edmaidel's Full Review: Cuisinart DGB-600 10-Cup Coffee Maker
As I wrote this review almost three years ago, and it's been read (as of today, July 27th, 2006) by over 8,000 people, I thought I'd give it a little "fine tuning."
I've been a coffee lover for the better part of my 61 years on this planet. I've owned literally dozens of coffee makers, and a similar number of coffee grinders. I'm also especially fussy about my coffee beans in the first place: I refuse to purchase the stale beans that sit in the open plastic containers in supermarkets, and instead order freshly roasted beans from Peet's in California. Those beans are shipped to me within one day of roasting. In short, I'm not an inexperienced coffee maker, and I'm well aware of what constitutes a good cup of coffee.
With all this in mind, I purchased the Cuisinart DGB-600. It's not unique because it is programmable as there are literally scores of other such machines on the market. It's not unique because it has a thermal carafe because there are quite a few of those available also. What makes it unique is that it has those two features, and has a built-in grinder too. I might add that it's rather steep price of $179.95 is "unique" in and of itself, and the $149.95 "Sale" price is pretty much fixed no matter where one looks to buy this appliance. And you thought price fixing was illegal...
So, onto the delightful experience of making a pot of coffee.
For starters, the markings for the reservoir are inside the appliance, and are difficult to read - especially so if you're making less than a full pot. Measuring beans, putting them into the grinder basket is simple enough, but the racket the grinder makes is louder than any of the other grinders I've owned, and, like the experience of another epinions reviewer, could easily have substituted for an alarm clock.
On the first attempt at a good pot of coffee, I was rewarded with a lame, and generally tasteless brew. Adding as many beans as possible to the grinder basket resulted in a better, but still not particularly good brew. This is a significant waste of money, as no other coffee maker I've ever owned used so many beans, and still couldn't make a strong pot of coffee. I realize not everyone likes strong coffee, but the coffee maker should be able to make strong, or less strong coffee, according to the owner's taste. No such option is afforded by this device.
Pouring the coffee is another matter also. You have to turn the carafe almost completely upside down and it drips every time too. Earlier models leaked badly, but the "improved" models only drip.
The real fun and games begin when it's cleanup time. This appliance is one of the most annoying and difficult to clean of any I've ever owned. The carafe is hard to clean because the opening is so small, and the inside edges are so sharp, it's possible to cut yourself.
The filter basket is another matter too: almost all other coffee makers have a filter basket only, but the Cuisinart basket also has a cover, which is oddly shaped and difficult to clean. If you choose to use the metal filter as opposed to paper filters, that's another gooey mess to clean up. (Cuisinart claims that using the metal filter, while adding sediment to the brew, makes a better tasting pot of coffee. This hasn't been my experience either with this appliance, or any other that I've owned, so I use paper filters.)
Ah, but I've saved the best for last! The grinder gets all full of steam each and every time the appliance is used, and the coffee "gunk" that collects inside the grinder basket, and its cover is a royal nuisance to clean. Since I use premium beans that are purposely oily, I suspect that I wound up with even more of a mess than had I selected other beans. No one should be penalized because he or she uses better coffee beans when making coffee!
As if this weren't enough, on several occasions, instead of waking up to a pot of coffee, I woke up instead to a mess all over my kitchen counter, down the cabinets, and on the floor. For reasons unknown, the filter basket popped open and allowed the water/grind mixture (I can't exactly call it "coffee") to spill all over the place. Not what someone wants to wake up to at 5:15 in the morning!
On another occasion, while making a pot of coffee during the day the filter basket popped open as soon as the grinder started, and coffee grinds sprayed all over the counter and inside the appliance itself, resulting in yet another mess to clean up.
One would also expect that the grind would be adjustable on an appliance this expensive, but it's not. I attempted to solve this problem by grinding my beans separately, and turning off the grinder in the appliance. Again, I woke up to a mess all over the place as the fine grind my $20 Braun grinder (which I was using at the time I originally wrote this review) produces is too fine for this "deluxe" machine, and developed a mud-like mixture which clogged the bottom of the filter basket, and allowed everything to spill all over the place. Even worse, the built-in grinder and its cover still had to be cleaned! The appliance won't work without either in place.
I became so frustrated with never being able to get a strong enough pot of coffee from this appliance, and using far too many beans in the process, that I wrote Cuisinart a letter. To my delight, Cuisinart did take back the appliance (even though I no longer had the box, nor a receipt) and gave me a credit to use to purchase other Cuisinart items. They also informed me that people either love or hate this particular coffee maker. Can you guess which side I'm on? I used that credit to buy a waffle iron and a toaster, both of which are just fine.
Consequently, I purchased a new coffee maker: a Melitta ME10TDS 10-cup, programmable pot with a stainless steel thermos/carafe. It doesn't have a built-in grinder, but it cost me only $69.95. That, combined with the $20 for the Braun grinder results in a total that's far less than the very steep $149.95 for the Cuisinart. I might add also, that the Braun grinder isn't one of the better "mill" or "burr-type" grinders, but a "chopper" like that in the Cuisinart. It does a fine job of producing a consistently fine grind of coffee, and much better than similar models from Krups or a host of others.
AHH, but the coffee itself! It's delicious - just what the Cuisinart was never capable of making. Strong, but not bitter, and never masking all the subtle differences between various blends. Isn't this what any coffee maker is all about in the first place? I wouldn't mind several inconveniences if the Cuisinart made delicious coffee, but it flatly doesn't, especially so compared to that which the Melitta/Braun combination produces. Better still, cleanup is a breeze with the Melitta: only the carafe, cover and filter basket. The grinder doesn't need to be cleaned each and every time it's used.
I strongly suspect that virtually any of the other coffee makers out there that work with a fine grind (such as that produced by the Braun) would make an equally delicious pot of coffee.
Why then pay $149.95 for a device that:
1. Is hard to put the water into
2. Makes a racket when it starts
3. Is hard to pour, and drips each time too
4. Has too many parts to clean, which are all ridiculously difficult to clean
5. and which makes crummy, weak coffee?
I certainly can't think of a reason.
NOTE: I have since replaced the Krups chopper-type grinder with a Capresso burr-type, and the Melitta coffee pot with a Krups model. The combined price of those two new items equals the price paid for the Cuisinart, but here's a huge difference in taste, and most definitely not in favor of the Cuisinart.
I periodically look at the Cuisinart DGB-600 in stores where it is sold and can't see that anything has been changed to make it a more desirable product. And, in reading some of the comments this review has received, it would seem that the Cuisinart DGB-600 stunk when I reviewed it, and still does.
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