KitchenAid Coffee Maker Troubleshooting

KitchenAid makes a wide variety of appliances for your culinary needs from the eponymous stand mixer to dishwashers and coffee pots. If your KitchenAid coffee maker isn't working right, it might display an error code to let you know what's wrong. And if your KitchenAid coffee maker won't brew at all or it's taking too long to brew, there might be something wrong that you can fix at home. A starting point for diagnosing the problem is checking these KitchenAid coffee maker troubleshooting steps off your list.

Although this directive seems like an obvious reminder, it's a common enough occurrence that KitchenAid has a built-in feature to compensate for this user oversight. If your KitchenAid coffee maker won't brew after you've added coffee and turned it on, you may simply have forgotten to add water. Coffee maker heaters will automatically reach their end-of-brewing-cycle temperature in less than 1 minute and switch to warming mode to protect the carafe and conserve energy.

KitchenAid coffee makers are designed to display error codes if there are certain problems with the machine.

The codes will display on the digital clock display and will show as either "E1" or "Err2," with "E" or "Err" indicating the error and the number telling you which error needs to be addressed. Codes 1 and 2 indicate that the machine needs to be descaled. Codes 3 and 4 indicate that a button has been pressed too long. Unplug the coffee maker, press the buttons to see if they move normally, and then plug it back in to address errors 3 and 4.

Water scale can build up over time. When water evaporates it leaves behind mineral deposits, and the more minerals dissolved in the water, the greater the scaling will be. Remove the water filter, if there is one, and remove any filters or coffee.

Fill your coffee pot half with vinegar and half with water, and then pour the mixture into the water reservoir. Run a brew cycle with the mixture, and then run two brew cycles with clean water and no vinegar. Finally, wash the pot and the brew basket and replace the water filter. Descaling also addresses KitchenAid coffee maker error code 2.

If the coffee pot won't power up, check that it's plugged into an outlet. Press the "Test" button on the outlet, if one is present. Check the circuit or fuse box in your home, and plug the coffee pot into another outlet that you know is working. If the display doesn't come on, then contact KitchenAid customer service.

The coffee pot may take a long time to brew through a normal pot of coffee if it's in need of descaling. If the full pot brew cycle takes longer than 15 minutes to finish, then you should descale the machine.

If your KitchenAid brewer makes loud or unusual noises when you are brewing, there's likely excess scale buildup. Run the descaling solution through the coffee maker. Repeat the descaling if the issue isn't resolved after the first attempt.