Cuisinart DGB-500 12-Cup Coffee Maker  Product Reviews

"I used to buy whole beans and grind them at the store. Then I'd come home and get maybe one or two really good pots of coffee before the whole bag would go stale. I bought a little grinder but it wasn't consistent. Sometimes I'd end up with gravel. Sometimes I'd end up with dust. What I really wanted was a coffee maker I could just shovel some beans into, press go and end up with a good cup of coffee. Well I've found it. This is simply an excellent coffee maker. I followed the directions and the first cup was the best cup of home brewed coffee I'd ever had. Now, it goes without saying that any coffee maker that filters the water, grinds the beans and makes the coffee is going to have a lot of pieces and parts which need to be cleaned regularly. The great thing is that every part that requires cleaning on this coffee maker is dishwasher safe. It's also flexible. If your coffee is pre-ground you can turn off this maker's grinder and just use your pre-ground coffee. Why the heck you would want to do that is beyond me but it must be common or they wouldn't have added that option to the coffee maker. So, let's recap. It's easy to use, easy to clean and produces great coffee."

"1. This pot makes a really great cup of coffee! I use 1 level Cuisinart scoop (a very small-size scoop) of beans per 2 cups of water on the carafe's marking line. It makes a very economical, rich, and delicious cup of java, every time! 2. Yes, the grinder sounds like a grinder, all right. It's a little louder than that of a separate grinder, but it only takes 15 seconds. 3. Clean-up is a zip--5 minutes, total--to hand wash, rinse, and dry the carafe and lid, the 3 filter basket parts, and the 2 grinder parts. I think of it as a meditative ritual, not quite as historic as preparing Japanese tea, but equally rewarding, in the end. ;^) "

"I hate this coffeemaker. I have never written a review before, but I hate it so much I have to spill. It is a major pain to clean (particularly the grinder) as everyone else says. not only does it have to be completely clean, it has to be completely dry or the grinds will coagulate on the lid of the grinder and will not go into the filter basket. It was such a pain to clean and use that I eventually bought a separate grinder to use instead. Then approximately nine months after I bought the coffeemaker it started shutting down in the middle of the brewing cycle. If I banged the side hard enough and long enough it would start again. Less than one year after buying it, it stopped brewing completely. If I had the receipt I would send it back to the manufacturer. I am very annoyed because this was not a cheap coffeemaker, and I originally bought it because of the reputation of the Cuisinart brand. I am very fussy and quality and temperature of my coffee is very important to the success of my day, and my overall outlook on life! So I gave up on the Cuisinart completely, and went out last night and bought a Black and Decker Cafe Noir for $16. Works great. Coffee is hot and well brewed. Don't buy this overpriced, cheaply made Cuisinart piece of junk, it is not worth the money they want for it."

"I think the idea is novel, but the cleanup is ridiculous! It sends the water right through the coffee grinder making a huge mess. Also, in white, it gets filthy on the outside as well. I bought this for my husband as a father's day present, and this year I bought him a machine we'll actually enjoy."