Customer Reviews

Cuisinart Coffee Maker & Grinder - Thermal Carafe - Stainless steel

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

You might be tempted, Cuisinart typically makes great products. But, unless you actualy ENJOY cleaning your coffee maker for an hour every time you make coffee, and unless you LIKE having coffee grounds floating around in large quantities in your cup, this is NOT the machine you want.

In fact, it's so bad that after about 4 brewing cycles, you'll pack the stupid thing up and give it to some poor, unsuspecting friend or family member, who, after about 4 brewing cycles, will realize why you gave it to them. Then they'll cuss you, and pass the coffee maker off to some other poor sap. Eventually the damn thing will make the rounds and get re-gifted back to you, and you'll be exactly where you started.

So, to save yourself, your friends, and your family a whole lot of time and heartache playing hot-potato with this stupid machine, take my advice... PICK OUT A DIFFERENT COFFEE MAKER!!!!!

By the way, every time you make coffee, you will swear the machine is going to explode. It makes the most violent, disturbing sounds I've ever heard come out of a healthy piece of kitchen equipment. Seriously. Horror-movie quality sound effects...

NOTE: this is a true story, up to and including the re-gifting part... when I got the damn thing offered back to me, I had to post this review. CAVEAT EMPTOR! (or TEMPUS FUGIT or QUID PRO QUO or some other goofy Latin phrase))

We just got this coffee pot at Costco for $99 and LOVE IT! It takes a little more work getting set up than our old Mr. Coffee pot. You have to clean the grinding components each time for optimal taste - that is why I only gave it 4 stars. But the extra time is worth it. The coffee tastes amazing and it is ready when we wake up in the morning. I haven't experienced any leaking problems like I have heard about.

I also bought this product[...]. It makes good hot coffee but there are a few things I think could be improved upon. The grinding components need to be cleaned each time you use it because moisture from the brewing process goes up into that area and the coffee residue gets wet. The thermal pot is very nice but needs to be turned at an uncomfortable angle when pouring, especially when there is only a small amount of coffee left, and this can be problem for people that are physically challenged.
Lastly the grinder is extremely noisy, and doesn't shut off immediatly when the grinding process is complete, which can be a problem if your kitchen is close to your bedroom and you set the auto feature to brew coffee before you get up.

So, there seems to be alot of whining in the review column for this coffee maker. The product is fine. It works, it brews good coffee, and it only takes twenty seconds to clean the grinding section, and the thermal design is a good safety feature. Its really beyond me what the people who give it a bad review expect or are trying to accomplish.

The first few weeks I used this coffee maker I LOVED IT! The coffee was hot and delicious. And then one morning I came downstairs to find coffee all over my counter, down my white cabinets and sitting on my wood floors. I thought it was just fluke and cleaned it up and made a new pot. Then this started happening more and more often. You have to line everything up PERFECTLY! Make sure everything is in properly or you will have an overflow to clean up! I wish this coffee maker were not so tempermental, because it does make a great pot of coffee, but I got so tired of the gamble that I bought a new coffee maker.

I've used this coffee maker for the last 2 years and *mostly* liked the features and contemplated buying a new model to replace my current model which is having worsening issues with filter basket mechanism (hoping the following complaints may have been fixed or idiosyncratic to my unit). The basket required a hefty shove to click so it won't pop out during brewing. This is one of the worse features about the design--every so often the basket pops out during brewing and, say you are in the shower while brewing, you come out to a horrifying mess.
Strangely, my carafe also leaks from the top when I pour. Even without the top screwed in. So smaller messes on regular basis. Finally, as others note, the unit *requires* cleaning every time. The build up of grinds is such that you can't really get away with skipping a cleaning. In fact, I took to drying the bean grinder compartment before use as, when it is damp or wet, more grinds stick to the walls of the grinding compartment (wasting coffee and making the next clean up a little messier).
I have been pleased with the all-in-one aspect of the coffee maker, the quality of the coffee has never been a problem, and thermal carafes are the only way to go as far as I can see. I just went with a Zojirushi maker with a thermal carafe and find that it retains heat better/longer than this make (and doesn't spill!).

The Grind and Brew coffee maker is not horrible, but it is not good. I have been using mine for about two years, so it is relatively sturdy and has held up well to daily use. The convenience of the built in grinder is nice, however the drawbacks outweigh any benefits the automated feature may give you.
1- The grind is TERRIBLE. There are fine grounds, as well as whole beans left in the grinder.
2- Because there are always a lot of grounds as well as whole beans left in the grinder, they get moist after the coffee brews which makes the grinder difficult to clean.
3- The grinder needs to be cleaned after every use.
4- Because of the unevenness of the grind the coffee doesn't really taste that great. It's not terrible, but it is not a lovely fresh robust cup of coffee that you get from a nice evenly ground bean.
5- I'm not sure why, but recently my coffee pot has been 'exploding'. The coffee goes everywhere but into the pot while it is brewing.
Because of this, I will probably replace this machine soon with a burr grinder and separate brewer. I do love to buy whole beans. I was hoping that this machine would be convenient and brew tasty coffee. Unfortunately that is not the case.

all in all this is a good machine. makes great coffee and taste really good but you do have to clean it every time you want a new batch of coffee. and most of the time you cant drink leftovers because the coffee in the carafe is already cold.... in order to have leftover coffee later you have to pour hot water in the carafe before making your brew and let stand for about ten minutes the pour out and make your coffee. leftovers will only last like 2 hours hot. yah other than all that the coffee is good.... already spent the money on it were going to live with it.

After years of owning this machine and enjoying great coffee, alas, I tossed it in the garbage today. I am tired of the coffee dispensing system not getting into the pot (clogged, air pockets, who knows) and spilling all over my counter. Coffee drinking should not be so aggravating. Goodbye and never again will we buy a Cuisinart Coffeee Maker.

Moisture from brewing gets up into the grinder every time you brew coffee, so it has to be cleaned EVERY TIME! That may not seem like a big deal now, but you WILL quickly get tired of having to do this. I quit using the grinder in this coffee maker and just use my Braun grinder instead.

Also, the timer on mine never worked. Once the coffee brews the electronics go into la-la land, and the thing has to be unplugged and replugged back in (basically re-booted) to get any of the buttons to work.

Look at how many "remanufactured" versions of this coffee maker there are out there. Thats a good indicator of a real problem with the quality control on this product.

An expensive piece of JUNK!