Customer Reviews

Cuisinart Coffee Maker, Brew Central 10-Cup Thermal DCC-1400

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

We searched and searched for a thermal carafe coffeemaker. This one was a decent price, with a lot of features, include brew/pause, automatic shutoff, a double-walled stainless thermal carafe, and a built-in water filter. The first few pots didn't taste great, even though I ran hot water through it a couple of times before brewing that first pot. The Cuisinart makes GREAT coffee, good and hot. The carafe keeps it hot for a long time. It's a great buy for the money. I made a pot at 7:00 this morning and the coffee is still warm. We're very pleased. It also has a three year warranty. You can't beat it for the price.

The main reasons I was interested in this coffee maker were for the thermal properties of the carafe and the quality of coffee the machine makes. I wasn't interested in whether or not I could see the water in the reservoir or see how much coffee was left in the pot. I wanted a machine that would allow me to stop making multiple pots of coffee throughout the morning. Most of the time, I would make myself coffee early in the morning, then, make my wife a pot around 10 or 11. Our old coffee maker would burn coffee after about 45 minutes. With the Cuisinart, all I have to do is put hot water in the carafe prior to brewing, pour it out, and brew my coffee as usual. After the coffee is made, I put the stylish carafe on our coffee table or living room table, and we have coffee for the whole morning. I don't have to worry about the pot burning any of our table/counter surfaces because it's double insulated. That's the beauty of this carafe--its basically a large, stylish thermos.

All of the other minor issues I can deal with. Guess what? You can pour water into the chamber with something other than the coffee pot. You know how many cups of coffee you can pour before the pot is empty? The exact number you poured from your old coffee pot. If you had a 12-cup maker prior to this one, subtract 1 large coffee mug from that number. I'm not real sure what people are expecting from this machine. It makes above-average coffee and keeps it hot without burning or scalding.

I guess what reading reviews proves is that,"you can please some of the people most of the time, and most of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time" and unfortunately it is the terminally discontent that write most of the reviews. I like strong coffee, no problem; I like hot coffee, no problem; I like a carafe that keeps the coffee hot, until it starts to settle down at which point it loses its flavor any way, no problem. I see lots of nit picking by those who enjoy picking nits. Grow up people, this is not a perfect world and this is not a perfect coffee maker but it is more than good enough to rate five stars.
\TGP

After reading these reviews I decided I owe it to others to write my own. I have had this coffee maker for maybe two years (long enough to really put it through the trials). It's strange to me that so many complain about so little. It makes excellent coffee, keeps the coffee warm a long time, looks nice, programs easily, it's reliable and easy to clean.

Some say it doesn't stay hot long enough or get hot enough - they probably put cold water in the maker using the pot and did not follow up by warming the pot with hot water.

Some say it is too hard to read the cup lines because they are inside a dark container. I can read them without my glasses, under a dimmer lighting. However, I could use my glasses, turn on more light or use a measuring cup.

It makes excellent coffee, as strong as you choose to make it, at the time you choose and keeps it warm without burning. It tells you when to clean it. And it gets used at least once a day without breaking down.

I did a lot of research before buying this coffee maker from Amazon.

Some close contenders were the grind and brew and the higher dollar capresso's.

I was really liked the idea of a grind and brew, yet across the board , from one maker to another, people reported problems with the process, whether it be moisture build up in the grinding area, too much coffee being left in the grinding process, problems maintaining brew strength, problems 'switching' coffee flavors, and time consuming cleaning processes.

I thought I would invest and buy a higher dollar capresso without the grinder, but was really suprised and disappointed that multiple reviews stated they had problems with a ball float in the pot lid resulting in waking up to find coffee - all over the counter. In my humble opinion, waking up up to the best coffee in the world the rest of the year is not worth cleaning up that mess once in a while.

The thermal carafe on the cuisinart is great. I understood before buying it that getting the last drop of coffee out of a thermal carafe lid or in fact using it to fill the water reserv. were problematic across most makers. I keep a 44oz plastic rest cup by my coffee supplies to fill the water and it is handy as I get the water from the filtered fridge and filling into the cup is actually more efficient than filling even into my old glass coffee carafe as they are all kind of bulky.

The carafe keeps the coffee hot for about three hours.

I am very happy with this product and gave it 5 stars.

I'm pretty satisfied with this coffee maker. The whole point of the thermal carafe is to keep your coffee from being heated on a plate and developing that unpleasant off-taste and odor that old coffee gets. It is a MUST to pre-heat the carafe by filling it with hot water before you brew, it will keep your coffee acceptably hot (unless you like it scalding, which I don't) for hours. I made a pot of coffee at 7:30 AM and when I got around to cleaning it at 3:00, the coffee inside was still warm.

