dboyes's Full Review: Cuisinart DCC-1200 12-Cup Coffee Maker
I'm normally a fan of the Kitchenaid products, but when my vintage 1950's 25-cup church coffee urn finally went to the Great Beyond and as I no longer have to make coffee for large herds of people at home, I decided to replace it with something a little bit smaller and more convenient to wash. Upon doing a bit of shopping around at the local kitchen gadget stores and similar places, I finally settled on the Cuisinart 12 cup coffee maker as a acceptable replacement.
The machine is essentially a tall rectangular shape with all the various working orifices on the top or front of the rectangle. The carafe fits into a recess in the front, and the water fill area and filter are located on the top of the cylinder, protected by a flat plastic lid. The styling is somewhat retro (chrome/stainless steel with black plastic fittings), and the package includes a metal permanent filter, a 5-pack of paper filters, a small plastic scoop, and a charcoal water filter. The general construction quality is good, with no sharp edges or problems, and the cord is long enough to allow positioning the coffee maker at some distance from the outlet.
The controls for the coffee maker are on the front above the carafe recess, and include a LCD display for automatic on at a specific time and selection of warming time following coffee brewing. There is a selector for 1-4 cups (shortens the brewing time and volume). Manual coffee brewing is started by a spring-loaded toggle switch in the center of the console. The LCD is not backlighted, so it's somewhat difficult to see in average to poor light, and the functions for the hour/minute setting and brew settings are painted on the surface. Water is added by opening the top and pouring the water into the reservoir at the rear of the right side of the unit. There is a internal measure of number of cups in the reservoir.
So, what do I like best about this unit? Mostly, the best features are the compact size and front mounted controls. The whole thing fits neatly in about 6 inches of counter space, and you can reach all the important pieces without moving it around or hunting for buttons or dials. The gold-tone metal permanent coffee filter is a nice inclusion, and makes it fairly inexpensive to keep the machine fed.
The machine does have some down sides, however. First, the water reservoir is *very* awkward to fill -- the opening is small, and if you're uncoordinated or pre-coffee, you're likely to spill water over the side of the machine and all over the countertop.
Second, having the filter and water reservoir on the top of the unit is generally a good idea, but it does mean that you can't put this machine on the counter underneath standard kitchen cabinets and still be able to fill it with water -- there isn't enough clearance between the fill cover and the bottom of a standard cabinet to allow you to get to the water reservoir with a full carafe of water.
Third, to achieve the small size, the carafe is also fairly compact. This translates to a fairly small handle on the carafe -- take care when pouring that your knuckles don't come into contact with the hot carafe. It's not hard to burn yourself if you're not careful.
Fourth, there seems to be no way to adjust the strength of the coffee other than to add or remove grounds. Most of the other coffee makers in similar price ranges offer this feature, so it's a bit surprising that this feature is missing from this unit.
Fifth, the LCD clock display is *impossible* to read in most kitchen lighting. It *really* needs a backlight -- even a dim green LED or something would help a bunch. This lack makes using the timer and clock features really difficult -- you can't see the numbers well enough to set it reliably, and you can't see the clock at all from more than a few inches away.
So, overall, it's a nice unit if you don't really make a lot of coffee, if you just want something that looks nice in a stainless steel mode kitchen, or are really pressed for space. It makes fairly average coffee -- disappointing compared to other Cuisinart models such as the Grind 'n Brew or similarly priced Kitchenaid or Braun models -- and the retro styling is nothing too exciting. It's OK, but just OK. When it wears out, I'll probably replace it with another brand.
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