I was looking for a Carafe that would keep coffee hot, and read the reviews on this product as well as others. This product was indicated to be superior in that respect. I am not impressed with the level of warmth, but will concede others might not want their coffee as warm as I do.

My husband and I have been very pleased with the coffee maker. The coffee stays hot for a long time and it shuts off as soon as it's finished so the coffee doesn't get that burned taste.

I figured that those folks who complained about the pot leaking while making the coffee just got unlucky and got a bad one. Well, I guess I did too! It made one great pot of coffee and the next three times I used it, it spewed water all over the counter top. It goes back to the store tomorrow.

We've had this coffeemaker for 2 years now, and despite the design flaws, will repurchase.

Upside:

1) Taste. Simply put, makes the best coffee we have ever tasted. Blows away the average cup served by starbucks/coffeebean/Petes, etc.

2) Keeps coffee HOT. The carafe keeps the coffee piping hot for hours. We make a pot in the morning to drink during the day, and it's still plenty hot after dinner if we warm the cream in the micro for 30 seconds. No loss in flavor. All of our friends love the coffee when they come for a visit, which seems to always be hot and ready for guests. I have never purchased a machine that makes coffee this good which is the most important issue for us in a coffee maker, period.

Downside:

1) Yes, you need to line up the lid - so what? A few turns counterclockwise will line up the threads. Tighten, visually inspect, and you're good to go.

2) Occasional overflow. This is always due to user error, either we forgot to line up the lid or overfilled the filter with coffee. In three years, this has only happened 3 times. The last time we set the coffee maker in a tray with a big lip at the edges to catch the overflow. This worked great, but we didn't consider the maker would be sitting in the coffee, and this ultimately burned out the controls. Perhaps we will set this on something in the tray, so that if it spills over, it won't be sitting in the liquid.

That having said, we are thrilled with our coffee maker, and will repurchase exactly the same model. I consider 3 years of excellent, hot coffee worth the investment, especially because overflow was due to our own user error and can be avoided in the future. I would not hesitate to recomemend this model to any of our friends and family who appreciate excellent coffee on a daily basis.

We've had this coffee maker for about 3 years now and it has been a good overall purchase. Our favorite feature is that it keeps the coffee VERY hot for a VERY long time. Dislikes include:
- LOUD alarm that cannot be shut off. Sometimes we just turn it off before it is finished because it is so annoying.
- You must align the caraffe perfectly with the drip basket. One slight misalignment will cause coffee to drip everywhere.
- After three years, the whole contraption is getting a little tired. The top lid of the caraffe seems to get backed up more often than it used to. Is that to be expected for a three year old coffee maker that gets used 1-2 times a day? I guess it's up to you to decide...

Best thermal caraffe I've ever used. Coffee stays hot well into the afternoon when brewed around 6:00 AM. The unit itself is a little tall and must be pulled out from under the wall cabinet to pour in the water. Coffee tastes fine, though I haven't made anything other than Folgers yet. It's also nice that the caraffe holds 12 cups. There's finally enough coffee for my wife and I in the morning. The pour spout spatters a little if you're not careful.

I purchased this less than a month ago, and as another reviewer noted, the machine is terrible. I've probably used it less than 15 times, and already it's stopped working. Press the "on" button, and be delighted by its one to two minute "brew cycle", where nothing happens. My machine is currently on its way back to Amazon.

I love this coffeemaker. It replaces the exact same one that I had been using for 5 years, then quit suddenly. It takes getting used to but it's worth it. The carafe is well insulated and keeps the coffee warm for 10 hours if the lid is kept in place. If you are patient and kind to this product it will provide you with exceptional service. Critics have said that it pours too slowly, the buzzer is too loud, it overflows, and on and on. CALM DOWN if these things bother you please don't drink caffeine at all. Beleive me, I have had every possible coffeemaker available in my lifetime. This is the only, and probably the last, I will ever purchase.

