Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Maker with Thermal Coffee Carafe, Stainless Steel, Programmable Large Capacity Drip Coffee Machine for Home or Office, DCC-3400NAS, Silver

I rarely rate something with 5 stars, but this coffee maker is a game changer for me. I had bought another coffee maker last November, and it was causing me to pull out my hair (don't have enough as it is).My positives: It sends a loud tone when completed so you don't have to keep going over and looking at it. It can be disabled, but I like it.It was extremely easy to set up and get started making coffee.The carafe is great, no buttons to push to allow pouring, just pour a cup and go. I also tested the heat retention of the carafe, and I was amazed at the results. I made a pot after setting it up and drank a couple of cups to verify very good coffee. I let it sit overnight, and the coffee in a half-filled pot was still hot (not as hot as the first cup, but still hot enough to drink! Fantastic!Only two small complaints. 1) the cord is obscenely short. The manual explains this as a safety issue, but I think that is marketing BS, copper is expensive, and they are trying to hold down costs. 2) It is a little difficult to fill the reservoir, especially when you are trying to watch the gauge and not exceed the max fill line. All spills are contained as the water goes right into the coffee above the carafe. So, you start off with a little cold coffee. I will get over it.

Update: The first one I bought lasted about 19 months. The price has increased almost 50% since I bought that one. When it died I tried a few other models that are less expensive. After a day or a week I returned those and ultimately bought another one of these. I’ve had my second one about 11 months now. I will likely never buy anything else. Best coffee I’ve ever been able to make at home. It used to be if you bought something from Cuisinart you could expect to still have it in five years. I wish that was still the case, but if I’m being completely honest I would buy a new one of these every year if I have to.I looked at every model of thermal carafe coffee maker and read a lot of reviews before choosing this one.This is, by far, the hottest coffee I have ever gotten from a home coffee maker. For me, this is a huge selling point.The thermal carafe keeps the coffee hot enough to enjoy without microwaving for at least 4 hours. Even after 6 or 7 hours the coffee is still warm and tasty. Because it does not use a warming plate to keep the coffee hot, the last drop of coffee tastes as good as the first. I will never go back to a glass caraf. I like the flavor of my coffee better than I have with any other coffee maker I've ever owned.The carafe is large. It holds almost 2 liters if you fill it to the 12 cup mark.The pour spout is designed specifically so It doesn't dribble all over the place when I pour.It makes the coffee pretty quickly. Speed depends on the settings you use and, obviously, how much coffee you're making. A full pot without the bold setting is read in about 11 or 12 minutes.It is completely programmable so you can setup the coffee to be ready at whatever time you'd like. It also has a "1-4" button for if you're making 1 to 4 cups of coffee, and a "bold" button if you like stronger coffee. Those two buttons have a similar function. They slow the water flow over the grinds so you get the full flavor in a small pot, or a bolder flavor in any pot.A note about pouring because I've seen some reviewers that didn't like how the pot pours. I don't use the pot to fill the reservoir with water. I did that the first time and it pours way too slowly. That was aggravating. That may be why others complained. So I use a plastic pitcher for filling the reservoir. It appears that the top to the pot is designed to control the flow rate when pouring. I see this as a positive. When I'm filling my coffee cup I'm never wishing it would pour faster. I'm just glad coffee isn't getting all over the counter, the floor, or me.I noticed some reviewers said the buttons stopped working after a few months or a year. I will say that it doesn't take much force at all to get a response from whatever button you push. Because of those reviews I make a point of not using much force when I hit "Brew" or whatever button I'm pushing. If you poke them hard over and over, I could see them not working anymore after awhile.This coffee maker looks nice in my kitchen. If you have stainless steel appliances it will match. It takes up a very reasonable amount of space on my counter. The measurement lines are on the right side in the middle; however you can pour the water into the reservoir from either side. The reservoir is the whole back of the unit and is accepts water on either the left of the right side.The filter basket is cone shaped. It comes with a gold screen reusable filter insert. I still use a paper filter in that as well because I don't like any sediment in my coffee. The paper cone filters cost a little more than standard filters but not so much that it is deal-breaker for me. A few extra dollars every 3 or 4 months.You have the option to use a charcoal water filter, but if you never use one it doesn't change how to unit performs. The charcoal filter's purpose is to filter things like the chloriine flavor out of your water. I use it.Some reviewers complained that the instructions are lacking in detail. Maybe the manufacturer has updated them since then. For the most part the setup is all pretty logical. The one thing I found difficult to figure out and not explained in the instructions was getting the charcoal filter into the filter holder. Turns out it is apparently so easy it looks hard. I included a few pics. On the stem portion of the charcoal filter holder is the word "open" with an arrow pointing downward. Right below that on the base is a little notch that sticks up. Just gently pull on the little notch and the front of the base flips open. The back left corner of the water reservoir has a slot cutout in the bottom to hold the base of the charcoal water filter setup. You just gently set it down in there. You don't have to force it. And it stays in place. The last pic is of the cutout in the bottom of the water reservoir. Other than that setup was really easy. The filter basket only fits in one way. It's a no-brainer to see where the water goes. The instructions tell you how to use all the buttons and features.There is a ready tone that beeps 5 times when the coffee is finished brewing. It's pretty loud. If you don't like that, you just press the "Tone" button near the clock face and the ready tone is off.It comes with one charcoal water filter, several cone shaped paper coffee filters, and a coffee scoop. Amazon sells the charcoal filters and the paper cone filters for very reasonable prices.I've been using this coffee maker since the day after Christmas 2019 and I have no complaints. I will update this review if anything changes. I've had a Bunn, and several models of Hamilton Beach over the course of 20 years. So far, this is the best coffee maker I've ever owned.

