A good drip coffee maker doesn't need to be a bells-and-whistles contraption, just a machine that brews coffee quickly and brews it well. What sets the Cuisinart DCC-1200 Brew Central 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker apart - and earns it our Best Drip Coffee Maker of the Year Award - is that it excels not only in speed and taste, but also in convenience and style.

With its 24-hour brew programming, this Cuisinart coffee maker could replace your jarring alarm clock with the gentle prod of aromatic coffee – a kinder incentive to get out of bed. It can brew a full 12-cup carafe within minutes, or a smaller pot with its 1-4 cup setting. Unlike many drip coffee makers that don't have sufficient time to properly heat a smaller batch, it "double" heats the water to ensure a steaming cup (or four). Additional features include a charcoal water filter that removes impurities, audible alerts (five beeps at brew cycle's end, two beeps for programmable auto shutoff), a 30-second brew-pause for when you just can't wait to pour, a gold tone permanent filter, and a heater plate with adjustable temperature control.

The Cuisinart Brew Central coffee maker is also a winner in kitchen decor with its sharp lines, brushed metal finish, digital display, and retro-style knob, button, and toggle controls.

Mornings are busy enough already without having to measure out and grind the beans for your breakfast brew. One of the many things we love about the Jura Capresso CoffeeTEAM GS 10-Cup Grind & Brew coffee maker is that it can be pre-programmed a.m. or p.m. to make anywhere from two to 10 cups of mild, regular, or strong coffee. Not only does it measure the beans for you (if you've made it out of bed, you can watch them moving in the transparent 6-ounce coffee bean container atop the machine), but it's also the first grind and brew coffee maker to feature a conical burr grinder that grinds the beans directly into the filter. This direct-feed technology allows for a more compact machine that takes up less counter space.

Some of the other features that earned the Jura Capresso CoffeeTEAM GS our pick as the 2011 Best Grind and Brew Coffee Maker of the Year include its five fineness settings (e.g. coarse setting for darker and oilier beans - yum!) and the aforementioned burr grinder, which offers greater aroma and flavor retention and a finer, more uniform grind than blade grinders. The CoffeeTEAM GS can be used with or without the grinder, in case you're ever moved to try out some pre-ground coffee.

The Krups KM9000 Cup on Request 12-Cup Coffee Maker is a beautiful machine. It's extremely compact for a coffee maker with a 12-cup capacity, and we love the angled control panel and elongated dispenser spout - very chic. But of course the Best Single Cup Coffee Maker of the Year Award isn't simply a beauty contest. The Krups KM9000 won us over with its temperature control system and customizable programming. Krups' "Precise Warming Technology" uses a dual heating system to prevent burned coffee and ensure a constant temperature from brew time up to four hours later (a countdown timer shows how much time has elapsed since brewing). Its push-button programming is very schedule-friendly: you can pre-set it for large and small cups, and create different settings for weekdays and weekends.

The Krups KM9000 is a big winner by our "ease of use and cleaning" standard. It has a removable three-level drip tray that's easily adjusted up or down to accommodate cups and travel mugs of different sizes. It can brew smaller batches or a full 12 cups, and its aroma selection feature lets you brew even small batches with intense flavor. The stainless steel coffee tank that keeps the coffee warm and ready to dispense is easy to remove and clean. Added features include the Krups DuoFilter water filtration system and immediate flow stop for mess-free pouring.

For convenience and versatility, few pod coffee makers can match the Keurig Platinum B70 Single Cup Coffee Maker, our choice for the 2011 Best Pod Coffee Maker of the Year Award. It makes a single morning cup with minimal fuss: just program it to come on a few minutes ahead of your kitchen entry, and it will be heated up and ready to brew your preferred pod of the day. Its drip tray is removable for easy cleaning or filling up of your favorite big travel mug. And with Keurig K-Cups, you can choose from over 200 varieties of coffee, hot cocoa, and tea - or use a Keurig reusable coffee filter basket to enjoy whatever grind you want.

The Keurig B70 has a larger water reservoir than many pod machines: 60 ounces, or five to 10 cups depending on your chosen cup size (there are four options from 6 to 12 ounces). Brewing temperature is adjustable from a standard 187°F to 192°F. It's a perfect coffee maker for single-cup coffee drinkers, or a delicious complement to a standard drip coffee maker. With the Keurig B70, guests can each choose their own coffee flavor or hot drink instead of quaffing the same brew. Or you could make a single cup of dessert coffee for yourself in a flavor that would be too cloying in a pot.

