Keurig Alta Still Takes Your K-Cups, but Needs 17 Inches of Clearance

If you’re eyeing Keurig’s new $499.99 Alta but have a cabinet full of K-Cups, those pods aren’t wasted, Totally The Bomb points out in a rundown of the launch. Citing Keurig’s own FAQ, the blog says the Alta has two separate brew chambers: AltaRounds go in on the left, regular K-Cups on the right, and Keurig says it’s keeping K-Cups in its lineup.

It only works in one direction, though. AltaRounds need the Alta, so a box of them won’t do anything in the Keurig you already own. Worth knowing before you buy them as a stocking stuffer for someone with an older brewer.

The more useful detail is the clearance. Per Totally The Bomb, the Alta is 10.84 inches wide, 19 inches deep and 11.77 inches tall with the lid shut, but Keurig’s FAQ asks for 16.97 inches of height with the handle all the way up. That’s taller than the space under a lot of upper cabinets. The $499.99 Signature Set includes the brewer, four eight-count boxes of rounds, three samples, and a frother cup and whisk.

On refills, the blog checked Keurig’s store on Oct. 31 and found four varieties at $10.99 per box of eight, about $1.37 a round before tax and shipping. Two more, Single Shot and Fresh Take, were listed as coming soon. It also flags that checkout offers both a one-time order and AutoRefresh, Keurig’s recurring delivery, so look at which one is selected if you don’t want a subscription.

Our take: measure under your cabinets with a tape, not by eye, before ordering. Our Alta and AltaRounds explainer covers the rest, and our K-Cup cost-per-cup math is a handy comparison for that $1.37 a round.