The Coffee Maker I Wouldn’t Buy Again

In the meantime, this thing is so well built it will bring Helaine and me years of frustration as we hand clean tiny pieces coated with coffee dust.

cuisinart-dgb-650.jpgIn our kitchen sits a Cuisinart DGB-650 coffee maker. It’s a pretty substantial piece of hardware which grinds fresh beans then brews coffee. The coffee it makes is excellent.

We would not buy one again!

You would think Cuisinart (actually part of Conair) knows kitchen appliances. And yet this one so disappoints I have to get it off my chest.

cuisinart-coffee-maker-parts.jpgThat’s a photo of my sink with the seven–that’s right seven–pieces that get washed each time the coffee maker makes coffee. Some are oddly shaped pieces. At least two are so weirdly shaped it’s difficult to clean them! And,of course, the more difficult it is, the more time consuming it is and frustrating.

On top of that there’s always some splatter or drip that gets on the exterior surface of the unit itself. Maybe it’s me, though I suspect it’s the design.

I wrote Cuisinart in August and, to their credit, they responded. But seriously, this isn’t a field they’re just entering. Doesn’t anyone ‘play test’ these to make sure they both work and are practical?

We would like to think all of our customers are satisfied customers. But we rely on hearing from concerned consumers, such as yourself, if we are not providing you with the product you have come to depend on for quality and value. It always concerns us when we hear of a product that has not met this criteria.

We are truly sorry to hear you are not satisfied with the results you have received with the DGB-650. Rest assured your comments will be passed along to our Marketing, Engineering and Quality Assurance Groups for review.

I hope they did.

In the meantime, this thing is so well built it will bring Helaine and me years of frustration as we hand clean tiny pieces coated with coffee dust.

I needed to get this off my chest.

9 thoughts on “The Coffee Maker I Wouldn’t Buy Again”

  1. Get a Keurig…no clean-up whatsoever. Theres a tiny light thats supposed to come on when you have to “de-scale” the machine. This supposed lone maintenance light hasn’t come on in 2 years of thrice daily operation.

    Cleanup gets trickier if you dont want to pay for the plastic pods and want to use a a metal coffee filter accessory for using your own grind beans. Still, seems better than the CuisinArt

    85% out of 592 Amazon reviewers rated it at 4 or 5

  2. Josh –

    We’re between a rock and a hard place here.

    I just can’t see throwing out a working appliance. It seems wasteful on many levels. And, we bought it with our eyes open. It’s not like Cuisinart held a gun to my head.

    We should have done more research. This is not a ploy to get a new machine. The machine does what Cuisinart claimed it would do–and very well.

    As you might imagine, this post was written right after cleaning it! The frustration is cumulative.

  3. still have the box ? you can always ebay it . sure you’ll take a loss , but it’s like trading in a car and at least you’ll end up with something that makes you happy.

  4. I have a very similar Cuisinart machine and find it easier to use my magic bullet to grind the coffee and then dump it into the basket. I totally agree, its very well built but I would never buy one again!!

  5. Or you could—-

    Autograph it, donate it to a charity auction and take a tax credit. Go buy a $25.00 “Mr. Coffee” and be happy!

  6. Got a similar Cuisinart model here in Santa Fe, but with a glass carafe. For us, everything goes in the dishwasher for it’s daily run each evening. Done. However, remembering to change that little charcoal filter every couple of months, that frustrates me.

  7. Sometimes just venting on the blog is a cathartic experience. Others who research this model will hopefully see my experience. I hold no anger toward Cuisinart. It’s well built. Unfortunately it’s also poorly designed.

  8. I love the fresh coffee from my DGB 550 every morning. The only extra parts are two pieces of the grinder. Just don ‘t direct the faucet directly into it when you are cleaning. It is no more messier than any other maker. I love it. The only problem I have is the door which the basket rest in, some times pops open. The spring catch get clogged with coffee grounds over time.

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