Keurig K-Duo Plus Review (2023) - The Most Versatile Keurig?

Summary

Overall Rating

83%

Design & Build Quality

83%

Features & Ease of Use

82%

Coffee Drink Quality

75%

Cleaning & Maintenance

87%

Value for Money

87%

The Bottom Line

The Keurig K-Duo Plus is one of the most versatile Keurig machines thanks to its ability to prepare single-serve K-Cup coffee and drip coffee carafes. It’s a very compact machine with a multi-position water tank to ensure it fits anywhere. However, there is a tradeoff between coffee customization features and the dual functionality of this coffee maker.

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The Keurig K-Duo Plus is a great Keurig carafe coffee maker for those who are looking for a convenient way to prepare single-serve coffee or drip coffee carafes.

To keep the price reasonable, it seems like Keurig traded off more coffee brewing options for the dual functionality of this coffee maker.

However, if drip coffee is indispensable in your life, then the K-Duo Plus offers great value. It’s super compact and even comes with a stainless steel thermal carafe.

Check this Keurig K-Duo Plus review to find out whether this is the right coffee machine for you!

Specifications

• Model: Keurig K-Duo Plus
  
  
• Type: Single Serve & Carafe Brewing
  
  
• Display: Yes - monochrome
  
  
• Colors: Black
  
  
• Dimensions: 14.19” H x 8.2” W x 11.7” D (water tank on the side) or 14.19” H x 7.68” W x 15.88” D (water tank in the rear)
  
  
• Weight: 10.97 lb plus 1.78 lbs carafe
  
  
• Cord Length: 39”
  
  
• Power Rating: 1,500 watts
  
  
• Warranty: 1 year

Key Features

• Single Serve Cup Sizes: 4 sizes (6, 8, 10, and 12 oz)
  
  
• Lattes & Cappuccinos: No
  
  
• Drip Coffee Sizes: 4 sizes (6, 8, 10, and 12 cups)
  
  
• Temperature Control: No
  
  
• Strength Control: Yes - 2 levels (normal and strong)
  
  
• Iced Setting: No
  
  
• Fits Travel Mug: Yes - up to 8” tall
  
  
• Milk Frothing: No
  
  
• Carafe Type & Heating Plate: Stainless steel thermal carafe; no heating plate.
  
  
• Water Tank Capacity: Removable 60 oz water tank
  
  
• Multi-Position Water Tank: Yes - right, back, or left
  
  
• Auto On: No
  
  
• Energy Saving Auto Off: Yes
  
  
• Programmable: Yes
  
  
• Pause & Pour: Yes
  
  
• High Altitude Setting: Yes 
  
  
• MultiStream Technology: No
  
  
• BrewID Technology: No
  
  
• Wireless Connectivity: No
  
  
• Automatic Ejection of used Pods: No

Keurig K-Duo Plus Review

Design and Build Quality

The Keurig K-Duo Plus is a compact coffee maker made of black plastic with some silver finishes. It has a round design, which matches well with the stainless steel thermal carafe.

With a width ranging from 7.68 inches to 8.2 inches and 14.19” of height, the Keurig K-Duo Plus will help you save precious counter space.

If you noticed the range in width, that’s because of its multi-position 60-oz water tank, which can be placed on the right, left, or rear sides of the coffee machine.

The User Interface consists of the typical Keurig button configuration - with a large K button for brewing, surrounded by other buttons for cup size and or mode selection. It features a small monochrome screen that mainly shows the time.

The K-Duo Plus is compatible with travel mugs, with a maximum vertical clearance of 8 inches if you remove the drip tray.

One of the highlights of the design is the dual functionality of this coffee maker. It can make multiple brew sizes of drip coffee carafes and single-serve K cup coffee pods. It’s quite impressive how Keurig managed these two systems into such a small machine, so kudos for that!

This coffee maker comes with a stainless steel thermal carafe, which is great because it keeps your coffee warm for up to 2 hours.