I have this for about 2 years now, and it makes good coffee quickly and reliably. Having the coffee directly go into a thermos makes it stay hot for about 2 hours, and the taste stays good - unlike keeping it on a hot plate. It also saves energy and takes away a fire hazard. The negatives? It doesn't pour very well with the lid on (though it is supposed to), so I take the lid off for pouring. Also as far as thermos containers go, this one doesn't keep the inside hot as long as some others might.

My original review along with info I later added is below.Well the coffee pot decided not to brew the entire amount of water placed in the reservoir. Sometimes it would do 3/4 of the amount and other times less than half.The last day I had it I had to hit the brew button 4-5 times just to get the entire amount of water I placed in it to finally brew.I had cleaned the unit about 10 days prior to this and it was working fine at the time.Is this a result of the really hard water in my area or just a defective product? I don't know and frankly don't care.I bought a cheapo Mr. Coffee for 25.00 and can buy 4 more for the price of the Cuisinart.The Mr. Coffee brews a decent pot of coffee. I would say it is 90% as good as the Cuisinart for 1/5th the price which I can live with.I decided not to attempt a warranty claim as I just did not feel like jumping through the typical warranty hoops. Not to mention I would still need to buy a temporary coffee pot anyway.I still think it brewed a great cup of coffee but there were just too many issues with the unit to consider keeping it.First of all let me be clear that I really like the coffee this makes and my comments have zero to do with coffee flavor or ease of brewing.However there are some issues that I think need to be resolved regarding the unit and the carafe.The carafe does its job keeping coffee warm/hot. Where if fails is in how it manages to splatter coffee both in the front and behind your coffee cup when the carafe is at 50% or less capacity. It might do it when full but I only make a half a pot at a time.For those of you that have small child sized hands you should have no issues cleaning the inside of the carafe.Everyone else is out of luck if you really want to clean everywhere in the carafe.After you brew a pot and then open the lid where you add the water/coffee condensation WILL drip down the back of the unit and then onto the counter and underneath the unit as well. This obviously happens after you brew a pot.It also drips over the electrical cord where it goes inside the unit.