Cuisinart Automatic Grind & Brew 12-Cup Coffee Maker with Blade Grinder, Programmable Coffee Machine Glass Carafe with 1-4 Cup Setting, Brew Pause, Grind-Off Option, DGB-400NAS, Black/Stainless Steel

This review is for the 10-cup DGB-850 with Thermal Carafe (stainless steel). After using this coffee maker for over 10 weeks, we are quite happy with it overall (after learning a few lessons). Perhaps this is an updated version of the model, but we have not had any of the issues some reviews mention, like problems cleaning the grinder burrs. In fact, this version does not even have user-access to the grinder parts, based on the videos and descriptions from others with problems. This model advertises that the grinder assembly auto-rinses all the grinds from the grinder - there is no disassembly to get to the grinder itself, and it appears to work fine without access. All we do to clean it after each use is rinse out the permanent filter itself (or toss the paper filter), and wipe moisture from the holder and the housing above the coffee carafe platform. PROS: * Coffee tastes very good - grind/strength controls allows pretty good control over desired taste, by adjusting the amount of water used with each grind range (see my grind testing chart image, and table below). My wife likes coffee a bit weaker, so we use 7-8 cups of water with a 6-cup Grind, for instance, adjusting Strength as needed for the exact amount of water used. * With the thermal carafe, the heating plate below the carafe warms the stainless steel carafe as the coffee is brewed, so there is no need to pre-heat a cold carafe (which we had to do with our previous coffee maker). Works well - the heater is turned off automatically after the coffee is brewed, so it does not over-heat the coffee. The thermal carafe keeps the coffee pretty warm for an hour or two. * At least so far, we have not had any issues with cleaning the grinder burrs - easy clean-up. * We really like the ability to use either the permanent filter basket, or a paper filter. With a septic system, we cannot rinse grounds down the drain, and it is sometimes a pain to dump grounds outside in bad weather (so the paper filter is handy in heavy snow). We did not have this option with our old blade-grinder coffee maker. CONS (Lessons Learned): * Pouring water into the reservoir is a pain with the coffee maker under a cabinet. You need access to the back of the coffee maker to pour from a bit behind, since pouring from the front can let water spill out the overflow slots at the back of the reservoir. * As some reviews mention, pouring from the carafe can be a bit tricky with the lid on, if you are not careful. A full pot pours fine, but steeper angles of pour as the carafe gets emptier can make a mess. I remove the lid for pouring as the pot gets emptier. * To get just the right coffee strength for your personal tastes, it helps to understand exactly how the coffee maker adjusts the grind for the settings (Grind and Strength). I could not find this information in the manual or any on-line reference. See my "Strength Notes" below - between knowing what each combination does, and adjusting the amount of water for each setting, you can get pretty much just what you want, without wasting coffee. STRENGTH NOTES: At first, we found it a bit limiting to have fixed settings for only 4, 6, 8 & 10 cups of coffee. And I could not find any good description anywhere about exactly what the Grind control and the Strength control do - does one adjust the fineness of the grinding mechanism, and the other the amount of coffee beans ground (based on the amount of time the grinder runs)? If so, which controls which? All the manual really says is "The burr grinder will grind the correct amount of beans, and automatically adjust the coffee/water ratio for low cup settings." So, I started experimenting with different settings to see what each does, based on the weight of the ground coffee put into the filter. I weighed the grounds after brewing each pot at different setting combinations, letting them drain quite a while first (wet grounds, but well drained). The chart in the image attached to this review (also shown in the table below) shows my results - not every setting available, but enough to figure out what is happening, I believe. From visual comparisons, I could not see any apparent differences in the coarseness of the grounds themselves with any combination, so I assume that the grinder does not change the coarseness/fineness of the grind itself, only the amount of beans ground, for both the strength and grind (# of cups) settings. But with the information in the chart, and by adjusting the amount of water you put in the reservoir for each brew, you can get pretty close to the strength you want. Ground Coffee Weights, Cuisinart DGB-850 Coffeemaker GRIND STRENGTH GRAMS (avg.) ============================= 4 Cups Extra Bold 75 6 Cups Regular 91 6 Cups Bold 102 6 Cups Extra Bold 120 8 Cups Bold 122 8 Cups Extra Bold 140 So, for example, we brew a slightly weaker-than-recommended pot by setting the Grind (# of cups) to 6 cups, adding either 7 or 8 cups of water to the reservoir, and setting the Strength as a kind of fine-tuning adjustment to get just the strength we want for that batch (my wife likes it a bit weaker, I like it a bit stronger - we alternate!). Hopefully this will help you fine-tune your perfect cup of coffee. Happy brewing!

This is an excellent grind and brew coffee maker. I owned an earlier version that had a carafe rather that a warming plate. It worked well for 16 years and is still going strong. So, I knew that a new Cuisinart coffee maker would be long lasting. Fresh ground beans make the best coffee, but you have a little more work in cleaning the grinder. It is worth it for the improved taste of coffee. I use revere osmosis water (or purified) for my coffee, so there is no clorine or contanmints that affect the taste of your coffee. The coffee maker works well and makes really good coffee. If you use ground coffee, simply turn off the grinder.

