Cuisinart DTC-975BKN Thermal 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black

Fussy Lid, but the Best Coffee Maker Ever!, April 23, 2005

Reviewer: R. Wilner (Metro Detroit)

I wish Amazon had 1/2 stars, because I would have given 4 1/2. I almost gave it a 5 star rating, but the lid may bug some people. I will admit that the lid MUST be placed in a perfect position, but how to do it is no mystery. Clearly etched in the top of the lid are the words "Open" "Close" and "Pour." If you put the lid on so that the word "Pour" is directly over the spout, it's no problem. When you go to screw on the lid, just make sure that the word "Pour" starts out over the spout and when it's closed, it will end up there. No big deal. My guess is, the people who have given negative reviews about the lid were impatient with it.

My reason for buying this coffee-maker was the 12-OUNCE thermal carafe. This was one of the only coffee-makers I saw with a 12oz carafe as opposed to an 8 or 10 ounce. This was a huge selling point for me. As someone who nurses a whole pot a coffee a day, I also was attracted to the fact that I read it keeps coffee hot for so long.

I have had the coffee-maker for over a month now, and I am NOT disappointed! I have not had one single overflow incident and I have had no problems. I suspect that those with overflow problems overfilled the reservoir or didn't pay attention to how they put the lid on.

One thing I must share with those of you considering this coffee-maker. One day I made a pot of coffee and I forgot about it. The next day, approximately 36 hours later, I remembered I had made coffee the previous day, so I figured I'd pour a cup and microwave it. Microwaving was unnecessary. The coffee came out STEAMING hot. As if I had just made it! I'm sure the more coffee that is in it the hotter it will keep but this was over a day later!

I HIGHLY recommend this product!

PROS

-No heating mechanism. No burnt tasting coffee!

-Once coffee is brewed, the coffee-maker shuts off.

-Coffee stays warm for much longer than the description states

-The carafe stays cool on the outside. I make a pot and just bring it into the living room with me, or to my desk.

-Very aesthetically pleasing design. Looks great in my kitchen.

-A full 12 cup coffee-maker. A rare thing amoung thermal carafe coffee-makers

-LED Clock/Programmable Timer. Auto Seal. Brew Pause Feature. Automatic Shutoff. Available in different colors

-The water level indicator is easy to see

-The beep letting you know the coffee is done is loud (I like that)

CONS

-You do need to pay attention to how to put the lid on, but it isn't exactly rocket science.

-The digital clock area is tiny. But read the directions and using the timer is a breeze.

-The stainless steel fingerprints easily, but that's not unusual in a stainless steel appliance.

-The beep letting you know the coffee is done is loud (Some may not like that)

My beloved 25 year-old Rowenta finally died, so I started looking for a new pot with a vacuum carafe and a cone filter. That narrowed the prospects quite a bit, and I bought the Cuisinart because it was easily available and (relatively) inexpensive compared to others with the same features. I read the numerous poor reviews but figured it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to make it work, so I pressed on.

Sure enough, the pot was defective in a couple of ways.

1. The instruction booklet says to _fill_ the carafe and pour it into the reservoir. The carafe holds twelve cups and the reservoir holds the same before the small hole in back below the hinge dumps any excess on your counter, so in theory it's impossible to over fill. So far, so good but the guy at Cuisinart who designed this pot apparently skipped his junior high science class the day they described how water expands when it is heated.

Twelve cups of cold tap water expands to about twelve and a half cups when it is raised to boiling. So, if you fill the reservoir according to instructions and heat the water, the carafe will overflow onto your counter every single time. Only fill it to the top of the stainless part.

2. There's another reason that it randomly barfs hot coffee all over your counter that is not related to the problem related above. I spent a few hours testing my pot with just water (no coffee) to figure out what was going on. It worked perfectly twice, and put hot water on the counter about a dozen times, starting anywhere from when the carafe was half full to almost full. Suddenly the water would stop running into the carafe as though it was plugged up and start spilling over the side. I took the (patent pending!) lid completely apart to see if something might be getting jammed. It's pretty clever there are two plastic and one metal ball to act as valves to let the coffee in and out while blocking steam and heat from escaping. Everything's a pretty loose fit and not likely to jam but I finally found the problem (with mine, at least).