OK. Cliff notes - this coffee maker is hands down the best. The hot plate can retire to the stone ages as far as I am concerned. I am an avid coffee drinker. I even roast my own beans to get the absolute freshest coffee available. This machine keeps coffee HOT and FRESH for hours after it has been brewed. There is very little introduction of air into the system thanks to the carafe design. The result is the coffee tastes fresh-brewed all day. You will not be disappointed as the quality of the coffee will improve greatly if you are used to drinking form a hot plate. I am planning on a second carafe since my wife drinks decaf.

I LOVE my new coffee maker! It makes coffee fast and keeps the coffee hot for hours. With coffee makers in the past, I frequently found myself reluctant to drink coffee that had been sitting around for more than an hour because it tasted burnt and was generally cold. That's not an issue with this coffeemaker because the brewed coffee doesn't just sit there and fry on the burner; rather the carafe holds the heat made from when the coffee was brewing. You really can't tell the difference in taste or temperature of coffee made 5 minutes ago versus coffee made 4 hours ago.

We've had this coffee maker for almost a year now and we cannot understand why it seems to arbitrarily make good-tasting coffee sometimes and other times, very chemical/plastic-tasting coffee. Nothing we have done seems to provide any guidance or predictability. My husband thinks that using very cold water makes a difference and yet when I try to do this, the coffee tastes awful. We're in the market for a new thermal carafe coffee maker and I'm trying to do a better job researching our next product this time.

This is a great coffee maker. It is simple to use. I was even abel to set it up in the middle of the night when I realized I hadn't set up the auto function for the morning. It had been unplugged when we had a new counter top installed. I was able to set the clock and the auto start time without going back to the instructions that I had read two weeks prior. The thermal carafe keeps the coffee hot for many hours. My wife loves this unit as much as I do, and she likes the fact that you don't have to push anything to pour the coffee. Our old coffee maker had a carafe with a push button and some of our older relatives had a difficult time pouring coffee for themselves. I would buy this coffee maker from Cuisinart again!!!

This is a wonderful coffee maker. The coffee stays hot for hours. The programable features are easy and I love to wake up with the fresh smell of coffee in the house. Why did I wait so long? We use a recycleble filter which fits nicely as well.

I purchased this coffee maker 3 years ago. I had very high hopes for it since it was made by Cuisinart and I already owned another product from them that was very high quality. This product does not live up to their reputation. For the price I paid ($100) and the amount of time I have owned it, it has not proven to be a quality product.

I love the fact that it keeps the coffee steaming hot for hours unless the pot is about 1/4 full in which case it cools down to warm. As others have already mentioned, you must be very careful to line up the lid and the arrow when you are brewing a pot. This isn't difficult just something you need to pay attention to. I use another carafe to fill the water reservoir because it is just easier.

I use the programable feature everyday so that coffee will be ready in the morning. This is great except for when the electricity goes off for 30 seconds to a minute or so. Cuisinart didn't bother to have any kind of battery backup which is typically for 5 to 15 minutes and is found on many other high end coffee makers. This is quite frustrating if you experience electrical fluctuations of very short duration very often. Of course, then you need to reset the programable feature as well as the time. The display window is adequate but the auto program indicator and the pm indicator are so tiny that you need a magnifier to see them. Also, the ink has faded/worn off on the front of the machine for the most part. So if you don't already have it memorized where the on/off/hr/ min/auto program buttons are located it will be difficult to set the time etc.

I don't have any complaints about the brew cycle or the taste of my coffee. I have never experienced an overflow during brewing. I use drip grind coffee and find this works very well in this machine.

While my coffee tastes good and stays hot, I don't think this machine is a good value. It is overpriced, poor quality, and not up to Cusinart's usual high standards.

Let me start saying what's awesome about this coffee maker. There's no burner, so the coffee tastes wonderful till the last drop. The inside is metal and not glass, which means it's easy to clean and you don't have to worry about a glass interior breaking.

Here's the bad. If you use a lot of coffee or finely ground coffee, it doens't drain through fast enough and your counters and floor will wind up full of coffee. I purchased mine in DC and it had problems with esspresso so I don't brew that anymore. I bought it for a relative when I was in CA and for another relative when I was in IN. I feel bad because they have overflow problems worse than I, and they are using grocery store bought Starbucks. One relative sets it in the sink to brew it.

