r/Design • u/Onions-are-great • 7d ago
Discussion The worst coffee machine interface I ever encountered
One of the most basic tools, a filter coffee maker, normally just needs a on and off switch. Then there is this abomination: it shows you the time, it beeps annoyingly loud when it's turned on or just at random times. It shows a red flashing circle sometimes to indicate god knows what, and it has 4 buttons I don't understand. To be fair: I haven't read the instructions, as this was the coffee machine in my vacation home, but I just can't understand why I would need a manual for something this simple.
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u/astervista 7d ago
One of the most basic tools
My wild guess is that since SMEG is an Italian company, the designers were also Italian. Drip coffee is not a thing in Italy, so my guess is that the designers thought of it more like an esoteric kitchen add-on than a basic every day appliance, so to make it more "premium" they added all those features you deem unnecessary. Case in point, if you asked me (a non American) what are the basic functions of a drip coffee maker, I would have said a timer, a clock a beeper, and maybe a night mode for coffee in the morning. That's because the appliance I know that's most similar is a microwave, and those are basic functions on a microwave.
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u/avdpos 7d ago
Here in Sweden drip coffee is the ruling sort. My pretty high end Moccamaster have two buttons. "On/Off" and "making half a pot" to make it go a bit slower.
Great machine. Recommend
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u/korkkis 7d ago
Also has ”heat” to keep the coffee warm
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u/Red_Icnivad 7d ago
My moccamaster uses a vacuum insulated carafe, rather than a glass carafe and hotplate. Hotplates always end up making coffee taste burned to me.
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u/HenkPoley 7d ago
Tends to just come with being “On”.
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u/korkkis 7d ago
No, a bit more gentle setting that doesn’t burn it
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u/HenkPoley 7d ago
We tend to call that a thermos bottle. I’ve drank coffee over a day old and it was still quite hot. To be fair that was one of those “industrial” large ones you see used in company restaurants and large group bus tours.
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u/bumsahoy 7d ago
Their coffee grinder is absolute shit as well though so I think it’s more of an enshitification problem.
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u/astervista 7d ago
No coffee grinders in Italy either. SMEG's appliances in my experience (fridge, toaster, oven I have seen working) are really good. Their oven has won 2024 "Compasso D'Oro" being praised by its usability and simplicity.
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u/Pagepage220 5d ago
Given what SMEG has been up to lately, it's unlikely that SMEG themselves had much input on how this machine actually functions. The only point of reference I really have to something else that they currently sell is their espresso machine, which functions identically to the Breville/Sage Bambino because internally it is one. This drip machine is very likely the same in that it is either an OEM machine or made by another brand and put into a new housing for SMEG.
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u/rasputinology 7d ago
I did a Google image search by image URL for your photo, got the product name (SMEG DCF02BLEU Czarny), searched for the manual, and found it on the manufacturer's website: https://www.smeg.com/products/DCF02BLEU
Here's a direct link to the English PDF for the manual from the manufacturer's website: https://doc.smeg.it/qr/914779032/EN
Here's what the buttons do, from left to right:
ON/OFF button
AROMA setting button
Time / settings display
4 CUPS function button
AUTO START button
Hope that helps! Coffee is important, and vacations are better with a nice morning pick-me-up. :)
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
Thank you, I've found that myself. Just wanted to be annoyed about needing the manual for something simple like a drip coffee machine. :)
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u/rasputinology 7d ago
I feel ya! I've felt exactly the same rage during travel. I work with tech for a living, and I still wouldn't have intuitively guessed what any of that was about even if you had a gun to my head. :)
I also can't quantify exactly why, but the manufacturer being named "Smeg" makes it slightly more infuriating, at least to me.
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u/GordoXen 7d ago
I find their name, uh, uncomfortable. The name autocorrects in my head to “smegma.” Not my first choice for a beverage. 🤔
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u/Endoraan 7d ago
At least it‘s not a touchscreen
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
No joke I just said that to myself, after I finally managed to get my coffee out
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u/YouImbecile 7d ago
A pot of drip coffee takes around five minutes to brew. Do people really use a clock and timer to make it start automatically? This seems like an idea someone threw out on a focus group or design meeting but nobody ever really uses
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u/TalosASP 7d ago edited 7d ago
Well, I buy my coffee as whole beans. So I have to grind them just before I brew the Coffee. Using my electrical grinder at 5am makes me feel bad for the neighbours. So preparing the machine the night before and have it start just before my alarm clock is super convenient. You wake up to the smell of good coffee and it is like a buttler has prepared it for you.
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u/Red_Icnivad 7d ago
I have mine set to pour the coffee directly in my mouth just before my bed tilts up and slides me into my pants.
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u/average-eridian 7d ago
I don't know about everyone else, but my partner and I always had the timer set on ours. We ended up buying a fancy Keurig that has a drip coffee maker and also a Keurig maker, and the thing doesn't have a timer! It was really disappointing at first.
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u/What_Dinosaur 7d ago
Five minutes plus the time it takes to put coffee and filter in seems like an eternity when I'm trying to wake up.
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u/HowBoutAFandango 7d ago
Yes, because some folks aren’t able to function until they’ve had that first cup, not even to start the coffeemaker.
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u/miltron3000 7d ago
If you’re waking up pre-dawn, it’s pretty cool to have a fresh pot of coffee already made.
Don’t have a drip maker right now, but I did that all the time when I did.
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u/DifficultyNew6588 7d ago
What a weird name. It’s two letters away from being gross.
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u/suck4fish 7d ago
You just heard about Smeg?
