Programmable Coffee Maker by Cuisinart: Effortless Fresh Brews

I bought this coffeemaker for my wife as a Christmas present (2011). We love it a lot. It makes great, HOT coffee, and the hot water system works perfectly. If you are like me, you are reading these comments in order to learn whether or not you should buy this product. With that in mind, let me give you a few things to consider:The Not So Good1. Plastic taste – A number of folks have complained about a plasticy taste, especially on the hot water side, and I can verify that we have experienced a little of that, but only on the coffee side. It took us about 3-4 pots of coffee before the plastic aftertaste went away, and we haven’t tasted it since. We have never tasted it on the hot water side. It’s possible that the people who keep tasting it truly have models that have a problem, but it’s also possible that they just imagine they are tasting it. Either way, at least for us, whatever plastic taste was there before seems to be gone now.2. Hard to fill the coffee reservoir – It is true that the hole you pour water through to fill the coffee side is poorly positioned and quite small. Some folks use a funnel, others rotate around to the side of the coffeemaker to improve their pouring angle. Me? I just pour carefully. I have not spilled any water (yet). My biggest issue is that I find the last 1/2 cup of water difficult to get out of the carafe. If I try to pour 8 cups of water into the reservoir I can get the first 7 1/2 out easily, but that last little bit is tough. To compensate I just fill the carafe with a cup or so more water than what I intend to pour into the reservoir – say, 9+ cups if I want to brew 8 – and then discard whatever extra water is left in the carafe. Problem solved.3. Slight residue from coffee grounds – We use the bundled reusable coffee filter. We have found that it leaves a very fine residue from the coffee grounds at the bottom of our coffee, which isn’t a big deal, but is at least something worth mentioning in case that sort of thing bothers you.4. Coffee brewing time – The coffeemaker is not slow, but it certainly is not fast. Reading some reviews led me to think this thing made really fast coffee, which just is not the case. I would say it’s average, which really isn’t bad, per se, but you should temper your expectations. A Bunn this is not.The Good1. Great coffee – Isn’t this why you buy a coffeemaker? This unit makes really good coffee, period. It is VERY hot. I mean, you can put cold milk/creamer in your coffee and it’ll still be hot when you’re through, especially if you select the hottest carafe heat setting (a nice touch, I might add). A coffeemaker should make good coffee, and this one does not disappoint.2. Speedy hot water system – I was very impressed with how fast the hot water system heated the water. Once again, after reading some reviews you would think this thing took forever. It doesn’t. In just a few minutes it does its job as advertised. It’s certainly faster than heating up a pot on the stove, although it only heats one serving or so at a time. But the reheats in between each serving take less time than the initial heating of the first serving, a real plus if you plan on making more than one hot drink at a time. But keep in mind that this hot water system is not intended to completely replace a kettle if you intend to fix a lot of tea or hot cocoa at one time. If you are making hot drinks for more than 2-3 people at a time, it might be faster to heat a lot of water on your stove rather than waiting for multiple reheats. As long as you keep this in mind I don’t think you will be at all disappointed with the hot water system. It really does work well.3. Simultaneous dual function – I got the impression from previous reviewers that you could not make coffee and hot water at the same time. This is not true. My unit will brew coffee on one side and heat up water on the other side simultaneously. Perhaps Cuisinart updated this model to add this function, or perhaps the previous reviewers were simply wrong. All I know is that mine does both at the same time and they both perfectly.I disagree with some of the reviewers who complained about other various issues with this coffeemaker. The hot water drain plug on the bottom of the unit is positioned exactly where it should be, and is simple enough to use. If you are using simple tap water for the hot water system it’ll work just fine. The five beeps that indicate that the coffee is finished brewing are not too loud, nor intrusive. My microwave makes more noise when it beeps. The hot water reservoir should be drained occasionally (since you canot dispense all the water you put in), but this isn’t as big of a deal as previous reviewers make it out to be. This takes about 10 seconds of your week. The electrical cord is a little short, but do people expect it to be 10 feet long? In the end, just like with any product being reviewed by hundreds of people, every possible flaw will be brought to light. But all in all I think this is a great product that is worth the money (assuming you buy it on sale – the retail price on this thing is outrageous; I got it for $85). I highly recommend it.

6 Month Update: It works perfectly as new and I have found no issues whatsoever. My original review below stands as originally written. If I have any problems in the future I will note them here.Since I don’t lend a lot of credence to reviews written by those who have just opened their shiny new item and are gushing with naive enthusiasm I will make my initial review quite brief at this time. I promise to follow up with a more comprehensive review in about 6 months.The reason for my purchase of this item is that my lovely wife and I drink coffee in the mornings and also I drink quite a bit of hot tea later in the day. Instead of turning on the microwave every time I need more hot water I thought this unit would satisfy both requirements nicely. And indeed so far it is succeeding nicely.I was concerned that the hot water dispenser would consume a lot of energy, but in fact it does not. Reason: While that side holds over a quart of water it only actually heats about 15oz at a time. Great idea! It takes about a minute longer to heat each batch of water than my microwave, but as soon as you dispense the hot water it immediately begins heating another batch. It might not be the best for those who want a larger amount of hot water at one time, but it works very well for my purposes. Just FYI.There are several small but thoughtful items that makes this unit a good value in my opinion not the least of which it is actually two units in one. For example:1) The #4 cone style filter that comes with this unit brews a superior cup of coffee in my opinion and better utilizes the coffee in a more even way. The fine wire mesh filter that comes with the unit sells for about $8 alone and means you never have to buy another paper filter. And you get a better yield for your coffee dollar. Its my opinion but not only mine.2) There is a small silver button looking device under where the carafe is placed that is the actual heating element. This provides a much more accurate way of keeping the coffee at the desired temperature. When you press the “1 – 4 cups” button on the front of the machine a blue light comes on.This function keeps the brewed coffee in the carafe at a lower and more desirable temperature when brewing smaller portions. It keeps the fresh brewed coffee from getting that burned stale taste that results from being heated for too long at too high a temperature. Just trivia those who care about keeping the flavor of the coffee good longer.2) The coffee maker can be set to automatically turn off after a certain period of time after the coffee is brewed.*** UPDATE of 10/25/12 ***This unit has turned out to be so practical that I have purchased a second one for my mother. For anyone who drinks hot tea or other drinks requiring preheated water, the water heating part of this unit is really useful. It heats ~15oz of water at a time and holds nearly another quart in reserve that automatically feeds into the heating area as you drain the first 15oz. I only wish it made some sort of sound to alert me once the water is hot. It only takes about 3 minutes to heat the water by the way.*** UPDATE OF 04/07/14I have been using this unit – both sides – several times a day since new. It seems there is a problem with the hot water tank leaking. It leaks into the coffee reservoir. Which isn’t so bad I suppose. After all it is a small leak, but seems to want to get bigger. Also it doesn’t leak if I don’t fill the tank to the full line. Otherwise it is still working well. I would definitely purchase again.