It also comes with a gold-tone mesh reusable filter, which is great as it’s more environmentally friendly than paper filters.

The only con is that the build quality leaves a bit to be desired. As we noted, the machine is made entirely of plastic (minus the carafe) and some of the panels don’t fit too well, making it look a bit cheap.

In short, the K-Duo Plus has a great design due to its compactness despite featuring a drip coffee system and a single-serve pod system. The thermal stainless steel carafe is a great addition. The build quality is not so great, but at this price point, we don’t penalize it too much.

Features and Ease of Use

Like most Keurig coffee machines, the K-Duo Plus is very intuitive to use. You should read the manual, but the button layout and labeling are self-explanatory.

Do you want to make pod coffee? Then simply press the button with the pod icon, press the button corresponding to the cup size you want, and press the K button to brew. Easy peasy.

The main feature of the K-Duo Plus is its ability to brew single-serve K-Cup coffee or drip coffee carafes.

Besides this, the K-Duo Plus does not have as many features as other Keurig coffee makers of a similar price range (I’m looking at you, K-Supreme Plus SMART). But it does provide some essential features such as:

• 4 cup sizes (6, 8, 10, and 12 oz) as well as 4 carafe brew volumes (6, 8, 10, and 12 cups).
  
  
• A Strong Brew feature if you like your coffee stronger
  
  
• Pause & Pour if you’re too impatient to wait for the brewing cycle to end.
  
  
• Some programmability such as programmable carafe auto-brew.
  
  
• Smart start so you don’t have to wait for the K-Duo Plus to heat up before pressing the brew button.
  
  
• Auto-Off function - this brewer turns off after 5 minutes of inactivity.
  
  
• High altitude setting

Given that the Keurig K-Duo Plus sells at a similar price range to the K-Supreme Plus SMART we wonder if it would have been worth adding a few more features such as temperature control or more coffee intensity settings.

The K-Duo also lacks Keurig’s MultiStream technology for a better cup of coffee (more on this below).

In short, the Keurig K-Duo Plus is a very easy-to-use and versatile coffee maker. Its main feature is its ability to brew drip coffee carafes or single-serve K-Cup coffee. It has a good range of cup sizes, and useful settings such as Strong Brew and Pause & Pour, plus some automation. However, it lacks control temperature as well as more strength settings.

RELATED: The Best Dual Coffee Maker + Other Favorites!

Coffee Drink Quality

This section might be a bit controversial as we’ve given the K-Duo Plus relatively high marks even if the K-Duo Plus lacks the MultiStream Technology. 

The main reason is its ability to brew drip coffee. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities since you could purchase better quality ground coffee; or even better, high-end coffee beans so that you can grind them just before brewing them with this coffee maker.

So the K-Duo Plus has the potential to brew better coffee than other Keurig machines that only use K-Cup pods, and it has a nice stainless steel thermal carafe to keep your coffee hot and fresh for up to two hours.

As you know, fresh coffee beans and a consistent grind are essential for great-tasting coffee. So if you have the tools, you can control these parameters; with K-Cups, you cannot.

Yes, you could purchase re-usable K-Cup pods and fill them with fresh ground coffee, but this process requires a bit more effort and tends to be messier, and thus you’re less likely to use it. In addition, the coffee quality also depends on the specific reusable K-Cup you purchased.

So right out of the box, the K-Duo Plus has an advantage over other Keurig models when it comes to making better coffee.

Unfortunately, the K-Duo does not allow you to control the water temperature and only has two coffee strength settings. So you cannot configure your coffee’s taste as much as other models.

The K-Duo Plus lacks temperature control and only comes with one brew strength setting. It also does not feature Keurig’s MultiStream Technology for a better brew. However, it makes up for it since it’s also a drip coffee maker, allowing you to use fresh whole coffee beans (if you have a grinder).