When you fill a container with water, you must let the air out as you do it, so there is also a small vent passage without any ball valves that goes from the inside of the lid to the threaded area on the side of the lid that's near the carafe handle when the lid is properly tightened. The vent is quite small and exits the lid in a strange way to create a sort of labyrinth to reduce the amount of heat loss. I blew it out with some compressed air and saw something that was plugging it fly out, likely some plastic that fallen in during manufacturing. The vent also seemed somewhat obstructed where it ended, so I cleaned it up a bit with an Xacto knife.

The coffee maker now works perfectly apparently the vent was not always letting air escape quickly enough to let the coffee flow in.

I'm also going to put a few small self-adhesive cork glides from the hardware store under the carafe to boost it up a little and make sure the valve in the bottom of the filter stays open properly, as it seems a little dicey.

All in all, I like the pot, but for $80, I shouldn't have to do Cuisinart's quality control for them. The problems that so many people are complaining about were easy to recreate and repair it's really inexcusable that Cuisinart hasn't taken care of them by now.

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Folks, Let me tell you.... I read all the reviews on this coffee maker before my wife and I decided that; Oh, come on! They must be goofy. How hard can it be to set this coffee pot up correctly to work without spillage; we bought it anyway.

It worked for a week or so and then dumped the coffee all over the counter and on the kitchen floor.

"I must have done something wrong", said the lady of the house. Ok, I'll try it, said the man of the house.

It worked... See, all you have to do is.. place the carafe in correctly. Well, I did it for three days and again all over the floor.

I called the company and a sweetie pie with the "Have a nice day" mentality helped me to calm down and told me that perhaps the cover was defective. They will send me another if I would return mine.

Wife said no.... order a whole carafe so we will have two when we get company. So 50 dollars later, I have two carafes.

Wonderful! Now either one will dump the coffee onto the counter after a week or ten days of lulling me into a state of confidence by working fine for 10 days.

We have a great deal of patience, and we also feel that we are smart enough to find the problem. So we stuck with it trying different filter baskets, and soaking the lids before using...

It was many months now, and it decided to dump this morning; all over the counter; all over the floor; grinds and coffee.

The carafe was half filled indicating that it did start out ok and I didn't misalign anything; but with a mind of its own, it decided that it hated us again today.

So folks, we got two green garbage bags, one inside the other, and dumped that 99.00 + 50.00 more coffee pot in the trash.

It isn't worth the aggravation.

I tried to find a website for their corporate office, but they haven't the guts to show any, so this is the only place I could tell you our story.

I kid you not. We should have believed all the negatives in this product review section.

I would have loved to return it to Amazon, but after so much elapsed time, it would not have been fair.

Thank you for listening.

Fred Auerbach

email: fred.auerbach@gmail.com

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I've owned two of these machines. Here are the details:

First, the carafe is great. I've come home after a 10 hour day to find the morning coffee still warm enough and very drinkable. The cap alignment is a bit awkward, but it keeps the coffee hot and fresh. I now have two of them and have used them for this year's Christmas/New Years gatherings. They kept regular and decaf coffee hot and fresh throughout the evening. I used my replacement "Barista Aroma Grande" machine to brew the coffee then put it into the superior Cuisinart carafes. That is why I gave the product one star.

The downsides include almost everything else:

As a previous reviewer noted, if the carafe is not seated properly, you wake up to a puddle of coffee on your kitchen counter and floor. This happened to me twice.

Consequently, if any of that puddle seeps into the machine from underneath or drips into it from the LED display window, the machine is kaput. This is why out first machine failed.

The water reservoir requires filling the machine from the top. My replacement has a separate container that is easier to manipulate. It is a much neater way to fill the machine.

The red indicator ball on the side of the Cuisinart machine stopped working.

The second machine just stopped working. Like another reviewer noted, when you hit the "on" button, the machine beeped after a minute or so without producing any coffee. This was not a result from an overflow condition, nor a result of a user error it just stopped working.

Bottom line: look elsewhere for a reliable machine.

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I have had this coffee maker for about 3 weeks now. I read all these reviews before I purchased, and almost didn't because of some of them, so I thought I'd let you know how it worked out for me since you are probably having the same concerns.

The short version: I am very pleased with this coffee maker and am happy I purchased it. There are a couple of minor concerns, but with a bit of knowledge you can safely purchase this coffee maker.