Bought in April,2024 I had to replace my older grind and brew so I went with this one. With the old one, it was pretty easy to fill the hopper on top with beans from time to time and forget about it.A frequent brushing out to keep the pathway clear for the ground coffee and you were all set. This new one is not a burr grinder but a blade chopper. It requires disassembly, cleaning and drying after each use. To brew a pot of coffee you have to measure the beans into the grinder assembly each time being careful not to overload it. The steam from the hot water rises up into the grinder during brewing and makes a slushy coffee powder paste inside that needs to be cleaned to make another pot. This model also has a kcup section that lets you brew individual cups using pods or you can buy the filter assembly so you can use ground coffee to make your own “pods”. I’ve had it for a few months now and it brews a fine pot of coffee automatically for us every morning with no issues. It would be nice to have a water level window in the tank for the kcups.you have to constantly look inside with a light to see if there is water and so you don’t over fill…it’s kind of an idiot design. That being said I feel we do use a bit less coffee measuring out the beans by hand instead of letting the grinder decide when to stop…and the coffee is great. The labor intensive process would make me not buy this again tho, as I was spoiled by the original burr grind and brew. It would be much easier just getting a bean grinder and using my old stove top percolator. Oh and the 12oz setting on the pod machine is a bit more than 16ozs when measured in a measuring cup so proceed accordingly. It gets 3 stars because it makes a good pot of coffee ( 3 1/2 stars if I could) but I dropped 2 stars for the labor intensive process involved and an assembly that spins that fast to grind the beans has got to wear, so I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and have to buy replacement parts…I will keep you posted… December 3,2024.. About 7 months later and it still makes a great cup of coffee. It still auto brews at 8 am everyday and it’s still a pain in the butt to clean and dry the grinder each time I brew. And as I suspected the grinder parts are showing signs of wear so I’m shopping for spare parts and researching after market as opposed to trying to get it from the manufacturer direct…they’re a little pricey from them. But over all it’s still working well. I reached out to Cusinart with pictures of the wear on the grinder parts after only 7 months and they did respond with replacement parts..they’re under warranty UPDATE! This just burnt up on my counter as the coffee violently boiled in the carafe…I had to un plug it…it’s crap …I bought this on April 15th and it burned up on Super Bowl Sunday morning…Glad we were home This morning I Spent all morning on the phone.You get no credit from Cuisinart if you buy your stuff on Amazon.Theyll just offer a replacement.But it’s a fire hazard.So the rep shopped around to see what they have with a thermal carafe and no heat plate.Long story short,it cost me another$29! To get the only thing they had that my wife would even let in th house! Hope they make good use of that $29 as it is the last money they ever see from me.On the up side ,customer service was helpful and they can’t help it if the company they work for sucks. Don’t buy this crap ,it’s not safe and they don’t seem to care… Spend the extra money and get a Breville grind and brew…Holy Smokes what a difference YET ANOTHER UPDATE The replacement DGB- 850 grind and brew maker that I had to pay an extra$29 for it as a replacement makes the weakest, crappiest coffee of any coffee maker I’ve ever owned. I’ve tried different beans and the only way I can get a decent pot of coffee is to set it for 10 cups on the grinder control and use only 8 cups of water…this thing sucks badly…In the future I certainly wouldn’t buy Cuisinart anything…terrible stuff

This is our fourth Cuisinart grind and brew. The quality of the product has deteriorated over the years. No longer sturdy carafe and lid. Makes decent coffee. Difficult to clean and it's hard to figure out the whole process. Even when not brewing coffee you must have everything in place or it beeps constantly. Will see how long it lasts.

It’s a well made coffee brew/grinder combination. However, like many of the glass pot coffee makers on the market, the hot plate isn’t adjustable.

Adorei ! Estou encantada com a cafeteira. Se tivesse que falar algo negativo , diria que ao usar o moedor do café ela faz um barulho durante o processo . Atentar para que se for usar só a parte do pó do café é necessário ativar o botão que desativa o moedor (grind off).

¡Me encantó! Tarde un poco en encontrar el punto exacto para mi café porque antes lo molía aparte. Pensaba que igual tenía que poner solo la cantidad que iba a moler pero no, hay que tener el suficiente café para que salga según lo deseado.

I love the new cuisinart coffee maker,so easy to setup.

Esta cafetera prepara excelente café a partir del grano de cafe; sin tener que comprar café de muy muy alta especialización, el gran brinco de calidad es el molido fresco en el momento. El frasco térmico mantiene caliente el café durante más de 4 horas (y eso en una casa sin calefacción que amanece a veces a 8-10 grados adentro) sin usar un elemento eléctrico que lo "quema, y también ahorrando electricidad. También es más sencillo limpiar que una cafetera convencional.