Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

Most coffee makers will make coffee Cuisinart DCC490SA 10 Cup Coffee Maker I ignored the three of the previous reviews and decided to give this coffee maker a try. I was excited about the a...

Does what it was meant to do Cuisinart DCC490SA 10 Cup Coffee Maker I bought this coffee maker at Costco over a year ago for under $100. I've been regularly making 4 cups on a daily ...

After my old coffee maker died, I thought that it would be really convenient to have one that not only brewed the coffee on a timer to have ready in the morning, but also grind the fresh beans automatically. This product was a true disappointment.

I bought this particular model because of the Cuisinart name and reputation. I thought that it would be well designed and very durable. This couldn’t have been more further from the truth.

Upon unpacking and setting up, I found the controls to be very easy to manage without opening the user’s manual. Setting the clock and the brew times was a breeze.

The coffee maker also comes with a charcoal filter for the water which snaps into a long “stick” that slides into the water chamber. Since I have a PUR filter on my kitchen tap, I didn’t bother to use it. However, I found that it would be an added expense to keep replacing those filters since they are only available from Cuisinart.

So, I set the unit up for morning coffee. I opened the top lid and poured in the full pot of water. I then opened the cover to the grinder and placed the whole beans inside and closed the unit.

When brewing time came the next morning, I thought a 747 was taking off in my kitchen. The grinder is extremely loud (though most grinders are) primarily because the hollow plastic parts of the coffee maker act as a resonator and amplify the sounds. The grinder went on for a good 30-40 seconds after the beans had been finished and then the coffee began to brew. The unit held the caraffe at a good hot temperature and automatically turned off after 2 hours (this is a user-set option - up to 3 hours).

After having the coffee, I decided that I needed to clean it and prepare it for the next day. I opened the top to discover a cleaning nightmare. The grinder side was caked with coffee grinds. I lifted the cover and bottom off of the motor and found that the parts of the grinder (especially the spout part that dumps the grinds into the filter) were very hard to get at to clean all of the residue and oils. Everything had to be thoroughly dried before returning to the grinder mechanism or else subsequent grinds will stick to the insides of the grinder and never make it to the basket.

Upon pressing the release button for the filter basket, it snapped open with such force that the top came off and spilled coffee grinds on the counter. This is another poorly designed area. The filter basket and cover are easy enough to clean. However, there is a “ledge” where the whole thing slides into that gets grinds forever sticking to it. Being a very tight, small space, it was difficult to clean.

After using it for more than 6 months, I began to notice that the grinder assembly was getting more and more difficult to lift off of the unit to clean. Eventually it got completely stuck. The way it’s designed, there is no place to get a tool underneath to try and pry it out without breaking it. So, I can no longer use the auto grinder. The only thing that I CAN do is to lift the top and dry the condensation from the inside so that there is no further rusting or debris caught inside.

After 1 year, the teflon coating on the warmer plate started to flake off, which is no big deal, but just makes for additional cleaning to make it presentable looking.

In the end, I was very disappointed with this coffee maker. When it dies, I will go back to a cheaper, non-grinding unit and use my handy small Braun grinding mill for the beans.

I think that the designers at Cuisinart really did a poor job at thinking about the consumer when creating this coffee maker. It is difficult to clean, has too many flaws, and is not durable at all. I would NOT recommend this to anyone.

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