Cleaning & Maintenance

Compared to other Keurig coffee makers, you’ll need to spend a bit more time cleaning and maintaining the K-Duo Plus. This is because of its dual functionality between single serve K-Cup or carafe drip coffee.

If you prepared the latter, after every use you should remove the filter basket drawer, the filter basket, and gold tone mesh filter and thoroughly rinse and dry them. Then after you drink your coffee, you need to clean the carafe and its lid.

If you made yourself a single-serve K-Cup coffee, then the cleaning process is a bit shorter. All you need to do is remove and clean the K-Cup Pod Holder. Be careful to not puncture your hands with the needles though!

Note that none of the parts are dishwasher safe.

You should also regularly empty and rinse the water reservoir and drip tray and clean the exit and entrance needles by inserting a paper clip.

This Keurig carafe coffee maker also has cleansing functions for both the single-cup and carafe drip-coffee internal components.

Less occasionally, you will have to descale your Keurig K-Duo Plus. Keurig recommends using their descaling solution, but in a pinch, you can descale your Keurig using other methods.

In short, the Keurig K-Duo Plus is a very easy-to-clean coffee maker. It does require a bit more time on your part compared to other single-serve Keurigs if you made a carafe of drip coffee. However, this coffee machine allows you to easily disassemble the components needing cleaning and includes cleansing and descaling options.

Value for Money

The Keurig K-Duo Plus is one of the most expensive Keurig coffee makers at around $229 (at the time of writing). It does go on sale from time to time, so check back often. Otherwise, you can purchase it from Keurig for about $115 if you get the Starter Kit which requires a 16-box requirement, totaling about $320 (16 boxes x around $20 per box).

So, does the Keurig K-Duo Plus offer good value for money? Yes, if you buy coffee from coffee shops and like drip coffee.

A bit of math will reveal you can easily spend over $1,000 per year if you buy one cup of coffee per day. In comparison, this coffee maker will cost $229 (without discount) to purchase, and about $300 to operate (each K-Cup costs about $0.80).

So within a single year, you will see significant savings by getting this coffee maker, if you’re one who buys coffee every day.

Now, you could save even more by getting other Keurig coffee makers that are cheaper. So this coffee maker’s ability to make a drip coffee carafe should be an essential feature for you.

Otherwise, if you’re a single-serve person, then look at other Keurigs machines such as the K-Supreme Plus SMART for more features at a similar price. Or if you like milky coffee drinks, another option could be the K-Café.

We deem the K-Duo Plus a better value option than the K-Duo. The former is more compact and includes a stainless steel thermal carafe. The K-Duo includes a glass carafe and a warming plate, which is not so great.

It’s worth noting that if you’re only going to use the K-Duo for its drip coffee capabilities, it would be worth checking out other drip coffee makers as they can brew better coffee.

In short, the Keurig K-Duo Plus offers great value if you purchase coffee from coffee shops, and drip coffee carafes are essential for you. However, if you’re looking for single-serve coffee only, look for other options. Other Keurig coffee makers offer more customization options for a lower price.

Our Verdict

What Should I Get - A Keurig, Ninja, or a Nespresso Machine?

Both Keurig and Nespresso offer great options to conveniently make single-serve coffee. So which one is good for you? It depends on your preferences.

• If you like espresso coffee or specialty coffee drinks, then get a Nespresso machine. The best Nespresso machine, in this case, would be one from the OriginalLine. If you like specialty coffee make sure you also check our recommended automatic espresso machines since Nespresso machines can cost as much!
  
  
• If you like to have espresso coffee and drip coffee (or have many opinions at home), then again, a Nespresso machine would be best. However, this time look for VertuoLine ones. 
  
  
• If you like to conveniently make regular coffee, then the best option is Keurig coffee makers.
  
  
• If you want convenience but don’t want to deal with pods or capsules, we recommend you check out our best ninja coffee machines post!

Frequently Asked Questions