Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Maker, Programmable PerfecTemp Thermal Carafe Coffee Machine with 1-4 Cup Setting, Brew Strength Control and Brew Pause, Stainless Steel, DCC-3400NAS, Silver

DavidsGirlUnited States

Love this coffee maker! Great tasting, very hot coffee

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.

W. H. Beebe Jr.United States

DCC-3400 is an excellent coffee maker

UPDATE 3 September 2017 Nothing out of the ordinary to report. It's been 12 weeks (since 11 June) since the DCC-3400 was delivered to my house. During that period the coffee maker has worked flawlessly. I've neither seen nor experienced any of the early onset problems I've read elsewhere. I will say this; I only brew 10 cups of coffee at a time, since that's what I did for decades (with and without Cuisinart), and I just can't seem to break the muscle habit of "ten scoops in the morning." But I brew every single morning, and when I'm on travel, my wife brews just like I do. Some habits I believe help: - I clean the basket every morning, and don't let the grounds sit, even for a day. - I wash out the pot at the same time I clean the basket; I don't let any coffee sit in the pot. - I clean off the outside of the pot and brewer with a damp cloth at least once a week. - I use pre-filtered water that flows through my refrigerator. And that's about it. It works excellently and looks as good as it works, and it delivers excellently brewed coffee. It's still a five star purchase. ORIGINAL REVIEW I purchased this coffee maker to replace an older Cuisinart DCC-1150. The 1150 had been purchased back in 2007, nearly ten years ago. It had developed a very small intermittent leak in the base of the unit. It still made good tasting coffee, and I was hesitant to replace it, but I went on ahead and purchased the 3400. Here's the key points on this purchase: 1) I purchased this via Amazon Prime, and took advantage of their one-day free delivery offer. The 3400 was ordered early Saturday and arrived around 6pm the next day on a Sunday. 2) I "brewed" two full pots of water only through the 3400. The next morning, on the first official pot, the coffee tasted great. 3) I brew New England Coffee purchased at a local Publix. 4) I use filtered water filtered by my Kenmore refrigerator which is what I've always used with the older 1150. 5) This review is on the brand-new unit after the second pot of coffee. The 3400 is more like a refined 1150. It's the same general size and shape, with the 3400 slightly larger to brew 12 cups vs. the 1150's 10 cup capacity. The 3400 has a veneer of stainless steel vs the black plastic exterior of the 1150. The 3400 comes with a stainless steel caraf, just like the 1150 did, but big enough to hold 12 cups. It brews coffee as fast as the 1150 did. What's interesting is how the 3400 has the same identical coffee basket and upper assembly that the 1150 has. Big flat buttons on the 3400 replace the smaller buttons and a knob found on the 1150. Because the 3400 is more refined, pouring water into the coffee maker is actually easier with the 3400. The opening in the back is slightly larger. I can easily pour water into it without spilling any using a standard Rubbermaid two quart pitcher. When it's nearly finished brewing a small amount of steam comes out of the back vent holes, just like it did with the 1150. When the audible finished alarm goes off, the 3400 sounds just like the 1150. The 3400 is an excellent coffee maker. It's well built, better even than the older 1150 (which was itself built quite well). It produces excellent coffee without the drama I've read about in some of the other reviews on this product. I highly recommend the DCC-3400.

KevinCanada

Great & compact coffee maker!

Loving this Cuisinart. Great coffee, great settings, great window to accurately add water, carafe is slick design that you dont have to fiddle with buttons or paddles or anything else. A valve in then lid lets the coffee in as it brews, and cleverly opens only once you tip the carafe to pour. Does require patience though as the rate of pour is glacial and can sputter a little making a mess. But coffee remains hot for at least 3 hours if you preheat the carafe, and of course it's never burnt like a heat element might be. Water filters are easy to source and replace, and the permanent filter does a great job giving me all the flavors and oil without any of the grounds. As with any fine mesh you will get a bit of residue, but not bad at all. So glad I chose this model!

J. MaydanCanada

Perfectly tasty and warm coffee for hard water users

We replaced our old coffee maker with this. We like the white and silver look. We use the water filters (sold separately) as our water is very hard. The coffee tastes great and stays hot all morning. We had no trouble pouring from the thermal carafe, so maybe that issue has been resolved. Very nice product.