Cuisinart DCC 1200 12 Cup Coffee Maker: Review

After having my coffee pot for over three years (and one highly recommended as a Best Buy in Consumer Reports), it suddenly began to produce poor tasting coffee and then up and died on me. As anyone who needs that cup of coffee first thing in the morning knows, this is not a pleasant experience to wake up to. As any true coffee lover knows, the best cups of coffee need to be hot in order to taste their best. After checking out some consumer reviews as well as Consumer Reports, I decided to splurge a bit on a really good coffee pot. I had no idea that you could actually get a really hot and tasty cup of coffee out of a home brewer until I found the Cuisinart DCC 1200 12-cup programmable coffee maker!

The Cuisinart DCC 1200 coffee maker has a revolutionary design that is both sleek and efficient for kitchens. This machine is programmable with a built in variable heating plate so that you can set the amount of heat you would like for your coffee from low to high. In addition, the Cuisinart DCC 1200 tells you when it is time to decalcify, ensuring your coffee will always taste as good as the first pot you brewed. It comes with a filter that needs to be soaked and then placed inside the coffee maker in a specially made device for this. It is easy to do and although you do have to buy replacement filters, it is well worth the extra expense to have a decent tasting cup of coffee without having to drive to a coffee shop and spending five bucks on one cup!

The Cuisinart DCC 1200 has a 12-cup brewing capacity. You can of course elect to brew smaller pots. This appliance comes with a 1-4 cup option, ensuring even the smallest pots of coffee pack big flavor and is sufficiently as hot as a cup of coffee from your local Starbucks would be as it runs the coffee through the heater twice. With a programmable auto shut off feature, you can decide how long you want your coffee pot to remain on, from 0-4 hours. When it turns off, the machine beeps a few times to let you know it is turning off. This is a great feature especially if you have forgotten if the machine is still on or not. In addition, with its 24 hour programmable brewing feature, you can have your coffee automatically brew at the time of your choice. When the machine is done brewing, it will beep a few times to let you know. If you choose to remove the carafe prior to it being completed it will automatically stop dripping.

The gold tone filter that comes with this Cuisinart model eliminates the need for messy paper filters. Many coffee makers do not provide this feature and users have to purchase a separate filter. It is easy to wash out after use and reduces the amount of money you spend on paper filters over the course of time.

This coffee maker comes in four attractive colors: black, brushed stainless steel, stainless steel with white trim, and black and stainless steel. I purchased the brushed stainless steel model with black trim on the top and bottom as my kitchen appliances are all stainless steel with black trim. This is a tall coffee pot compared to all previous ones I have owned and it took some getting used to pouring the water into the machine as I am not able to see into it without getting up on my tip toes.

After making my first pot of coffee, I was hooked on the Cuisinart DCC 1200. The coffee brewed tasted so much better than my previous coffee maker's coffee did and it was so hot. I actually have to let it cool down a moment or two before taking that first sip. I also love having really hot coffee even on my second or third cup from the same pot. This machine keeps every cup as hot and as delicious as the first one.

The downside of the Cuisinart DCC 1200:you have to find where you can purchase extra charcoal filters, which can be done online at the Cuisinart site. I have yet to see these for purchase in the store, although I have yet to have to replace the filter. No water level indicator is on the outside, so you should be sure to remember how much water you put in when measuring your coffee grounds. I also had some difficulty when setting the timer on this machine, and upon researching online found that other customers did as well. We were able to fix the problem and have had no issues with this machine as of yet.

Aside from these issues, the Cuisinart DCC 1200 makes an awesome cup of coffee and is the best coffee pot I have ever brewed coffee in at home! I highly recommend spending the extra money on this machine (about 75 bucks on sale) rather than dumping thirty bucks into a cheap coffee maker that will have to be replaced in a year's time. It is also extremely attractive and looks great on the counter. Most importantly, you will love every cup you drink, down to the last drop.