Pros:

Very solid construction and carafe. Good overall look and feel.

The carafe keeps coffee hot all day. A huge plus. I only get carafe style (no warmer) coffee makers, and this is one of the best I've used.

Simple and easy programmable auto-brew functionality.

The fill container has a very easy to read measuring line, making filling it to a desired level very easy and convenient. A bonus I didn't know I was missing until I got this machine.

Cons:

Pretty slow brewing. Takes 15-20 minutes to brew a full pot.

Does not come with the filter basket. Make sure you purchase one when you order. It is well worth it, and way better than paper filters.

It is a slow pourer. You may think "well come on, how much of a hurry are you in?" But when you fill travel size mugs, you really notice how slow it is. It is not a deal breaker, just letting you know.

The big one: SPILLAGE! Yes, this happened, but it can be avoided.

The Spillage: I'd read all about the complaints "It overflowed all over my counter", "made a huge mess", "worst coffee maker ever", and so I was concerned. At first some people were chalking it up to not putting the lid of the carafe on properly. While this is slightly trickier than it could be, it is still very obvious if you have it threaded wrong and is not the problem. However, I did experience the spill-over, huge mess, grinds and coffee all over my kitchen. But I investigated this thoroughly and found out the problem was due to the very finely ground coffee. When ground to almost a powder texture, the coffee passes through the filter and into the carafe's unique brew-top lid. This lid has a separate compartment with a ball inside that allows it to brew through, and not spill when pouring. However, that area filled with the fine grounds and created a solid barrier that didn't allow coffee to go into the carafe anymore.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT OVER GRIND YOUR BEANS. This brewer seems to brew it at above normal strength anyway, so you do not need to grind your beans too much. Most pre-ground coffees are fine; it's just the custom grinders who can overdo it. Be careful, and you won't have this problem.

So, I set my timer up for 30 minutes before I need it, don't over-grind, and am very happy with this coffee maker. Hope this helps!

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Frigidaire Professional 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker

We'd switched to a Breville BKC700XL Gourmet Single-Serve Coffeemaker with Iced-Beverage Function (which I was fortunate to review for Amazon Vine) because it seems like every drip coffee maker we buy quits on us within a few months. But we just can't afford the K-cups, and using our own coffee with the My K-cup setup has been really messy and time-consuming. (Don't get me wrong: I love coffee made with the Breville, but sometimes you just want decent coffee fast and lots of it. There's a little more bitterness with a drip maker than with K-cups, but that just makes the coffee seem stronger.)

Out of the box, it's clear that the Frigidaire Professional 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker is of a higher class than your typical plastic drip coffee makers. Its appearance is solid, sleek, and industrial-looking. This is the kind of coffee maker I'd expect to see in a small office setting. It's tall, so be sure to measure your cabinets if you think you're going to want to slide it under them. (It doesn't fit under mine, but my cabinets are set too low even for a shorter coffee maker.) The entire top lifts up to pour in the water and access the filter, so keep that in mind.

One thing I love about this coffee maker is that you can set it to brew at high temperature, which will extract the coffee better than your usual drip makers. [UPDATE: The coffee maker brews with "superheated water"; as pointed out in the comments, this temperature is not adjustable. I misunderstood the manual and just left it at what I thought was the default highest temp for my testing.] You can also set it to brew regular strength or strong, and we've been using strong. It's definitely stronger than coffee from our Breville. We've been using the included reuseable gold filter so far, which does allow some fine dregs through, so next time we're at the grocery store we'll be getting some cone filters to use with it. I'm thinking the coffee is going to taste fabulous when filtered through a paper filter. (Users are cautioned not to use the gold filter and a paper cone filter simultaneously to avoid major overflow accidents, so if you're one of those who ignores the requisite "read before using" instructions, tuck this caveat into the back of your mind.)

After brewing, you have a (programmable) maximum of 120 minutes of warming before the bottom burner shuts off automatically. The lighted LED window shows you how much warming time is remaining and also the strength of your coffee and its brewed temperature. You can set the pot for autobrew, but we typically don't bother with that. It takes about 12 minutes to brew a full pot, which is less time than it used to take for two of us to individually load up and brew one cup each with the Breville/My K-cup setup. We're in a routine now of me pouring water into our Berkey (Big Berkey w/ 2 Black Berkey) before we go to bed at night and DH getting up before me to start the pot.

