IT'S A KEEPER!

by Cheryllynn
(Houston)

Cuisinart DCC-1150 Coffee Maker
Just bought this model and after much thought have decided it’s a keeper! One of the reasons I bought it was because of the thermal carafe. I like the idea of drinking coffee from a stainless steel carafe rather than a plastic carafe that’s been sitting on a warming plate – I just feel that it’s healthier. When I did the first run through with water the night before, the water in the carafe was still quite warm the next morning 9 hours later!

There was not a model on display at the store so I thought maybe there was a coffee gauge on the carafe, but there is not. So, you can't see how much coffee you have left without opening the carafe. I'm having to use more than the one scoop per cup as recommended in the instructions—this model makes a little bit of a weaker coffee than my previous coffeemaker. I also didn’t think the coffee was as hot as my previous coffeemaker, but then discovered that using the 1-4 cup feature made it more to my liking (it makes the coffee hotter).

I had to pour the water into the unit with my left hand because it was easier to look at the fill line on the right side of the unit without having to turn the unit to the side when pouring with right hand. But, the carafe is very easy to pour from, pours smoothly and doesn’t spill. Also, it was difficult for me to pour an entire carafe of water into the unit due to the design of the carafe, so I had to put some water in the carafe a second time. The carafe pours much slower than a plastic carafe but that's because it’s pretty much airtight. I’ve already gotten used to that.

It's different having the unit cut completely off immediately after the brewing cycle – might now have to open the carafe to see if someone has already made coffee, how warm it is, etc. But, the good side to that is that it conserves energy and that makes me feel good! The coffee was still very warm and fresh an hour and a half after brewing and tasted fresh. Our previous units would have had an unpleasant taste after that amount of time. I also like that it has a water filter as I use tap water for coffee. I really like the way it looks, too. The pros outweigh the cons for me, so I’m going to keep my Cuisinart DCC-1150.