I called Cuisinart to ask them about this problem. I told them the internet has a lot of negative reviews about this coffee maker overflowing. They asked if I was using the plastic filter along with a paper filter....why would I do that? Needless to say it was an aggravating expereince. Cuisinart customer serive is awful!

So, if you use a lot of coffee, I wouldn't recommend this product. Or, buy it from a store so if you do have an overflow problem, you can return it easily.

I have had this coffee maker for over a year. For the first few months it made awesome coffee. The carafe keeps the coffee hot/warm all day which is great. But, unfortunately this coffee maker has a few flaws that takes away all its redeeming qualities.
1)The carafe is impossible to clean. It has a tiny opening up top that we can get only a baby bottle brush in. When I look in through the top, there are stains in there I cannot remove and I am never sure how clean the carafe really is.
2)The lid to the carafe that prevents spilling and coffee backing up is not cleanable. There is a little ball in there that can be removed/clean, but there are little plastic balls in there that are not accessible nor are the cleanable.
3)Because of its lack of clean-ability, over time the quality of the coffee deteriorates.

we find this coffee maker/thermal carafe a very good appliance. the thermal carafe keeps liquids hot for up to 10 hours.

I bought this 5 years ago and it has worked wonderfully everyday since it's purchase. Unfortunately it stopped working after only 5 years. A coffee maker, especially high priced like this one, should last me ten years. I have a Krups that is also used daily and it is 18 years old and was only a fourth of the price. I will only be buying Krups in the future and will pour my coffee in a carafe.

Please Read all of this report about Cuisinart Thermo DTC-975. It make's a great pot of coffee. The stand has a nice design and the cord length is perfect. I don't have to use an extension cord. My picture shows the filter basket holder is black but when it arrived it is a stainless color to match the caraft. The stand has a LARGE EASY TO FILL HOLE for pouring the water into. However, the stand is very tall and it is hard for me to hold the caraft up high and direct the water into the large easy fill water hole. (It is not near the sink so I can't fill it with the sprayer). I like the swing out door better than the lift up, pull out, set in basket. But the Cuisinart swing door is flimsy and will be very hard to remove for cleaning. You must be very gentle when swinging the door open or closing it. The filter basket is very strong and durable. It would be better if the durable filter basket had a pull out handle on it and you could just slide the filter basket out and forget the flimsy door. The Thermo Caraft is really, really hard to clean. You cannot put your hand into the opening to clean the inside of the Caraft. It can never be submerged in water. You waste alot of water if you need to fill it and soak it clean. Even after you have cleaned it, the inside is still wet and you have to put the air tight lid back on the Caraft for it to fit back into the stand. The lid must always be exactly on right or you will have problems brewing your coffee. I marked the lid at the Pour spot with White Nail Polish so I would be sure the Pour is always at the spout, where it should be before brewing. The good news is: IT MAKE'S A GREAT POT OF COFFEE, just pour and enjoy when it's done brewing. It shut's off automatically, that save's on the burner alway's being on and the coffee will never get that burnt taste. The Coffee stays HOT, HOT, HOT for MANY HOURS. It would be nice if it had some kind of a slide marker or Flag indicator on the stand to remind you that you have coffee made. (You can't see through the Caraft, someone else may make coffee and you won't know it). I have learned to face the Cuisinart name to the front of the stand (or handle to the side) of the coffee stand when it is clean. When I have coffee made, or it needs cleaning I face the handle to the front of the stand, but not everyone remember's what to do. I LOVE MY CUISINART because I can take the pot outside with me for my morning coffee, or I can take it upstair's when I sew and the coffee is alway's HOT and I don't have to keep getting up to fill up from the coffee stand. I am spoiled to the automatic shut off, and carry around caraft, it has the brew pause, but it brews fast so I never have to use that feature and it has the easy programmable clock for auto brew. If it had all the change's I'd like it to have, I may feel better about spending as much on the machine as I did. But, I wouldn't pay more if all the changes were made.

Shoreview, MN

Cuisinart DTC-975N Programable Auto Brew 12-Cup Coffeemaker - White

This a a great coffee maker that keeps the coffee really hot especially as compared to my previous Cuisinart coffee maker.

