Cuisinart Brew Pause DCC-450BK Coffee Maker

Good but make sure you operate it with great care!

Strengths: Good quality, compact design, can brew coffee very quickly and keep coffee hot enough.

Weaknesses: You have to look inside the machine for the water level indicator. You have to operate it with great care when making coffee right after your first carafe, or you will be hurt by the hot steam.

Summary: I bought this machine after I have broken the glass carafe one. Generally, I am satisfied with this machine because it meets all my requirements:

good quality

capable of making hot and tasty coffee

small enough: 4 cups capacity

and the most important: a stainless steel carafe

However, I think it has an inborn potential danger which may hurt people who is not familiar with this compact designed coffee maker.

For my case, several minutes after I have made one carafe of coffee, I open the cover, change the coffee powder and then add cold water to the reservoir, suddenly, the hot steam comes out from the showerhead, since the showerhead is directly facing me, it is very dangerous. Luckily, I was not hurt. But I think it is necessary to warn those who own this machine, watch out of the hot steam! This information is not provided in the instruction book and I never have the same problem with other coffee makers which have separate covers for water reservoir and coffee filter. Later, I find that the safe way is to shut off the power first, and then add cold water.

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4 Cup Cuisinart Coffeemaker

Strengths: Cheap, brews hot coffee, auto shut-off, stainless steel carafe, three-year warranty, small footprint, & looks good.

Weaknesses: Only makes up to 16 ounces of coffee, power cord is short, gold filter is optional at extra cost, small size causes more than average spills, & steel carafe makes it hard to tell when brewing is done.

Summary: Perfect solution for those on a budget. I was able to get mine with a gold filter for $18.57, including tax, after two store coupons and a PriceGrabber bonus. I chose this 4 cup model because that is about all the coffee I can drink, so why pay for a larger size? I have replaced broken carafes in the past, costing in excess of $20 each, so the stainless steel carafe is a big plus. Filling the water tank is like trying to thread a needle, resulting in more than your average amount of spills. If not for the mess, I would have given five stars.

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small unit makes excellent coffee

Strengths: makes excellent coffee quickly, space saving compact footprint, steel carafe can't shatter and dribble-free pour, easy to use and clean, no wasted coffee.

Weaknesses: single sided steel carafe is very hot! carafe lid is not hinged.

Summary: 2007-01-12 11:14:08 This is a great machine for the money. Most of the complaints I read elsewhere I found baseless. The carafe does not dribble when pouring, it either goes in the cup or stays in the carafe. Of course it is a delicate machine with plastic parts. That is why it is inexpensive. It would only break if some clumsy oaf treats it like a football. It is well put together and the water shower over the coffee makes the coffee taste excellent. I also bought the gold filter so I don't have to mess with paper filters. The lid only comes off the carafe, it isn't hinged, which takes two hands but is not annoying once you accept that. This brewer and the coffee bean grinder take up no more space than a regular 12 cup coffee brewer and this makes better tasting coffee when making 4 cups. I was nervous having a smaller brewer in case I had to make coffee for more people than myself, but this makes a pot so quickly (5 minutes or less) that you can keep making more if needed and the wait isn't unreasonable. Cuisinart makes good stuff, I like this one a lot.

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Satisfied, but...

Strengths: Compact design, simple, coffee taste...

Weaknesses: Too small...two mug cups at once. You can't know when the coffee is done.

Summary: I'm satisfied with this product overly. Nice compact design and very simple and easy to operate. I bought this one because it does not have other functions (I don't need programable or other stuffs). And, it is Cuisinart, so it is reliable. I used to have Senseo coffee maker (it is also very convenient), and I like the coffee this guy produces (I used Chock O Nuts and paper filter). I think it takes less than 5 minutes to brew, but you have no idea when it is done (No indicator). I just know when it stops dripping. The weakness is it's too small for me. It's not definitely capable of making 4 cups (maybe small tea cups), rather of making 2 mug cups (they say 5 ounces). I also got the permanent filter, so I hope it does not compromise the taste. It's definitely decent one.

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