Cuisinart DCC-1200P1 Brew Central 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker Coffee Maker, Carafe, Brushed Chrome

First I'd like to say that these review sites really kill me. Invariably, you have to wade through countless trivial comments like, "I had to turn the spool wheel too many times before I could change the string on my string trimmer" or, here's a classic, "the stereo I bought is just too loud and I have to keep the volume at the number 5 setting all the time." (trust me, this is from an actual review). Well, you'll be happy to know that the reviews for the DCC-1200 are no different. Anywhere from "why do you have to turn the knob to brew and then flick a switch for on" to, "I can hear the plastic creaking as it heats up" (that one really makes me laugh) to, "it's just too tall and doesn't fit under my cabinets" (didn't you size it up before you bought it)?Look people, this unit makes coffee. It does it well and it does it like it's supposed to. You pour water in the top, add your favorite beans, wait a bit and, here's the kicker, coffee comes out the bottom! Holy smokes! It's got two knobs, an on and off switch and a few buttons to set things like the clock. To brew, turn the knob to brew and flick the on switch. To auto-brew, turn the knob to auto-brew and flick the on switch. To program the clock/auto on/auto off, turn the knob to clock/auto on/auto off and... press a button. Wow, this is really tough stuff. And, to make matters worse, omygosh, the LCD clock doesn't have a back light!! Armageddon here we come. You don't have enough clocks in your kitchen between the wall, the microwave, the oven, and every other stinking thing that has to tell you the time these days?The other knob adjusts the hot plate setting. Low-Med-High. Trust me, there are many complaints that the Cuisinart doesn't get their coffee hot enough. Not hot enough? How hot do you really want it? I'm sure Cuisinart wasn't thinking about their specs reaching boiling temperature when they designed this thing. Trust me folks, it's close enough. I'd say close to McDonald's scalding hot coffee but I won't even sue Cuisinart for potentially burning my crotch.As for the plastic creaking, when the temperature heats up, the plastic expands inside, what do you want anyway? Whatddya mean it's only stainless steel on the outside? I've been ripped off!!! I mean come on, if you really want a true stainless steel coffee maker, go spend the $2000 and buy professional so that you can mount it on the dash of your Beemer. Just don't waste our time with comments like this.Oh yeah and the alarm/beeping that everyone's complaining about? Well, let me just say that the "Hounds of the Baskervilles" comment is a little unjustified. I would hate to hear what this person does when their microwave goes off, or, if their telephone rings, or if one of the kids makes a noise. Folks, this is a series of 5 small beeps when the brewing cycle is near completion. Kind of a tee tee tee tee tee. So, unless you sleep with your coffee maker on your night stand, I wouldn't worry so much about this one.Condensation. I don't know one coffee maker out there that when you open the lid to dump your grounds just after the brewing is complete where some of it doesn't drip on the countertop. So, suck it up. Get your sink sponge and wipe it up. Are we that inconvenienced by this?And finally, the dreaded reservoir comment. "It's too small and I pour water all over the place." Blah blah. Pour water in, get coffee out. So far, I haven't missed the bullseye. Could I be doing something wrong here? And about those darned tank markers. Does anybody honestly use those things? Fill up the pot and pour it in. Now you know how much coffee you'll make. Huh?!The bottom line is that this is a good coffee maker. It has a self cleaning cycle to tell you when to decalcify, makes piping hot coffee but... oh no, produces condensation. It's kind of like when you heat water on the stove and it produces that steamy stuff, and it forms those... water droplets. Ah whatever.Look, if you're the type who doesn't have to have their maid do everything for them or worse flog the person who doesn't quite fold the towel right on the towel bar, go out and buy this product, you won't be disappointed.

This unit rocks!!! I bought it after visiting a friend who had purchased their unit over two years ago and it was still making piping hot coffee for them. I rarely give anything 5 stars as it has to be near perfect for me to do so, but this unit deserves everyone of those 5 stars. I bought this product in replacement of a Sboly unit that couldn't make a hot cup of coffee to save it's life. This unit not only makes a piping hot cup of coffee but also has a dial you can set to low, medium, high that controls the warming plate after the coffee is brewed to keep the coffee hot! I have mine set to medium and even after adding a fair bit of cream to my coffee it is still piping hot. Because this unit is able to brew hot, the flavors in my gourmet coffee are wonderfully realized! The coffee maker also has a great safety feature in that you can program it to turn off at 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 hours after it brews. You will never get in your car, get to work and wonder "Did I turn off the coffee maker???" ever again. Love that feature! The 12 cup volume is great. Large enough for a couple of cups to start your day for several adults. There is also a very intelligent feature that allows 2-4 cups to be made at piping hot water temps. This might seem like "Big woop?!?!" but most coffee makers do not properly heat the water with smaller volumes of water. This unit "double heats" the smaller volume of water to brew smaller batches. The unit also looks nice. I am into retro looking things and I like the little toggle switch one needs to flip up to initiate a brew cycle and the dials used to program the unit. Nice combination of stainless steel and durable black plastic housing gives it an eye-catching appearance. The unit also has the ability to filter the water with replaceable carbon-based filters. I use water that has been already filtered so this is less important to me, but if your using tap water then this is a nice feature to rid your tap water of nasty tasting chemicals before the brew process. This unit also allows foe use of paper filers or it comes with a nice gold-tone permanent filter. Another feature I truly appreciate is the small footprint. We have a small kitchen and this fits perfectly under cabinets and doesn't take up a ton of space like a lot of other high-end coffeemakers that are ridiculously overpriced. The one and only thing I would change on this coffee maker is the LCD Digital clock window is small. I would have made the clock window slightly larger especially given my aging eyes. But this is a minor issue at best. I HIGHLY recommend this coffee maker!!!