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Betrothed … to a swanky coffee cranker SANDRA SNYDER WALL TO WALL

Saturday June 27, 2009 | 01:00 AM

Every couple of moons or so, a new object of domestic affection emerges, takes its place as the next big thing and just basks, until the sad-but-key moment something cooler comes along, and wandering eyes everywhere grow wide and eager anew.

So the art of the purchase is knowing when to bite: not too soon (because you’ll overpay) and not too late (because who wants a has-been?) But the seasoned hunter-gatherer will immediately sense whether the contender has staying power or will burn itself out like so much flash in the pan.

Exhibit A: The KitchenAid stand mixer. If you bought one a decade ago for $249.99, you’re still good and so, likely, is your machine. (Your only issue might be that now you’d rather the cobalt-blue over the basic white incarnation.) But if you went all in on something like the Margarator margarita/slush machine for $100-plus, or the $60 stainless-steel sandwich press, you might instead be begging for buyers on eBay while reminding yourself a basic blender can make not only a good ’rita but spaghetti sauce besides.

My point? I’ve been doing the courtship dance with a current “big thing,” as it were, but before I plunge I need a little more time to soul-search.

To Keurig or not to Keurig? That is the question.

Greek to you? Tell me you have not at least considered today’s premiere and lovely one-cup coffeemaker. (And I will be thoroughly impressed at your societal resistance.) I have considered it -- which will not surprise in the least those who know me well -- but I proudly report I’ve so far stayed strong.

Why? Because I’ve done the math. And it doesn’t favor me. (Not that I won’t give it another whirl and fudge some numbers so it does.)

In the meantime: $129 or so for the mid-level machine itself, $25 for the revolving rack that holds all those cute little pre-measured K-cups, which command at least 50 cents apiece and often a buck, multiplied by three per day … Then you have all the other accessories, which are, I guess, optional but not really. And … wow.

So, did you hear? (See this page.) Many folks today are doing things like brewing coffee at home to save pennies. (See math above.) They must be the hardy type proudly using basic percolators or $15 drip pots year after year and still scooping their grounds out of corrugated $3.49 cans.

Have they not heard how fresh, whole beans (allegedly) have it all over that? How basic coffeemakers (allegedly) lack key features (such as built-in filtration) that turn out a top-tier cup? How modern coffee has such pretty names and comes in such pretty cans from such pretty places that, well … what’s a home-brewer supposed to do?

One exercise I tried while attempting to dissuade myself from the Keurig was admiring all the empty cans I’ve been unable to throw away and imagining a life that didn’t, each morning, involve pondering Bali Blue Moon 100 percent Arabica vs. Trader Joe’s fair-trade Peruvian “Caf� Fermenino” vs. limited-edition Colombian peaberry.

Then I saw the cute little K-compatible cups by Caribou, in soothing sea hues with tantalizing names, and realized it’s game on. The Keurig has an edge, seeing as it can do tea and hot cocoa, too, and you store it all on the same nifty, spinning rack.

I might as well admit it: It’s only a matter of time, and I’ll be a goner.

If I have you over for coffee, and you see I’ve succumbed, please know: It was an economic decision. I never really went to Starbucks and such, but I’m going to have to say I did.

Every respectable sucker needs a good cover story.

About the Author

Sandra Snyder covers Features for the Times Leader. Reach her at (570) 831-7383 or ssnyder@timesleader.com.

Sandra Snyder is the Times Leader's features editor, overseeing the food, family, home and Sunday lifestyles sections as well as the weekly entertainment Guide. She began working at the Times Leader in 1993 as a copy editor and has held various positions, including Hazleton editor/bureau chief, editor of the Times Leader-Mountaintop and Social Issues co-team leader. She also has done general-interest news and features reporting. Her most memorable interview to this day remains the delightful and now decidedly not 16-going-on-17 Charmian Carr, a.k.a. Liesl in "The Sound of Music." These days, she encourages readers who love (and sometimes despise) their homes to write to her and share their household tales, tragic or otherwise, particularly the type they're willing to have retold in print.