This coffeemaker is really a piece of junk...it will overflow all over your counter, cabinets, and floor if it clogs or is not quite lined up 100% correct. A very poorly designed product. If you mis-align the paper filter in the coffeemaker it clogs and overflows. DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE. The only reason we bought this was because of the carafe that keeps the coffee hot.

Don't know what all the fuss is about. This thing makes coffee and it keeps it hot. The chirp is not annoying at all, despite the claims of others. This thing also keeps coffee hot for two to three after after brew time. Wouldn't change anything about it.

Due to Cuisinart's unique top, this coffee makers keeps coffee hot all day, saving electricity and preventing the burned taste often associated with "old" coffee. I have had this coffee maker for almost 2 months and continue to enjoy it.

i absolutely love this coffee maker. It keeps coffee hot for hours and really suits my needs because I drink coffee all day long. But it does have its quirks. I made coffee three times in a row, cleaning out the filter, the lid, making sure there were no coffee grounds that could have become stuck. Anyway it overflowed each time. Don't know what on earth I did any differently, but it worked like a charm perfectly the next day.

After eight years of faithful service it was time to replace our Mr. Coffee Thermal Gourmet coffee pot which I gave rave reviews about. The coffee pot is still chugging along but it was beginning to look a bit sad after almost daily use.

We decided to upgrade to the Cuisinart coffee pot. So far we have been pleased with its performance. The automatic brewing cycle (which the old machine did not have) is a nifty feature. Nothing better than finding a fresh cup of coffee waiting when you first arise in the morning.

The coffee stays amazingly hot, up to 12 hours as claimed, and since there is not heating plate involved the coffee does not become bitter. So from o'dark thirty to late afternoon we can enjoy delicious hot coffee whenever we want.

Not only does this save us money by having fresh coffee readily available (no more make another pot and run up the electric bill) but the thermal carafe keeps the coffee hot without using any extra electricity except what was used for the brewing cycle.

Overall, this was one of our better purchases at Amazon.

this is a replacement coffeemaker, we had a cuisinart before. I am a coffee junkie , need my fix at least 5 or 6 times a day. I mean pots people. I love that I get at least 2 years out of my coffee makers. I like that once the brewing is over, my coffee is not cooking over a burner, but is still as hot an fresh. as the frist cup. So if you want a good cup or pot of coffee. this is the maker for you.

Background: I originally purchased my wife a single cup coffee maker for Christmas a couple years ago after our old coffee maker was having issues. She decided she didn't want a single cup maker and she did a lot of research on Amazon. Eventually, we decided on this model.

This has been one of the best coffee makers we've ever owned. First, the thermal carafe keeps coffee warm without destroying the flavor. The first cup isn't much different from the last. If you warm up the pot before brewing--by filling with hot water and draining before brewing--it will stay warm an entire day. Plus, there's something to be said for being able to leave the house and not worrying about whether or not you left the coffee pot on.

That said, there are a few idiosyncrosies that have been duly noted in other reviews; overflow, mess if not properly seated and screwing in the carafe top. We've had experience with them all, but they're minor annoyances at best (except for the mess when the pot isn't seated right).

The only thing I would add is that the top is somewhat difficult to clean. If you take it apart, it can be challenging to make sure no parts are lost. If it's left intact to rinse out at day's end, it never seems to get clean, and that causes coffee stain accumulation that won't come out unless it's soaked or taken apart.

Overall, a great product, especially if it's on sale. If it wasn't for the few issues, it would certainly be 5 star. All things being equal, we would purchase again.

I purchased this coffee maker thinking it had ALL the features I wanted. A thermal carafe so my coffee wouldn't get that burnt taste and I could cart it around, programmable so I could wake up to coffee. What they don't tell you is that the poor design makes it inevitable that you lose at least one pot of coffee a week unless you religiously check the top of the thermos and the bottom of the filter holder for dregs and unless the top of the thermos is screwed on exactly right and that you don't put in more than 7 cups of water. I need coffee because I can't function properly in the morning and don't want it to be more difficult to make a freakin' pot of coffee than it would be to make a cafe mocha vanilla flavored with freshly grated nutmeg on top. Don't buy this unless you are wanting to clean up your counter that early in the morning.