Which leads to the filter. The Frigidaire has a charcoal filter to filter your tap water for best taste. We're using it now as I test the product, but once it's past its use date, we'll probably not replace it. The coffee maker is smart enough to tell you when it's time to change the filter. It will work without it, but those who don't filter their tap water separately may wish to use filters, and the change filter notification feature is really quite nice.

Great looking coffee maker, and the brews taste good, too. For those of you wondering about replacement water filters, which appear to be unobtainable, the Cuisinart charcoal filters Cuisinart DCC-RWF *Triple Pack* Charcoal Water Filters; 1 Year Supply (6 total) are the same shape and size as the one that comes with the Frigidaire coffee maker. I just bought the coffee maker so I haven't used the replacement filters yet, but I ordered the Cuisinarts and compared them in-person, and they appear to be identical.

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This is one of the nicer coffee makers I've used. I had given up drinking drip coffee and was using the French Press, however, this coffee maker extracts good flavor from coffee.

The things I liked:

Auto feature Nothing like getting your coffee made by itself in the morning

Coffee Strength Strong or Regular can be selected which helps extract more flavor from coffee on Strong setting

Water filter The cartridge filter improves taste of coffee

Gold Mesh filter It's easy to clean and helps extract good flavor from coffee without any sediment

Option to set plate temperature for warming and set time to stay warm You can keep your coffee warm upto 120 min and the plate temperature can be set to medium, high or low so that your coffee does not get that burnt taste

Beeps after coffee is done brewing so there is no guess work involved

Water level indicator and provided coffee scoop

Easy to use, and fits under counter

Solid build, stainless finish

The negative:

The carafe leaks as the joint between glass and plastic rim had a little crack. I called customer service but since this is a new product they did not have any replacement parts. The leaky carafe is an annoyance as I have to clean up messes every time.

What would be nice to have:

An integrated grinder available in some coffee machines like Cuisinart, although that can get messy too.

A pause function so I can pour coffee mid-brew. If there is one I haven't found it.

Overall, a nice coffee maker but on the pricey side. The leaking carafe was a big disappointment. They've asked me to call back in a month to check for part availability. Hope I can get a replacement carafe soon!

Update July 2012It took a while but I got a new carafe shipped to me for free by customer service. I did not have to send the old one back. I have been using this coffee maker 2-3 times a day every day for past 7 months. It has held up well to all the coffee making and has handled various brands of coffee pretty well. I use a burr grinder to grind my coffee and if the grind is too fine it can create sediment if you use the included mesh filter. I just choose to leave the sediment in the cup. Also regular strength coffee setting works best to extract flavor from finely ground coffee. Strong coffee setting can produce a bitter taste from most coffees, especially the dark and robust roasts. In my opinion, it makes better coffee that some cheaper auto drip machines. I used to go to Starbucks more often before this machine almost everyday on the way to work but now I set the machine at night and prefer to have coffee at home made the way I like it, that has saved me quite a few $$. I am also using my coffee presses and other machines less and less as this machine is very convenient to use and makes pretty decent coffee.

I would now upgrade my rating to 4 stars, considering it has performed well with daily use.

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Have had numerous brands of coffee pots (Bunn, Cusinart, Mr. Coffee, Hamilton Beach) and this is one of the better ones. Attractive, nice features, real stainless steel exterior and a large clock. Also seems to be well constructed.

Just read one review where the reviewer listed 9 things she liked about this coffee pot and only one thing she didn't like...the fact that her carafe had a crack and as a result it leaked. Sorry to disagree with that reviewer's rating, but a cracked carafe is not a negative of this coffee maker, as a the coffee maker was not manufactured with a cracked carafe. This is a very nice coffee pot, reasonably priced and since I have been careful to not crack my carafe, I have no leaks or dripping when pouring a cup of coffee. This coffee maker does have an auto pause function.

This is a good coffee pot, at least thus far, and have no negatives to report. Would buy again.

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This makes great cups of coffee! I love my coffee, and it is my little morning indulgence. This coffee pot delivers better than any of the various coffee pots that I have used over the years. From the moment you pull it out of the box, you know you have just received a very well made product.

