Cuisinart Grind & Brew Thermal 12-Cup Automatic Coffeemaker

Gramps

New member
I would like to solicit opinions here in regard to this particular Cuisinart coffee maker (shown below). We have always had very good luck with Cuisinart coffee makers before, but this newest coffee maker, purchased last year, has been nothing short of a nightmare. For reasons that we still can't understand or figure out, it refuses to make even a halfway decent cup of coffee.

cuisinart_12_cup_grind_and_brew_automatic_thermal_coffee_maker_dgb-900bcjpg_detail.gif


http://www.everythingkitchens.com/c...ic_coffee_maker_grind_and_brew_DGB-900BC.html

We have tried everything and are just about ready to write to Cuisinart and attempt to get them to swap us for a replacement coffee maker of a different design; however, my lady friend asked me to ask here first about the experience of others. She is trying to figure out if we just got a defective unit? Or if they are all this bad? Thanks!!!

Take care,
Tom
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
This is the one that I have and have been very pleased with it. I have seen the one that you are talking about and have heard several complaints about it...mostly about how difficult it is to clean, the coffee isn't hot enough and sometimes it overflows. If you want fresh ground coffee, I'd buy the Cuisinart like the one below and buy a separate coffee grinder.

0086279003836_L4.jpg
 

Gramps

New member
This is the one that I have and have been very pleased with it. I have seen the one that you are talking about and have heard several complaints about it...mostly about how difficult it is to clean, the coffee isn't hot enough and sometimes it overflows. If you want fresh ground coffee, I'd buy the Cuisinart like the one below and buy a separate coffee grinder.
Thanks much for the feedback Mama. We have had two other Cuisinart coffee makers that did both grinding and brewing... and both were/are perfectly fine. One just plain wore out on us after many years of good service and the other one (less complicated and without a thermal pot) still makes perfect coffee to this day. It's only that newest (and by far most expensive) one that doesn't make decent coffee no matter what we try. :yuk:

I'm probably not going to get much feedback on it. After all, who buys a $200 coffee maker these days??? :confused: Our mistake for doing so. :sad:

Take care,
Tom
 
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bowlingshirt

New member
After all, who buys a $200 coffee maker these days??? :confused:

Well, there are coffee makers out there that cost ALOT more than that. But I would go with Mama's advice and stick with a separate grinder and coffee maker instead of an all-in-one type of machine.
 

Gramps

New member
Well, there are coffee makers out there that cost ALOT more than that. But I would go with Mama's advice and stick with a separate grinder and coffee maker instead of an all-in-one type of machine.
If it were up to (retired) me, I'd agree with you. Fortunately or unfortunately, my lady friend, a coffee fanatic, has not yet reached retirement age. She loves to wake up early on a workday to a freshly ground & brewed cup of coffee (prepared for and "scheduled" by her the night before). In this regard, Cuisinart has her totally hooked!

The concept is fine. It does work. Our previous Cuisinart coffee makers have been fine and made great coffee. It is only this newest one that has been a complete disaster.

Take care,
Tom
 

chowhound

New member
I'll bet if you called Cuisinart up you'd get some satisfaction on the purchase of one of thier other products, or perhaps a replacement coupon. (as long as your current one isn't too old)
 

Gramps

New member
I'll bet if you called Cuisinart up you'd get some satisfaction on the purchase of one of thier other products, or perhaps a replacement coupon. (as long as your current one isn't too old)
I think you're right. The unit is now close to a year old. We kept thinking that we were doing something wrong... that we were at fault instead of the coffee maker. Looking back now, our "patience" and myriad failed attempts to try every possible solution with this newest machine look a little bit silly.

Believe it or not, last week the store we bought it from generously offered to take it back for a full refund... but I don't see this as a store issue. It may be expedient, but we are not that kind of people.

We will deal directly with Cuisinart once we figure out... as first mentioned above... whether we just happened to get a defective unit or whether there is an inherent problem or flaw with this particular model.

The bottom line is that my lady friend would really like to try another one of the same model/design (or maybe having ours fixed?) if we just happened to get a defective one.

On the other hand, if this design/model is somehow flawed, we would like to be able to chose a different Cuisinart model that works!

Take care,
Tom
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
I buy drip grind coffee at the store, so grinding beans is not something I'm knowledgeable about. But, there are a bunch of coffee fanatics on my fly fishing forum who have stated that freshly ground beans should be aged for some time before using for fresh brewed coffee. they claim the coffee is too bitter if you use the beans right away. Do we have any coffee aficionados to verify their claim?
 

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
I went hi-tech, a $10 French Press from the coffee vendor at the Farmers Market and a $5 grinder from Goodwill. That was a cool find as it is made by Starbucks and cost $40 new.
I buy whole bean (preferably from Scott at the Farmers Market), and grind it as I use it. I can make two cups of coffee, one for DW and one for me, in about half the time a drip takes.

JoeV, I would agree with them if you grind it and then put it in a drip coffee maker like the Cuisinart, but if you use a French Press like I do it doesn't effect the flavor.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
I have the original version of this back when they were making it in colours. Mine's red.

I have no problems with it. Use it every day. What specifically are you finding that you don't like about it?
 

Gramps

New member
I have the original version of this back when they were making it in colours. Mine's red.

I have no problems with it. Use it every day. What specifically are you finding that you don't like about it?
It just makes a terrible tasting cup of coffee. Sometimes bad, sometimes very bad... never good. My lady friend is the real expert on running these complicated Cuisinart Grind & Brew machines so I can't really tell you every adjustment and detail of what she has tried, but it seems to me she has tried every last trick in the book (including trying a variety of different coffee beans) with negative results.

This is in stark contrast to our other still-working Cuisinart Grind & Brew (the much cheaper model DGB-300BK, shown below) which makes superb coffee every time.

41EVXQAFX8L._AA280_.jpg


[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DGB-300BK-Automatic-10-Cup-Coffeemaker/dp/B00000JGRS[/ame]


From your satisfactory experience, it sounds like we just got ourselves a defective one.

Take care,
Tom
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Is it possible the filter needs to be changed? Not the one that catches the grinds, but the one that filters your water? There was a tiny filter that got placed at the bottom of the water resevoir....

It's a flavour thing, not a mechanical thing?? Could there be machine oil still in the works??

Other than coffee, what do you taste?

The one I have looks similar to the black one you posted...only I think mine might be even older than that version. I've had it almost 5 years.
 

Gramps

New member
Is it possible the filter needs to be changed? Not the one that catches the grinds, but the one that filters your water? There was a tiny filter that got placed at the bottom of the water resevoir....

It's a flavour thing, not a mechanical thing?? Could there be machine oil still in the works??

Other than coffee, what do you taste?

The one I have looks similar to the black one you posted...only I think mine might be even older than that version. I've had it almost 5 years.
Ours is just under a year old... so it could be a slightly different version.

I'm not very good at being able to discern specific tastes or flavors (a sad fact, as I have mentioned elsewhere). I doubt it is any residual machine oil after so many tries at making this thing work. Anything left over from the manufacturing process must have been flushed out by now.

Functionally, the machine appears to be working as intended. It grinds beans and makes coffee... just very bad coffee. The coffee comes out reasonably hot so our suspicions about a too-low brewing temperature remain unproven. I know that my friend has done a lot of work with adjusting settings, but there has never been any improvement.

I can check the water filter and let you know if I see anything funny. I remember it getting clogged on a former unit and I did have to clean it.

Quite frankly, this is a real mystery to me. Making coffee is not rocket science after all. Why this one machine makes such terrible coffee when the others were great is beyond my old brain's ability to figure it out.

Take care,
Tom
 
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