Average Rating:

The Base:
While the hand-feel is typically light weight due to the plastic construction materials, the design is no-nonsense and intuitive. Its a bit on the tall side, maybe 20". The electronic controls (clock and timer) are intuitive. There is (obviously) no hot plate. The brew basket swings to the right, requiring an additional half a foot of space; and would benefit from incorporating an more obvious handle. The red ball in the water level indicator is clearly visible from a front view, but to see the graduated rule you have to look from the left side. It's rather easy to rely on just the red ball to judge water level.

The Carafe:
Is a good insulator that rivals a good thermos. Coffee stays hot for at least 10 hours. Not peak freshness, but quite drinkable. Sometimes I really don't know if the coffee was brewed 4 ot 10 hours ago. The handle could have better ergonomics. The lid design yields an agonizingly low pour rate. I find myself uselessly tilting the carafe higher with the hope of filling the cup more quickly. If the low pour rate is the price of such terrific thermal performance, I'll gladly pay it. Also, the mouth of the carafee is maybe two inches in diameter, so cleaning will definitely require a brush.

The Resulting Coffee:
Is very acceptable, and due to the insulated carafe, stays that way all day or throughout the night. The Capresso (see below) was an 8-cup machine, and the larger capacity in this machine often means four of us can have coffee without having to brew a second, partially consumed pot that might end up being discarded.

A Side Note:
The Cuisinart DTC-975 is replacing a Capresso Elegant - an over-engineered product that from week 1 had a brew basket that would pop open during the brewing cycle and cause the coffee to run onto the counter and floor. Capresso's service dept. could not fix the machine in three separate attempts. An anomaly?

Just last week my girlfriend had been telling me how much she loved her thermal one, and it really got me thinking how awesome it would be if the coffee stayed hot, and didn't turn funky like it always does on a burner. A day later, I was staring at this one in the store and fell in love with it.

First of all, it was the 12 cup factor - I had only seen 10 cup thermals before and I couldn't see the point - when I entertain, I need to have more than 10 lousy cups. It also looks super in my white/bisque kitchen, and the brushed stainless steel pot is very nice looking and heavy duty.

I was forever standing in front of the micro reheating a cup of coffee or tea. Today was a very extreme example: I made a pot of coffee at 9:30 am before heading to church - and at 4:30 IN THE AFTERNOON, poured a cup and it was TOO HOT TO DRINK! Mind-blowing! And it tasted exactly like the first cup did in the morning.

The whole fam likes to also likes to drink a lot of tea, especially in the evening, and it dawned on me that I could run the water through it without coffee, and wala.... hot water for tea anytime someone wants a cup... no more standing in front of the micro for 2 minutes.

I can't tell you how awesome this coffee maker is... and having never had one I can set up the night before is truly wonderful. I love the fact that I don't have to open the top to pour. I will never own a coffeemaker with a hot plate again.