It has all sorts of convenience factors, as well. It beeps when the pot is done brewing, so there is no guesswork in knowing if the brewing process is over. One thing I experimented on, because I was running low on my favorite coffee was to try adjusting the strength to be able to use less ground coffee with it. I set it on strong, and used enough ground coffee for 8 cups, and the water for a full pot (12 cups). I didn't notice any weakness in the brew, and because of this feature I can now use 1/3 less ground coffee than before!

The gold filter is a nice touch, and the removable filter basket makes for easy cleaning. One thing you will notice when cleaning this unit, is that it is actually made of metal, and not just plastic made to look like metal. This may look similar to other coffee makers out there (I used to have a Gevalia that was very similar at first glance), but this one is much more sturdily made, has more features and just simply makes better coffee in the end.

I plan to use the carbon filters, as it does make a noticeable difference in the flavor of the coffee, when used. If they are not economical, I guess I will have to get one of those brita pitcher filter things. I have looked around and can't seem to find these filters on the market though, so that is currently somewhat of a concern. After searching on the web for the filters, that seems to be the only thing people are worried about with these, and I didn't see anyone that does not like these units for any reason.

If you love coffee (and you wouldn't be here reading this, if you didn't), you can't go wrong with this product. :)

Cuisinart DGB-650BC Grind-and-Brew Thermal 10-Cup Automatic Coffeemaker, Brushed Metal

I love the new look! We had the older version for about 6 years. This new one is sleeker and much easier to clean and keep clean (the inside where the grinder sits gets cakey due to condensation). I got it for $149, used Amazon Prime, and had it in a few days! I love it. If you're thinking of getting this grind and brew with stainless carafe, it is nice. Some parts will have to be replaced over the years like the older version, but the taste of the freshly ground coffee every day is worth it. I never pre-heat the carafe like the directions say because that defeats the purpose of the timer. I've never had an issue with the coffee temperature, it's always hot! I also recommend hand-washing over dishwasher. The carbon filters are similar to Brita and can be found for cheap at Kohl's. One other note is it only makes 10 cups as opposed to the typical 12 cups. This is fine for me because it's just me and my husband, but if you need to make a ton of coffee regularly, this may not be a good choice. Overall, I love it and I'm glad I traded up!

We had a DGB-600BC and used it daily for about 4 years. The grinder assembly finally seized and we could no longer remove it. We had been looking around for a new coffee maker, anyway, so we went ahead and bought this one (DGB-650BC) at a local store.

We've been using it for a couple weeks now and it makes a fine cup of coffee, just like the last one did. I noticed right away, that a few things that turned out to be issues with the last model had been fixed or improved upon with this one.

1) The grinder compartment is much better separated from the water reservoir and also designed better for all the grounds to go into the filter basket. The older model always left a bit of a mess, both in the grinder compartment and on the little shelf that separated the filter basket from the coffee pot, and around the burner plate. I haven't seen any of that mess with this model. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

2) The little shelf I spoke about in #1 is now gone. That's a plus. Since this maker is designed better, it isn't needed anyway. Also, this shelf caused build up around the door latch making it hard to shut after a very short time. I'm glad it's gone.

3) The filter basket door mechanism is far better designed. The old model I had to slam shut, sometimes repeatedly, before it would stay shut. This one has a much better and more sturdy hinge mechanism and latch.

4) New to this model (the old one didn't have this) is a window on the side so you can see how much water you're pouring in. It's clearly marked and has a red floating ball to make it easy to see. I really like this feature.

The grinder seem a little louder than the old one, but I've never met a coffee grinder that wasn't loud and it's only for a very short time. I love having freshly ground coffee first thing in the morning.

As far as cleanup goes for the grinding assembly and filter basket, it only takes a minute or two. Aside from the coffee pot itself, there are 5 pieces to clean and it really is quick and easy to empty the filter basket and rinse the pieces.

In short, this is fine coffee maker, much improved from the DGB-600BC, and I am happy we upgraded to it.

