for a delicious cup. Just don’t expect quite the same complex flavor notes as manual brewing allows.

Brewing Options

The K-Elite allows you to brew coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and iced beverages in cup sizes ranging from 4 oz all the way up to 12 oz “travel mug” size in 2-ounce increments (4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 ounces).

The separate “Strong” brew mode makes a noticeably bolder cup of coffee. I find this option much more effective than the laughably named “strong” settings on lower-end Keurigs that I’ve tried, which usually just make the machine louder during brewing.

There is also a dedicated “iced” setting that brews a super concentrated shot for making iced coffee that won’t get watered down when ice is added. This is one of my favorite features and makes perfect iced coffee easy. For anyone else who like iced coffee at all times of year, this is the Keurig machine for you.

Between the brew size options and ability to adjust temperature and strength, you can customize each drink to your liking. No other Keurig machine I’ve used offers this level of personalization.

Counter Space and Footprint

With a 75oz removable reservoir, the Keurig K-Elite has one of the largest water capacities of any single-serve machine. This is great for convenience, allowing you to brew numerous cups before refilling. But that large tank naturally adds to the machine’s footprint.

At 9.9” x 13.1” x 12.7” (width x height x depth), the K-Elite takes up substantially more counter real estate than a standard pod brewer like the Keurig K-Slim. And with the pod chamber opened, that 13.1” height becomes 16.5” tall, so make sure you have enough room under your upper cabinets for the chamber to open with clearance, or you’ll be pulling your 8-pound machine out every time you want coffee.

I personally think the large reservoir is worth the extra footprint. But if space in your kitchen is at a premium, it’s something to keep in mind. Just know that you’ll be refilling the water more often if you opt for a smaller model.

K-Cup Compatibility

The Keurig K-Elite is a Keurig 2.0 model, which means it works with Keurig-branded K-Cups from companies other than Keurig, but does not work with older, unlicensed cups.

So, you shouldn’t have an issue using cups from Green Mountain, Peet’s, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and other popular third-party brands licensed for the 2.0 system. But it won’t brew unlicensed or store-brand K-cups.

If you want to use your own grounds in your Keurig (which I highly recommend for fresher, stronger coffee), the good news is the 2.0 brewers like the K-Elite work with reusable filter pods. You can fill these with your favorite beans freshly ground for each cup.

Price

The price of the Keurig K-Elite is usually around $189.99, though it can often be found for less. I recommend checking Amazon for current prices, as they tend to be quite a bit cheaper on there.

Among single-serve coffee makers, this puts the K-Elite on the higher end of the spectrum. A bare bones Keurig K-Slim retails for around $99, and the K-Mini will set you back just $70 or so, so you’re paying a large premium for the upgrades in the K-Elite.

Compared to a typical automatic drip machine, it is significantly more expensive. You can get a decent programmable drip brewer for around $100.

So there’s no question you are paying more for the convenience of K-cups with the K-Elite. But in my opinion, the ability to customize brew settings makes the upgrade worthwhile if convenience is important to you and you know you want a Keurig machine.

Quality and Durability

I was impressed with the sturdy feel and quality materials used in the K-Elite during my testing. The black plastic exterior feels thick and durable, while the drip tray assembly has solid metal accents. These are actually quite nice…a nice change from the cheap feel of lower-end Keurigs.

The internal components like the pump and heating element look robust, although I haven’t done specific testing on them. I’ve spoken to friends that have these machines, though, and they’re two years in with no issues.

Keurig states the expected lifespan of their brewers is 3-5 years with proper care and maintenance, although some users report getting nearly a decade of use before needing replacement parts. I doubt that’s the norm, but if there is a Keurig machine that lasts this long, I’d bet that it’s the K-Elite. It feels beefy.

For the price, I would expect reliable performance for 5+ years minimum. All signs point to the K-Elite being a quality machine that will hold up well over time.

Warranty

Keurig offers a 1-year limited warranty on the K-Elite. This protects against defects in materials or workmanship.

A 1-year warranty is about average for a small kitchen appliance in this price range. It’s not the strongest coverage — for example, Nespresso offers a 2-year warranty on its machines — but it should take care of any premature part failures or craftsmanship issues.

As with any warranty, make sure to register your Keurig right away and save your receipt. Contact Keurig directly if you experience issues within the first year.

Related Article: Difference Between Keurig and Nespresso: Which Is Right for You?

Water Reservoir

As mentioned earlier, the K-Elite has an extra large 75oz water reservoir. For comparison, the Keurig K-Classic holds 48oz and the Keurig K-Mini just 12oz. This is a monster reservoir.

So the removable tank on the K-Elite holds enough water to brew between 6 and 18 cups of coffee before needing a refill, depending on the size of the cup you’re brewing. This is extremely convenient for households with multiple coffee drinkers or someone who drinks several cups themselves.

I also like that the tank is completely removable for easy filling and cleaning. Just detach and refill at the sink.

The only downside to the large reservoir is it adds to the machine’s footprint. But constant refilling on a smaller model gets annoying quickly. For me, the convenience is well worth the counter space required if you have some to spare.

Wrapping Up: Who Is the K-Elite For?

The Keurig K-Elite is one of the most premium single-serve coffee experience Keurig offers. The ability to customize brew settings like temperature and strength means you can make consistently delicious coffee with minimal effort.

If convenience and quality are your top priorities, I think the investment in the K-Elite pays off over cheaper Keurig models. You’ll enjoy stronger, hotter coffee made exactly how you like it.

Just be prepared for the large machine size. And don’t expect quite the same complex flavor as a manual pour over with freshly ground beans. Within the limitations of Keurig machines, the K-Elite delivers one of the best brews you can get, in my opinion.

If counter space in your kitchen is too tight, or you’re looking for an affordable option, a more basic Keurig will get the job done. But serious coffee lovers who value convenience and some customizability will appreciate everything the K-Elite brings to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the K-Elite make audible noises when brewing?

The K-Elite brews at a reasonable volume, but note that it is not silent. You’ll hear some noise from the internal pump and brewing process. It brews at lower decibel levels than some older Keurig models and isn’t overly intrusive, so it shouldn’t wake up sleeping family members in the next room. Just don’t expect a completely noiseless experience.

Can the K-Elite be used to brew hot water for tea, ramen noodles, etc?

Yes, the K-Elite has a “hot water” function separate from the coffee setting which dispenses plain hot water on demand for oatmeal, tea, hot chocolate, and more. Just choose the hot water option and the desired ounce amount using the touchscreen. Just keep in mind that you will need to wait for the machine to pre-heat before it dispenses hot water.

Does the K-Elite require special filters or descaling solution?

The K-Elite does not require any filters or addons, and it’s ready to use out of the box. Keurig recommends descaling your machine about every 3 to 6 months to keep it running smoothly, which you can do with a store bought descaler or vinegar and water. Use Keurig branded descaling solution or a generic citric acid-based descaler for the best results. Follow the instructions in the manual for the descaling process when needed.

What kind of warranty is offered on the Keurig K-Elite?

Keurig provides a one year limited warranty on the K-Elite. This covers defects in materials or craftsmanship for one year from the date of purchase, and it’s in line with the warranty you’d get with other Keurig machines. Register your warranty with Keurig and hold onto your receipt in case you need to make a claim within the first year.