Buying a new coffee maker (they used to call them coffee pots) was a simple matter many years ago. You simply went to the local hardware store, told them you wanted a new coffee pot, and they showed you the 2 or 3 choices that were available. There was a drip pot and a percolator pot (large or small). They were serving espresso and cappuccino in Italy, but I had certainly never heard of it when I was a child, and I'm sure that my parents or my grandparents wouldn't have had a clue what either was.

Oh, and there was nothing automatic about making coffee or the coffee pot except for the schedule. Coffee was made first thing in the morning and again about mid-afternoon and Mama made both pots by boiling the water and pouring it into the top of the coffee pot.

Today buying a coffee MAKER is a little harder. First, you need to know what size coffee maker that will best suit your needs. You can buy them from a small 4-cup size to a large 12-cup size, and there are choices in between those extremes. You also must decide just how many features that you want your new coffee maker to have. There are simple coffee makers that have just an on/off switch, and then there are coffeemakers that have a lot of buttons, switches, dials, and options. They can launch spacecraft from NASA with fewer controls.

You will need to know whether you want an automatic drip coffee maker, an automatic percolator, or a cappuccino machine as well. There are a LOT of other choices in coffee makers. Do you want a free-standing automatic coffee maker or an under-the-counter style? Decisions, decisions!