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Let me start by admitting that I am a novice when it comes to drinking coffee, much less owning coffee machines. This is the first coffee machine I've ever bought, but I've been very happy with it thus far. If you purchase it, definitely read the directions as there are a couple of small points they bring out, that you wouldn't otherwise know. (For instance, when you place the goldtone coffee filter in, the handle which can rest in either direction, must face outwards.) I just mention this, since I am usually one to NOT read directions, and I'm sure most others who have owned coffe machines wouldn't either, but it seems valuable in this particular case.

The main reason I went with this unit, was Cuisineart had the only ones in Bed Bath & Beyond which can be programmed to grind then brew. I leave it on my desk at work, and have it programmed to grind/brew right before I arrive in the morning. And it's awesome. Only used it several times so far, but no complaints. Cleaning is relatively easy but (like any other coffee brewer/grinder I assume) you have to clean it every day. Not a big deal though, so far I've just been taking the grinder and filter parts out, and rinsing them out. Not sure how important it is to use soap...

The most valuable thing I can tell you, that you won't read on the box, is that the thermal caraffe REALLY DOES work great. I don't pre-heat the caraffe, since I have it sitting out from the night before. I have mine programmed to start brewing at 8:30am. And believe it or not, despite the fact that there is no heater that runs after it's done brewing... the coffee stays HOT for a long time. It stays piping hot for several hours, and even at 2:30pm, it is still drinkably warm. I never expected it to stay that warm for 6 hours, far exceeded my expecations.

Easy to program, but you have to remember to press the Program button each night before. Although, that's not really a big deal since you have to add water and all the other stuff anyway. It's a safety feature really.

Grinder noise isn't super loud, and it only runs for 60 seconds so who cares. Mine is sitting on my desk in my cube, but I program it to run before most people arrive in the office so it's not a problem.

Very short 2ft. power cord with the unit, which will be great for kitchen countertops where you can put it by an outlet, otherwise you might need an extension cord.

Can't speak about reliability. Hopefully they fixed some of the issues people had with this unit's predecessor. Will revise my review later if I have issues.

I've rated it 5 stars, for $129 I feel that I got what I expected and paid for, and really don't have any complaints. I also haven't seen ANYTHING in the market that does what this does, in the same price range. Is there not a demand for coffee grinder/brewers? I mean, why wouldn't you want to have something that you can program to do both before you even wake up? For me, there was no other choice.

Cuisinart has a more expensive model than this one, but it was $70 more and the only feature that really seemed to be valuable was it's "burr grinder" which is supposedly better. But it didn't seem like that was worth $70 more to me, so I thought this was the best value.

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I ordered this coffee maker knowing that Cuisinart produces very fine products but I have to say I am not real happy with this particular product. The grinder grinds the beans VERY coarse which doesn't make a very strong cup of coffee so I'm back to grinding my coffee with my burr grinder. The setting for 1-4 cups does not make the water warmer as advertised (it comes out luke warm) so I just don't push that button when making a small pot of coffee. I do find that when brewing a full pot it does keep the coffee hot for quite a while. I think, if I order another Cuisinart coffeemaker in the future, that I will pay a little more and get the coffeemaker with the burr grinder and with a hot-plate instead of the thermal carafe.

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For those who want grind and brew features this is the best product for the money. There are the higher priced models but some of us have to stay on a budget. Compared to the earlier version, I've had 3 of the earlier ones; they do tend to break down after 2 years. This model has significant improvements. The best is that it is so much easier to clean the grinding area. The earlier model was next to impossible, this more open design makes it possible to actually get those beans that get into the grinding area out.

In reading the other reviews I did have a few concerns.

1. The sediment from the filter: Well that's the reality of permanent filters. So it's convenience of not having to get those paper things out and over to the trash. If that detail is annoying use paper. Even the high priced machines have that issue and Cuisnart clearly informs you of this issue with a notice before unpacking the product.

2. Noise: The review that goes on about how noisy this machine is. Gad face reality, these are coffee beans getting ground up in somewhat large area in an enclosed area without a lot of sound insulation. It is going to get loud. No louder than a regular coffee grinder and a lot quieter than a garbage disposal. To avoid having the noise in the morning I do the unthinkable, grind the beans the evening before. OK, I'm not a purist.