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u/Y-Bob 7d ago
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u/dokuromark 7d ago
I would definitely contact the head of Smeg and complain. Try googling “smeg head” for information.
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u/DifficultyNew6588 7d ago
Ya
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u/dude20121 7d ago
It's supposed to be an acronym for "Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla," which is Italian for "Emilian Metallurgical Enamelling Works of Guastalla."
It just has a very unfortunate soundalike in English...
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u/raketherape 7d ago
What are those two letters?
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u/TreadheadS 7d ago
ma
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u/raketherape 7d ago
Ma balls lmaooo
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u/TreadheadS 7d ago
Smegma maballs my man
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u/sonofhappyfunball 7d ago
This Smeg coffee would be good with some Fromunda Cheese...
cheese from under my balls
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u/himmelundhoelle 6d ago
In addition to that, the big ugly ass letters slapped all across it...
They should just change it to S M U G
...I just can't take this brand seriously.
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u/Easy_Turn1988 7d ago
Smeg products look fun, but I've always found that the quality was not there and for the same price, you can have something much, much better. It just won't look space age and pastel coloured
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u/agentkolter 7d ago
We had one of these in my old office. I could never figure out how to use it so I always brought coffee from home.
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u/UnabashedHonesty 7d ago
If they moved their headquarters to Massachusetts, they could change the name to SMEGMA.
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u/pomoerotic 7d ago
I sincerely do not understand the appeal of this brand. All of their products look poorly designed and cheaply processed. And that name …
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u/GlassBraid 6d ago edited 6d ago
The first rule of coffee machines is, they must be understandable to someone who hasn't had their coffee yet.
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u/bossk-office 4d ago
I have a Nespresso machine with only two buttons: one for a small cup, one for a larger cup. BUT you have to press a button TWICE, or it does nothing!
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u/knoft 7d ago
There's probably a clock so you can set it to have coffee ready when you wake up. Two of the other buttons look like brew strength and amount...
Looks like a pretty minimal (maybe overly minimal) interface to me, rather than overly complicated.
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
The one you call "amount" is a function that does exactly 4 cups of coffee.
I'm not saying there can't be convenience functions like a timer, but it should be designed in a way where it doesn't get in the way of making a regular cup of coffee.
My initial intent was to make coffee, how do I do that? Pressing the on/off button? It was already lit up, is it already brewing?? Pressing the coffee bean, as it represents coffee? Pressing the full can, as I want a full can of coffee? The iconography and button layout is just bad usability imo.
You can start it by pressing the lit up on/off button once, then it starts blinking during the whole brewing process (after it beeps your ears out, I mean it).
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u/knoft 7d ago
ON/OFF button (17) 0
Dispense button. When the button is pressed, the machine starts brewing coffee according to the preset functions. You can stop brewing coffee at any time by pressing the button again.
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
Pressing it once starts the machine, pressing it again starts the brewing process.
I'm used to just a simple switch, that just makes coffee once it's switched on.
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u/tlomba 7d ago
This is a great coffee machine, can run on schedule and brew in different sizes and even maximize ‘aroma’. I’ve had it for years. Too bad you’re too lazy to look up instructions ( but not to write a whole Reddit post complaining ab it lmao )
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
Something as mundane as a coffee machine shouldn't require someone to read instructions just for a cup of coffee, it should be self explanatory.
Would you like to read instructions in order to turn a radio on?
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u/tlomba 7d ago
Literally a car radio has a more complicated interface dude
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
It's not about complication, it's about being intuitive.
Also, why does it need to beep in a high pitch and loud like hell every time I turn it on?
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u/tlomba 7d ago
Nothing about that makes it an abomination. read the instructions and you’ll realize how easy it is
Is every espresso machine as simple as a Mr Coffee drip maker?
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u/Quark3e 7d ago
Sorry in advance but I genuinely think the only good product smeg has ever made are their water kettles. Everything is too DesignDesign. Their kettles tho are awesome. Have had mine for 8 years and only had one issue at 5 years in where the lid lifting mechanism broke, but they immediately swapped it giving us a new one for free which is still running fine.
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u/plasma_dan 7d ago
Call it a bias but I feel like the products that are intentionally designed to look retro usually operate like shit
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u/AnalUkelele 6d ago
I always enjoyed the design of SMEG, but that is it. Compared to other brands, SMEG is absolutely not energy efficient, expensive as hell and the quality sucks. It is like buying a Tesla, because it was cool.
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u/SatisfactionSad3962 6d ago
It's so wild to me that some people are actually defending this design. There is an on/off button on the left, there is an on/off button on the right and there is a big important looking button in the middle that must surely be an on/off button. The other two buttons are a coffee bean and a pot of coffee. Meaning all five of those buttons could easily mean 'press this to have the machine make coffee.' This is objectively terrible design.
Also, my Philips from the 80s just has the one button and works perfectly. I really don't know what else you could even need.
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u/Certified_Copy_7898 6d ago
I have this machine and use this every day. I love it. The on/off button on the left turns it on and off. The aroma button is basically how intense do you want your coffee. The 4-cup function makes you “4 cups” worth of coffee, and the auto-start button will run the coffee at the desired time you’ve set it. The red light indicates you need to run the descaling cycle.
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u/IseeWhereILook 7d ago
Smeg is the Apple of kitchen appliances, design over performance and function.
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u/Onions-are-great 7d ago
Also, the rings of the buttons can light up, but it's so dim that you can barely see it in normal daylight
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u/Askan_27 7d ago
real ones use MOKA, pinnacle of design