Cooking Brands Reviews

I bought this coffee pot after owning the older version of the grind and brew. Silly of me to think this would be an improvement. The front load basket design is terrible. It is a true "pain" to clean this section, you cannot get your hands or any tool I have in my kitchen to clean the mechanisms. Therefore, the brew basket sticks and at times the latch that holds the basket in will at times be gummed up. Then when you start to brew your coffee thinking that the latch is closed, its not - its gummed up. Not a problem until the heat and moisture from the brewing coffee loosen the gunk up and your basket shoots out and the coffee brews all over your counter. As many times as hubby and I try to clean this its become too much of a pain, this coffee pot is out of here... and on its way to the curb. I actually am contemplating sending it back to cuisinart in pieces!!!!!!
Poor design. Did I mention the coffee itself does not seem to have the same flavor as the other machine. I think this one brews at a higher temp making the coffee bitter.

My advise as a seasoned coffee maker/drinker. PASS save your money and your headaches.

I am not a fan of the pause and pour feature. IT is a button and if the pot is not directly under button the coffe over flows. On two occasions the machine stopped dripping coffee in the pot, casing grounds to overflow the filter. I can only assume the pot was not perfectly placed. I searched for a red coffee maker at a resonable price but could find none without this type of pause and pour. I may have to remove button for 100% satisfaction. But I love the red accents in my kitchen.

I recently bought one of these coffee makers because it had all the features I was looking for. I wanted a programmable 12oz. coffee maker with water filter and permanent coffee grounds basket with an interrupt feature so I could pour a cup before the brewing cycle was complete. I was really dissatisfied when I actually used it. I wanted a 12 cup coffee maker. This maker measures cups as 4.5oz. rather than 6oz. so it is actually a nine cup maker. Secondly, the only way to completely empty the carafe is to turn it completely upside down. This may be an intentional design to keep the last ounce of coffee and coffee grounds in the bottom of the carafe, but it makes filling the water reservoir more difficult which is already inconvenient as has been noted by several other reviewers. The reservior sight guage and carafe volume markings don't match either. You have to add more water to get the sight gauge up to 12 cups. This might also be intentional design since some of the water will be trapped in the grounds. I liked the fact that a permanent gold toned coffee grounds basket was included but the unit I got didn't have one. I would have to order one for $10 plus shipping and handling to get one that would fit this coffee maker. And finally, the coffee tastes bad. The first time I used it, I brewed a couple pots with water only, then made my first pot of real coffee. It had a nasty, strange plastic flavor that I thought was because it was new. I tried descaling it a couple of times with vinegar and water but the bad flavor remained. That sort of defeats the point of having a water filter included. I will try brewing a few more pots, but if I can't get rid of that strange flavor, I will trash this machine.

I bought the Cuisinart for the name. Big mistake. After mashing the garlic, the little basket is consistently pulled out and PLOP! falls right into the food you merely wanted garlic in. So....if it falls into very hot olive oil, it can splash onto your hand and you have to quickly find something to pull the basket out of the oil. Bottom line, be forewarned----clever design in the boardroom, very poor design for the kitchen!