Customer Reviews

Cuisinart® 12-cup Coffee Maker - Black Chrome Series

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am VERY picky when it comes to coffee makers and have trouble finding one that doesn't make the coffee taste like plastic. This one works fine for me. I owned a DeLonghi before this one for about 6 years and the new DeLonghis have suffered a setback in quality as far as I am concerned. I returned about 3 of them. The minor flaw in this coffee maker is that the water gauge is on the inside and it is a little hard to tell what the level is. It is also a little tricky to pour water into. That wasn't enough for me to return it though, since the coffee tasted great!

I purchased this coffee maker 4 months ago and it has worked wonderful so far. This is the 3rd coffee maker I have had in the last year. It told me last week to clean it and I did. Makes wonderful coffee set to my taste, and stays as hot as I want it to. Looks sleek and beautiful on the cabinet. Only drawbacks are you have to pour slow so you don't dribble (but only when I rush) and clock can't be seen in dark so I keep it unplugged when not in use. I hope it lasts as long as it is warranteed for but would take 2 years.

* P.S.: It is now Dec2010 and I have had NO problems with this coffee maker for 3 years. When it finally does break I hope the new ones are just as good because I plan to buy another when needed. Even with a couple of drawbacks listed above it is the "Best Coffee Maker I've ever had".

We bought this coffee maker less than 2 years ago. For the past few months, we babysat it to restart it during the brew cycle. Now it is completely kaput. In researching other coffeemakers, I see that most manufacturers have at least 10 percent 1-star reviews, many because of the short lifespan of the product. After having a Braun coffee grinder for 25 years and prior coffee makers for at least 5, I expect more than a 2-year lifespan for something on which I spend nearly $100. We are going back to stovetop boiling and dripping into our own thermal carafe - no coffeemaker involved.

I read reviews obsessively and couldn't find the combination of features and looks and color I wanted (I got this in white), and settled on this one.

I was worried about how difficult it would be to pour water in b/c of the placement of the well, but what you find out is that the Cuisinart pot is perfectly designed to sit on the lip of the well and pour the water on.

Wish the lid on the pot were attached with a lever, instead of being a pop on and off affair... and if I break the pot - oi - doesn't seem like a cheap replacement.

Small minus points for plastic knobs with cheap feeling little silver lines painted on which look like they'll get stripped off.. As mentioned the water gage is inside and isn't the easiest to read, you just have to measure carefully before you pour in - no biggie. And small minus for the faintness of the LED clock, and that to program the machine, you have to click TWO settings, not one, but still - I'm more impressed than I expected.

And Big points for style.

Oh - and no plastic taste here.

This is the best coffee maker I ever had. I was reluctant to spend $80 on a coffee maker. After living with this one for 6 months now I can honestly say that I would have paid a hundred for it and still been just as happy.

I have seen many people who say that the water gauge being on the inside is a flaw in the design and they don't know how much water they put in. I do not understand this. I am 6'2" and can see the water gauge fine. That said, I never look at it anyway because I use the pot to measure the water and fill.

Another "flaw" that I read in many reviews referred to the place where you pour the water being too small. Not the case. It is not tricky AT ALL to pour in the water. I use the coffe pot to fill it and I have never spilled a drop. I don't have to be particularly careful to get the desired result, either.

This is a great coffe pot and an excellent value for the money. It makes a GREAT pot of coffee!

This is a fantastic coffee maker that makes great tasting coffee but what if you are debating between this and an "all in one" unit that will grind your beans and brew your coffee at the same time (that I will refer to as a "Grind-N-Brew")? Below are my reasons for not giving into the "all in one gimmick":

1. Grind-N-Brew makers require just as much work as having a regular coffee maker and purchasing a separate grinder. When a grinder is built into the coffee maker, it tends to get wet from the steam each time you use it (unless the grinder is far enough away from the brewing portion of the machine. A few models do this but then some of them still have you manually transfer the grounds from one part of the machine to the next so what's the point?). Because the grinder get's wet from the steam, you have to clean it more often. Some models even require that you clean it after every brew!

