Cuisinart DGB-550BKP1 Automatic Coffeemaker Grind & Brew, 12-Cup Glass, Black

I don't know what people are complaining about, really. This is an amazing machine. For the price, it is great! Ofcourse if money is no issue then buy yourself the $300 one where condensation of water in the grinder is no issue. However to me it is not an issue or a problem at all. You wash your coffe pot everyday right? At least if you like great tasting coffe like me, with no residue from a dirty pot, I reccomend you do. So this is just one more step to add to your routine, wash the grinder afterwards, just make sure it's dry before you put coffe in there, which is not hard to do. Just like your coffe pot, after washing you leave it on the drying rack to dry right? you do the same with the grinder, really no rocket science. The condensation in the grinder happens DURING the coffe brewing, the coffe is being ground in a DRY grinder chamber and is already in the filter when it brews, so it DOES NOT affect the coffe making process at all. At least to me, I don't see how it does. Then when you do dishes, or whatever your routine is, you take care of your coffemaker, it's just part of your daily routine, at least it should be if you care about having a great tasty cup of coffe. You can't just NOT take care of your coffe machine and expect results! any coffe machine. That is notfair to CUSINART! or any brand, to critisize for your own mistakes/laziness ( I'm so sorry, no offense to anyone, but it really just ads a few minutes to your routine) So now that you understand that the comments critisizing the machine make no sense, BUY THE COFFE MAKER if you like it. It is so conveniant with the grinder, two in one, no more messing around with grinding coffe beforehand, and several machines, that's awesome!!! Oh, I almost forgot, as far as the grinder noise, yes, it is not quiet, but the complaints about it being very noisy make no sense either. Show me a grinder which is super quiet! I just tried it today while my whole family was still asleep, and guess what?! no one woke up😆 I wouldn't recommend using the grind option maybe if you have a sleeping baby in the house! lol, otherwise I think you're good. My youngest is 5, and he slept through it just fine, and he is a tricky sleeper 😅The only thing I would say, and this has nothing really to do with Cusineart or the Coffemaker, just personal preferance, I am a person who likes bold, stronger coffe, if you are too, you might just have to adjust the number of scoops to your taste. It says one scoop of bean coffe per cup, I double that lol, but again, that is just personal preferance, not something against Cusinart.Great machine! I love Cusinart, and am speaking through experience. My third machine! Love it! so conveniant this one, and the taste of the coffe is lovely!

So I purchased this to replace my Cuisinart CHW-12 Coffee Plus 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Hot Water System, Black/Stainless. I was very pleased with the *coffeemaker* component of this latter (its hot water system being another matter), and was looking for a similar coffeemaker that also had a grind and brew function. I have had it now for just shy of a year, and am almost entirely pleased with it. Let me address the pros and cons, both as I see them and as they have been discussed in other reviews:Pros:(1) This coffeemaker is able to produce an excellent cup of coffee in very little time.(2) The grind function allows you to control precisely how much coffee you want ground. Other models - such as the Krups KM7005 Grind and Brew coffeemaker - essentially have a reservoir for beans that are ground according to your selection of coffee-strength. Effectively, this means it uses a timer to determine how much coffee to grind. In my experience, this resulted in an imperfect and - more importantly - inconsistent cup of coffee. This Cuisinart coffeemaker, by contrast, will grind precisely how much coffee you put in the grinder. I have been surprised to find no residue, or almost no residue, in the grinder after each use. This allows you to control the strength of your coffee, and produce a consistent cup.(3) You can easily turn the grinder off. I keep a stash of ground coffee at the ready for those days when I'm running behind and want to save a step. It doesn't save a lot of time - but it's a nice feature.Cons(1) A number of people have noted in their reviews that this coffeemaker is a lot of work to clean. While I don't find this in fact to be the case, it does require you to wash, in addition to the components common to any coffeemaker, the grinder after each use. The only systems with which I am familiar that do not require this are those with a coffee reservoir; the drawback of these systems, as I note above, is that it is difficult to get a consistently good cup of coffee out of them. So I think this is a have your cake or eat it predicament: if you want a consistently good cup of coffee from a grind and brew coffeemaker, you're probably going to need to buy one requiring additional cleaning.(2) I was surprised to find how much I missed the carafe temperature control function of my old Cuisinart CHW-12 coffeemaker. I find this grind and brew coffeemaker produces coffee that is slightly too hot for my taste. That said, it is a minor drawback, easily corrected by waiting a few minutes after pouring a cup before drinking it.(3) Unlike the CHW-12, there is no transparent window that allows you to see how much water is in the reservoir from the side of the coffeemaker. Instead, you have to look down into the water reservoir, at a series of steps marking 2, 4, 6, 8 and so forth. This makes it difficult to fill the reservoir to, say, 3 cups or 5 cups or 7 cups etc. Why? Because when you are looking down, you lose the perspective necessary to determine when the water is halfway between, say, 4 and 6. This is a minor inconvenience that can be worked around by trial and error.(4) I agree with those reviewers who say the grinder is not large enough to make an entire pot of strong coffee. This doesn't make the least difference for me since I only make half a pot per day. To make half a pot of coffee at my desired strength, however, I do need to fill the coffee grinder well more than 1/2 full. Upshot: a 12 cup pot of coffee is likely to be weaker than I would want it. So: if you want 12 cups every morning of strong coffee, this grind and brew coffee maker is likely to fall short of your expectations. If, on the other hand, you only occasionally make a full pot of coffee, I'd recommend that, on those occasions, you turn the grinder off and use the appropriate amount of pre-ground coffee instead.Overall, I would deduct a 1/2 star for cons (2) and (3). That not being an option, however, I have given this coffeemaker a 5 star rating since 4 stars would certainly not do credit to its many fine features.**UPDATE 05/12/2020**I have had this unit for just over a year. I stand by my original assessment. It is far and away the best coffee maker I have ever purchased, at least for my purposes.