Reviewed by: Jennifer
Rating: 4 Stars
Alright peeps, I realize I’m kinda late to the party on this one. I made a review of the Keurig K130 while I was away on vacation last week. I was visiting my first cousin who has taken a leave of absence during the government shutdown. I know, TMI – back to the Keurig K130…this baby has been out awhile and it’s a good, solid, well-made commercially designed one cup brewer.
It has got the distinction of being one of the smaller single cup brewers if you are seeking a machine with a little bitty footprint that functions well. Anyway, I’ve rambled quite a bit and now, the brewer itself.
Disclaimer: I was staying at a Holiday Inn Express which is where I got to use the Keurig K130 as a guest.
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What’s Included
Not a Keurig with a lot of extras. I think you just get the brewer, the 1 year warranty, no bonus “goodies”.
Dimensions
This is another petite Keurig, measuring at approximately 10″ by 7″ by 11″ and 7.2 pounds. Regarding the allowance of mug types you can use, this is not a travel tumbler friendly type of brewer – the clearance in height is about 4.5″ when the drip tray is in place and without the tray, it comes to about 5″.
The width of the K130 as well is a tad narrow, with a max width of 3.5″
The hotel I stayed at supplies short heavy paper cups so I didn’t have any extra mugs to try out.
Keurig K130 Features
The Keurig K130, also known as the In-Room brewer or the Deskpro, is the ideal small one cup brewer for travel, hospitality venues like hotels, or small offices. It is strictly a one-cup in one cup out function with no reservoir. It doesn’t have size options – 8 oz is the standard.
There are small pictograms on the side which serve as a guide for guests or consumers in public settings…so people who have never even laid eyes on a Keurig can pretty much connect the dots, and get themselves a nice cup of joe.
Only this black with gray accents…there are no multiple color options.
I did a video of myself using the Keurig K130 – it’s kinda short, but that’s what it looks like:
No Reservoir For the Keurig K130…
Yep, this baby ain’t got no reservoir. One cup of water in and one cup of coffee out, and all of them 8 oz. So you won’t have any guesswork, but you won’t be able to change brew sizes either. Here’s a glimpse of the water chamber up close:
Creative Commons Photo Attribution: Image by Tony Webster
Buttons and Controls
Two buttons…they are on the front – the Power button, which is further down on the unit, and the Brew button which is closer to the top. There are two indicator lights, “Place Cup” and “Heating”. The Brew button turns blue when it is in progress.
The brew process is very sequential – You have to push in the chrome plated part on top of the unit over the K-cup chamber area and it will open to put in your K-cup. When you do so, then the water reservoir behind it will pop open automatically – when you look inside you will see a max fill line outlined in blue.
It’s very important that you don’t pour past this fill line as I did accidentally and the other functions stalled out as a result. (Starting to think I am just not a morning person lol) That was real frustrating – if you should accidentally overfill it, there isn’t an easy way to fix this other than if you can siphon out the excess with an eyedropper. (Now who’s gonna think of THAT…)
It will also stall on you if you don’t have the cup in the right spot so make sure you do before you hit the Brew button. As far as operation goes, it is a little slower than some other models to depending on the temperature of the water used. I had to listen hard for the sounds of preheating as it was hard to tell at first.
Keurig K130 Consumer Reviews
When I examine other people’s experiences with the K130 I see mostly good, some average, and a few unsatisfied (which is right around the bell curve, anyway) People who were happy overall cited “nothing to have to clean up after” “great for traveling with” and “great size” In general, despite this model being labeled a commercial UL listing, it appears to be very popular on the home front.
A few people mentioned the same problem I had in which you had to perform the steps sequentially or the machine would stall on them.
A small number of people felt like it was slower than their other brewer when compared. I do want to mention that one consumer did find that you CAN use the Solofill reusable filter
A few people did echo my remarks about being careful not to overfill it (I did feel better about that, I kinda felt like I was in a clumsy mood that day.
Pros
- Nice size
- Commercial performance
- Virtually little to no cleanup afterward
- Will accept all types of k-cup pods
- Good brewer to travel with
Cons
- Limited on cup height/width you can use
- Need to be careful not to overfill the water space area
- Not suited for travel tumblers due to small size
- Operation time is a tad slower when compared to similar models
Price
Could it be better? Yeah, I think by a little bit, but it’s comparable to similar models. If you can get it for under $100, that’s pretty good – I would spring for that neighborhood.
The Verdict
Well, I have to say I think I like my K10 better….since it’s more forgiving about extra water and it has actual brew sizes. I think this can make a good brewer for its original purpose, a hotel room, a personal office or your desk. It does have some limitations, but if you’re just looking for a quick cup of joe without hassles this will be a good option for you.
And yeah, I almost might be willing to buy one of these after my experience…I could easily get used to the sequence of the functions.