2. With a separate grinder, you can grind the beans the night before (when you set the coffee maker) so there is less noise in the morning to wake you up.

3. This maker has a cone shaped filter instead of the bucket shaped ones that tend to come with the Grind-N-Brew models I've found (not sure why this is).

4. With a separate grinder, you can get better quality grinding. Seems like the built in grinders that I saw in the stores were a little on the dull side like it would make pretty course grounds (?).

5. Some Grind-N-Brew models pre-determine how much grounds you will use but if you buy a separate grinder, you can determine how strong you want your coffee.

WHY CHOOSE THIS SPECIFIC BREW-ONLY COFFEE MAKER MODEL:

Because it makes fantastic tasting coffee and, for the price, it feels solid, looks great, and is of good quality (compared to other makers I've seen for the same price). To me, the coffee tastes like I went to a coffee shop everytime I use it. It has a warming plate (and you can set it to high/medium/low). It also has a cleaning feature (which I thought was pointless until I found that it will actually alert you if it is STILL dirty after you've cleaned it (meaning you haven't cleaned it enough) which might be a neat idea. You can also set it to shut off after 1-4 hours and it has a 1-4 cup setting (which will heat the coffee up more then normal since you're making a smaller cup). The coffee is hot (burnt my mouth the first time) and tastes great.

MINOR FLAWS:

1) Yes, with this model (and many other Cuisinart models), there is the issue of the 5 beeps that it makes when it completes the brewing cycle. It's not terrible unless you are sleeping in the room. The beeps sound like a generic wrist watch alarm and you're microwave will probably make more noise then these beeps so it shouldn't really deter you from purchasing this unit unless you are a delicate sleeper or have a studio apartment...etc.).

2) No outside water meter (so you will want to just keep track of how much water you put into the unit-which could be a downside to the thermal carafe option). It is possible to tell how many cups of water there are inside the unit by looking down the well positioned in the back (it has a measure inside there) but who wants to do that-just measure beforehand.

3) Yes, the hole in the back to pour the water in is more on the small side (about the size of an orange, I guess), so you will probably want to have full access to the back of the machine (maybe be able to slide it away from a wall so you can fully open lid to the machine and get the carafe to pour the water well.

4) The carafe lid snaps on and off so everytime you want to rinse it and put water in it, you have to snap off the lid (not a huge deal but not as nice as the attached lids). I'm getting pretty good at flicking off the lid with my thumb. ;)

All in all, a great buy at a great price! I would highly recommend it for this price range.

I have bought 5 cuisinart coffee makers for my office and 4 of the 5 have died. It last one I purchased is less than 6 months old. The last 2 have had the same problem, they will not pump water to the grounds.

Good coffee maker, will no longer spend over $70 for a coffee maker. I got the same brand at BJ's on clearance for $35.00

I live on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains at an altitude of 6700 feet. My first Cuisinart 12 cup Coffee Maker made a good cup of coffee. I always use the four cup button when brewing coffee, no matter how many cups I am making. It seems to compensate for the high altitude. The thinner air is very dry and averages 16 percent humidity which makes for very high static electricity. My old coffee maker took about four direct static hits from my finger before it blew its computer. I decided to replace the old one with an exact new one. So far so good with the static. I try to always touch something metal before I touch the coffee maker. If this one goes for the same reason, I hope it last as long as the first one did. I will buy another one, if Cuisinart still makes the same maker.

We've had this machine for about 3 weeks now. So far we love the ease of use and the up-to-4-hour standby time. Meaning you can set the time the machine stays on after brewing from 1 to 4 hours. Best feature of all for this machine...IT DOESN'T LEAK! Every Mr. Coffee machine we ever owned leaked. This one does not. Oh yeah, don't buy the gold tone basket as this one comes with one already. We did not know this and bought one...oh well.