3. Coffee not the right temp: Face reality, the carafe is going to be the same temp as the room it's sitting in. So it like most people who turn down there temp in their house at night to let's say even 68 degrees at night or even 70, the the physics say the carafe temp is going to be 70. Now, brew coffee and when it gets into the insulated carafe the temp is going to average out. Since the insulated model doesn't have a warming plate, you're may want to take into consideration that you're brewing into a room temp carafe and the coffee temp is going to cool down. Cuisinart clearly informs you that simply warming up the carafe with hot water before brewing takes care of this issue. I easily deal with this when the machine starts brewing you have a good 30-45 seconds before the first drop comes out and the machine does have a function to keep coffee from coming out unless the carafe is properly placed. That gives plenty of time to run some hot water into it, get the inside temp up and the result is coffee at the perfect temp. Now I do have to say that it is very easy for me because I have one of those instant hot water faucets at the sink so I don't have to wait for the hot water to start flowing.

There have been some very good user oriented changes to this model. It's not perfect, but for the money it's the best you're going to find on the market. Take the critics in these reviews with a grain of salt.

Of course one of the reasons I am really, really happy with this machine is that I ran into it when Amazon had it on sale for $110 with a $30 rebate from Cuisinart. My final cost was $85!! I called customer service to see how the rebate would work. They told me a mail-in coupon would come with the product. When the product arrived ( 3 days later, and I used the free standard shipping during the holiday period) there was no rebate coupon. I called customer service and their response was "we'll just add a $30 credit" to your account. I was expecting getting a run around anticipating that they would put the problem off on Cuisinart. But no, Amazon steps up to plate, resolves the problem in less than 1 minute and the credit appeared on my credit card the next day. Now that is customer service!!

My hats off to Amazon to putting the customer first. Beyond the coffee maker at $85 final cost with free shipping, I have to say that Amazon has matured into a very customer focused retailer. They have moved beyond good prices and the convenience of shopping at home; they are real competition to the brick & moter stores. Amazon's focus on the customer actually gives the retail experience a lot of us remember in the "old department store" days.

I have never taken the time to write a product review, but I do enjoy having them available to get unbiased reviews and input. This time I felt it was only fair to take the time to put a realistic perspective to some of the negative reviews while at the same time expressing my positive experience with Amazon. For me Amazon has primarily been a convenience factor, now I shop with them because of their dependability and customer service focus. Price is not the driver for me anymore. I've just learned that if I really want customer service, the most reliable and predictable place to shop is Amazon!!

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Braun 3107 Tassimo Coffee Maker

Hot-beverage system brews drinks at the touch of a button in about a minute

Patented T-Disc system with barcode technology; customizable strength settings

Beverages pour directly from T-Disc into cup; no measuring, no fuss, and virtually no cleanup

Measures approximately 10 by 15 by 16 inches;

Makes espresso, cappucino, hot cocoa, tea, and coffee just with a push of a button.

The system works great and makes delicious beverages. Used it at work.

Used machine, bought to use up remaining discs after buying two new machines over the past six years; neither now functioning. This used machine works fine -so far. Good price. Good delivery.

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Alessi 9095/3 B La Cupola Espresso Coffee Maker 3 Cups

We bought this coffee pot (correctly called a Moka) in Sicily 9 years ago. Since then we have used it regularly to make what we think is great coffee (although I'm no expert). The 3 cup size is perfect for a large 12oz. cappuccino or for two 8oz cappuccinos (yes I know the maths don't add up!). Once made the mistake of putting part of the pot in the dishwasher which dulled the aluminium. Since then we've followed the instructions and only rinsed the pot in warm water, leaving the coffee residue to coat the insides of the pot. The rubber seal(gasket) needs to be changed every year or so. Try to buy a few when you get buy the pot then your retailer should be able to give you the correct ones, otherwise look on-line for Bialetti replacement gaskets they sell a 3 pack with a new aluminium sieve.

Makes good espresso, but take care with gas stoves as the modern ones have a large ring of fire, much larger than the base of the coffee pot,. Not only is the fire-ring waaay bigger than the pot, but the gap in the center of the iron stove-top ring is much bigger too. Therefore you need to precariously place the pot at the edge of the ring of fire, and take care not to let the whole thing tip into the gap of the iron ring on your stove (that iron thing that sits on top of the ring of fire that holds up your pots.)

Aside for the above challenge, it's a good little thing. Pretty, and makes a good cuppa joe. Easy to clean, and makes a fast cuppa (6 minutes).

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