Pros:
Good coffee. Really good coffee.
Contains water filter
Comes with permanent filter (no more buying paper!)
Got it on sale at Macy's for $77

Cons:
I like my coffee strong - I prefer over 2 tablespoons/5oz cup and that filter simply does not accept more than 15 tablespoons - don't try it! (If anyone knows how to take the lid apart to wash, please comment and tell me how). But I can make a solid 6 or 7 cups which is perfect for two people. If we have guests, I just make another pot.

Yes, it can be a little difficult to see how much water you're putting in, but I'm 5'5 and I can look into it from above and tell where the level is. A better idea, suggested by another reviewer, is to have a container for water that's pre-measured.

Tip:
Do a few self-clean cycles, then one plain brew with water/vinegar. It will help with the new-plastic smell

Bottom line:
It's a keeper

We bought this coffeemaker to replace our old Cuisinart. When coffee sits in a glass carafe, on the coffeemaker's warming plate, it develops a burnt taste. So this seemed like the perfect choice because of the thermal carafe and overall good looks. But although this machine looks good and makes great tasting coffee, it isn't hot even if you drink it black. We preheated the carafe with hot water, but that didn't make a noticeable difference. So, we microwave each cup before drinking it, a disappointing added step.

As far as the other negatives that have been noted, we pre-measure the water we add, so the difficulty reading the interior gauge isn't a problem. Pulling the coffeemaker out to the edge of the counter, to be able to open the lid for loading, is a step we had with our previous model with the side swing arm, so that's not an issue either. And I doubt we'll ever use the gold filter since a paper filter is better at removing unwanted coffee byproducts and sediment.

Although we decided to keep this coffeemaker, I doubt we will ever buy another model with a thermal carafe. The coffee is smooth, rich, and great tasting, but the lukewarm temperature is a big disappointment.

After reading too many reviews on KitchenAid, Mr. Coffee, & Cuisinart coffee makers, I decided to take a chance on this model. The coffee from this machine is fantastic! I used to always make coffee out of my Bodum 2 cup coffee press because I was convinced that the only way to get a great tasting cup of coffee was to use a coffee press. Boy, was I wrong! It was my boyfriend's idea to get a coffee maker & I'm glad I listened. The coffee doesn't have any bitterness or strange tastes that I would normally get from my old 4 cup Mr. Coffee. I'm sure this can also be attributed to the water filter & the gold-tone coffee filter included with the machine (which is also awesome because you don't have to buy it separately).

I've tried the programming feature & it works perfectly. It's probably not something you can just "figure out" but it wasn't difficult. I just had to take a few minutes to read the instructions. I was able to wake up to the wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee & found that it's a great incentive to get out of bed on time (along with not being late for work).

A few downsides(as many have already mentioned): the water level indicator. Since you have to look at it from above the reservoir I can see how it may be difficult for shorter people (I'm pretty short at 5'3" but I don't have a problem with it). If you are not in a well lit area of the kitchen this may also cause a problem for you because it's hard to tell where the water level is.
Solution: use a liquid measuring cup when filling the reservoir & take note of how much water is required to make however much coffee you want to make.

Pouring the water using a regular cup will prove to be problematic because of the small opening of the water reservoir. Solution: Use a liquid measuring cup.

The other downside to it is that it is a little difficult to pour out of the thermal carafe, especially if you are only making a few cups of coffee. The last couple cups of coffee doesn't pour very easily because of the plastic lip around the top of the carafe.
Solution: take the lid off the carafe & pour.

As you can see there are some design issues that could be improved but it doesn't make the coffee maker bad (in my opinion). Bad tasting coffee will make a coffee maker bad & this one definitely does not produce bad tasting coffee. That's why it gets 5 stars from me.

I've had this coffeemaker for eighteen months now. It keeps coffee hot for more than two hours without the bitterness associated with coffee left on a hot plate. It pours coffee slower than out of a glass carafe and the last 2 ounces or so do not come out easily so I simply plan accordingly. I know exactly how much water to put in the carafe for my morning fix of two large cups. It is fast, fairly quiet, and does not emit steam from the top like my old coffeemaker did [ruining the wood cabinet over head]. Most of all, it makes good coffee and is dependable. This is a good product.

I received this for Christmas. The first couple of pots were slow to brew (15 minutes) and the self-clean light kept coming on. A jiggle of the water filter seemed to cure it.

The coffee stays hot for several hours after the brew cycle, which is great as my husband gets up quite a bit before me. By far this is the best feature of the coffee maker. The maker is relatively easy to use and I like the programmable feature and the fact that you can program it to optimize the brew cycle for a smaller pot.

I've noted only two downsides. First, by using the permanent gold filter the coffee is unacceptably weak, even if adding a significant amount of extra coffee (such as 11 tbs for 8 cups, which is 3 more than recommended by Cuisinart). I used a paper filter and an extra scoop of coffee and it was fine. However, I wanted something with a permanent filter so I didn't keep having to buy filters so I'm a little annoyed at that (but now understand that this is a common issue with all permanent filters) Secondly, I'm a little on the short side so I have trouble reading the water measurement inside the coffee maker.

Otherwise, I'm very happy with this product.