<p>Our current Krups is dying so I am researching a new coffee maker. While we like coffee, we are not connoisseurs! I want a reliable coffee maker that will brew good hot coffee. I would also like to be able to set it for a small pot as my husband will make coffee when I don’t want any. The Krups has a 1-4 cup setting that works well. No need for a grinder, but if the coffee maker was superior, we would consider getting one with a grinder.</p>
<p>Costco has the Cuisinart 12 cup grind and brew but I can not remember if it will make a smaller pot without looking it up again. They also have another maker with a thermal pot which I really don’t want; for some reason I find the narrow mouth opening harder to clean and I like to clean the pot after I finish a pot of coffee.</p>
<p>I would not buy another coffee maker without a thermal carafe.I love that it stays hot without smelling or tasting burnt. But they cost more.Amazon has great reviews on many coffeemakers, and competitive prices too.</p>
<p>i love my Zojirushi…nice big thermal pot. I don’t like the idea of having an attached grinder, since those motors tend to be the first thing to go. A great way to keep the thermal pot clean, is to rinse it out with water and a few drops of dishwasher liquid soap.</p>
<p>As for grinders, I have a manual one from Germany. A company by the name of, oh shoot, Z…haus. Anyway, they cost $60-$75 but work very well and looks like it will last forever. It has two grind levels and best of all, it’s quiet.</p>
<p>I have a Cuisinart from Costco. Mine does not grind. It does have the 1-4 cup feature. I think it is slow. We used to grind our beans but now I just buy it already ground. At the time we were replacing our Braun coffee maker no one else could beat the Costco price. We went with the Cuisinart based on price. It is fine not great.</p>
<p>My current coffemaker is a Bunn. It’s makes really hot coffee very fast. The minimum # of cups is 4, maximum is 10, which is fine for us. I really like it.</p>
<p>I may have to rethink the thermal pot as it seems the better makers have gone to thermal. I have looked at both the Capresso and Zojirushi at Amazon in the past, but I would like to find something locate so I can play with it first. Bloomingdale’s has the above Capresso for $99 on Saturday during the one day sale; I will most likely pick it up and give it a try. </p>
<p>I grew up with a professional Bunn at home that my father got through his restaurant. While it was a great coffee maker, it sure did take up a lot of room on the counter!</p>
<p>(I know people who swear by this stuff. I’ll be honest, I don’t drink coffee, and DH has an Italian espresso machine that would service a small restaurant. So… no personal experience.)</p>
<p>My daughter actually has a Keurig that she had at school with her. As she is living at home right now, the Keurig is sitting on our counter! My husband will use it occasionally, but on the weekends, we would rather make a full pot of coffee. The Keurig isn’t cost effective if you want to make more than one cup of coffee, but is great for a single cup.</p>
<p>We’ve had our Cuisinart Grind & Brew coffeemaker for over a year now. While H and I enjoy a well-brewed cup of coffee in the morning, I wouldn’t classify us as coffee connoisseurs. But the Cuisinart has been reliable and, overall, we’re satisfied with it. It does have a thermal carafe which seems to keep the coffee warm enough for at least two hours after the brewing is complete. This is our first time using a thermal carafe and I do like not having the coffee continually on a hot burner for a long period of time–it just tastes better to me. One criticism that I do have is that the built in grinder is pretty loud and the grind is relatively coarse, but we mostly use pre-ground coffee, anyway. It’s just nice to have the built in grind option for situations where only the whole-bean variety of coffee is available to us.</p>
<p>ETA: This model doesn’t have the 1-4 cup option, but it does have a brewing “strength control” option, which I appreciate since certain brands of coffee (ex. Starbucks)can be rather strong and almost harsh and this feature can offset that.</p>
<p>avoidingwork; Amazon says that’s the machine I bought in '07; I like it, but mine is loud! Is yours? Also, I can’t steal a cup until it’s done brewing. It’s pretty fast though.</p>
<p>This is true! But apparently we are not alone, as this, and many other coffeemakers, are supposedly designed so that you can interrupt them mid drip, and “steal” a cup.</p>
<p>I love the thermal pot but husband bought a cuisinart from Williams Sonoma for Christmas with a glass pot. I was hesitant to keep it but was afraid to hurt feelings with a return. I really love it now. Coffee is so much better than the cheap Black and Decker it replaced (it had good reviews from consumers report). I will eventually get a separate thermal carafe, but we drink the coffee w/i an hour and it seems fine–not burnt like I though it would.</p>
<p>Cuisanart…just replaced my former Cuisanart three weeks before my 3 year warranty lapsed. Now that is a good company! Coffee is quite good. We don’t have counter height for the Grind and Brew combo but we recommend the stand alone coffee maker.<br>
one thing in its favor…you can choose how hot to make the plate…we like “very hot” coffee. I think some coffee is simply not truly hot in other brands…</p>
<p>Cuisinart grind and brew owner here, too. It makes a decent cup of coffee…but:
-I don’t use the auto-on setting, because the coffee is hotter and stays hot longer if I prewarm the thermal carafe with hot water. This is especially true when making smaller quantities. I would like to be able to use that feature.
-the steam from the brewing process makes the grinding chamber wet, so it is not easy to make a second pot right away if you have a crowd
-same humid environment makes it important to clean the grind reservoir (it is easily removed) after each use.</p>
<p>On the whole,I’d prefer a separate grinder.</p>