The Nescafe Dolce Gusto EDG716R Creativa Plus Red Single Serve Brewer is a hidden gem, a combination coffee maker and espresso machine that puts pro-standard brewing power in reach of the home budget. It's a worthy winner of our 2011 Best Single Serve Coffee/Espresso Machine of the Year Award. This single serve brewer features pump-driven, 15-bar maximal pressure, allowing you to create better-tasting espresso with rich, foamy crema. It also boasts exclusive Thermoblock technology, which means no preheating and stale taste - it heats water fresh every time in less than a minute. Looks like "barista" just became a telecommuting position.

The Creativa brews drinks from Dolce Gusto capsules, which include black coffee, cold beverages, specialty coffee (cappuccino, espresso, latte, mocha), and non-coffee drinks (hot chocolate, chai latte). It's a fun digital gadget to play around with. The LCD screen allows you to personalize cups and alter or delete recipes, and it memorizes your settings. The display can be programmed to work in multiple languages, including English, French, and German. This eye-catching model is also a style standout, with a bold color scheme and bulbous, futuristic design that will be the quirky star of your kitchen.

Straight out of the box, it's clear that the Saeco 04144 Via Venezia espresso machine is a reliable, well-made performer. Unlike many home espresso machines, it has a black metal housing, not plastic, which gives it an authentic elegance and solidity. Authentic is a key word with our Best Manual Espresso Machine of the Year Award winner. Saeco was founded in Italy in 1981, and they know their espresso. The Via Venezia does an excellent job of brewing coffee. It features manual 15-bar pump pressure for full aroma extraction, and a Pannarello frothing attachment. Authentic Italian espresso at home: it doesn't get any better than that.

The design and materials of the Via Venezia display great attention to detail. It has a stainless steel boiler tank, which is a key feature in espresso machine durability. The frothing wand swivels on a ball joint, so you can move it over the drip tray when you're done. The plastic Pannarello attachment is removable for cleaning. The high-capacity 68-ounce removable water tank can be refilled by pouring water into the hatch or by removing it. And most delicious of all, with manual coffee bean dosing, you can up your dose to a double or triple shot espresso using either ground coffee or ESE pods.

Is "effortless espresso" the most beautiful phrase in the English language? You'll probably think so after you've experienced the DeLonghi EN670.B Black Lattissima Capsule Espresso Machine. It boasts a patented single-touch hot milk system for preparing lattes or cappuccinos: just slide on the milk tank and press a button. And with its double boiler system, the Lattissima can make one drink and move on to the next, with no waiting between preparation of espresso and cappuccino. For taste, design, and ease of use and cleanup, the DeLonghi Lattissima is our choice as the 2011 Best Semi Automatic Espresso Machine of the Year.

As a semi-automatic espresso machine, the DeLonghi Lattissima offers ease over input, though it does allow you to adjust for your preferred quantities of coffee, milk, water, and foam. It runs exclusively on Nespresso capsules, which eliminate mess and measurement. Nespresso offers a nice selection of pods, with 16 different Grands Crus for ristretto, espresso, lungo, and cappuccino drinks, plus annual variation flavors. Machine features we appreciated include its unique sliding drip tray, which can be pushed in to accommodate a latte macchiato glass, and its integrated cup warmer. The milk container is self-cleaning, and the 40-ounce water tank, drip tray, and capsule container are removable for easy cleaning.

Until someone invents a fashion plate android barista, we're hard pressed to imagine a more luxurious and convenient home coffee experience than the one provided by the Jura Capresso Impressa J6. You could write an epic novel just by listing its salient and supporting features. It's Swiss-made and fully preprogrammed, with a rotary dial and integrated rotary button that lets you override settings or enter 11 different programming options. It has a (quiet!) solid-steel conical grinder with six fineness settings, an 18-bar pump, a stainless steel-lined ThermoBlock heating system for purge-free coffee brewing immediately after frothing, and it will grind, tamp, and brew an amazing cup of coffee in less than a minute.

The Jura Capresso J6 earned our Best Super Automatic Espresso Machine of the Year Award due to its combination of superior bean-to-cup high-pressure brewing, high-end materials and design, and numerous intelligent features. It's a gorgeous machine, with platinum metallic front treatment, chrome accents, and even amber-colored cup illumination. Automatic features include a frothXpress automatic frothing system and a pre-ground coffee funnel that automatically bypasses the grinder (great for decaf or flavored coffee). It even minimizes energy costs: with a patented Zero-Energy Switch, the machine consumes zero energy in standby mode.