Cuisinart DTC-975BKN Programable Auto Brew 12-Cup Coffeemaker, Black

Like other purchasers, I looked at all the reviews here prior to buying this coffee maker about 4 months ago. I went ahead and bought it in spite of the many negative reviews. I'm glad I did! I make a full pot every day and have not ever had an overflow problem. I wash the brewbasket, carafe, and carafe lid after each use and put the lid back on (make sure the "pour" label is pointed at the spout) and it's ready to go for the next day. Coffee stays hot all day long. As soon as the coffee is brewed the light goes off and you stop using electricity to keep the coffee warm - the carafe takes care of that. Like most things, if you follow the instructions, it works great! I highly recommend this coffee maker.

This Cuisinart makes a great pot of coffee with no fuss and then keeps it warm all day without using energy.

This coffee maker has worked great for me. Two other people in my family also own this model and have enjoyed it. I've come back after 12 hours to find the coffee is still hot. I've owned it for about 8 months now and have not once had a problem with it.

I don't know how the people posting negative reviews have been using theirs. I've never had it overflow and I don't think it's that hard to put the pot back in the machine so that this problem doesn't occur. I clean mine regularly so I've never had to worry about coffee grounds getting stuck somewhere causing problems. Also I've never had a need to brew more than 8 cups so I've not had to deal with finding the right amount of water for a full 12 cups. I'd just use the carafe for measure water in that case to prevent overflowing.

Beeping of the machine when it is done brewing can be heard from the next room but I have not found this annoying. I've also had the top of the pot not sit on properly when I put it back on like others but all I did was turn it a little bit the opposite direction and it drops in properly for tightening. My girlfriend says it pours slow but it doesn't bother me, guess that point is a matter of opinion.

The only thing I have to say on the negative side is that with the standard height of counters like mine and the height of the coffeemaker I need to pull it out to fill the reservoir.

Other than the one minor inconvenience I love this coffeemaker and plan on keeping it around for many years.

We have had this coffee maker for just over a year now. It does make great coffee, and it keeps the coffee hot for a VERY long time (coffee made at 6:30am will still be hot, albeit a bit less tasty, by 6:30pm). The beep is loud, but not much more so than our old Braun. The other reviewers are correct about this machine being finicky when it comes to perfect alignment of all parts. And, even when everything is meticulously set up, it still overflows. Our machine was virtually trouble free for about a year, but we have had 3 overflows in the past month, so time for the trash. What a disappointment. The Braun that we had replaced worked for 8 years. If only they still made that model...

Save your money and buy something else. I have had this coffee maker for 3 months now and here are my remarks (I am an engineer...I have some experience with mechanical objects so I am not a total idiot trying to figure out this machine)...

Pros - This machine does make good coffee. Coffee stays hot for hours. Large capacity is nice feature.

Cons - 1. Overflows are common. Like other reviewers have noted, this is a design flaw. I have quickly figured out that correct allignment of the basket and screw cap are necessary, but even when correct something is causing it to overflow. To me it appears to be the piece at the bottom of the basket (that controls the sneak-a-cup feature). 2. Cap is finicky and it normally takes several tries to get it screwed on straight. 3. Sneak-a-cup feature stopped working after about 2 weeks. Coffee continues to brew onto the unit and all over my counters if you try to sneak a cup. 4. Unit is too tall to fit under cabinets. 5. Water level measurment is on the side of the unit and hard to read when filling the reservoir. 5. Unit is hard to clean because the opening is so small. I had to buy a baby bottle brush to get in there. No adult hand is going to fit through the opening (I am a small-framed, 5'2" tall, 112 pound female and can't get my hand in it to clean it). 6. Unit beeps 5 times to let you know it is finished beeping. One reviewer called it "shrill"...I think that is a perfect description! 7. The basket doesn't fit securely in the machine. It doesn't "click" into place or anything to let you know you have it in correctly, and trust me, if it's not in correctly you will have a countertop and floor covered in coffee! I have learned to check it several times, because if the filter is not fitted all the way down into the basket just right, the basket doesn't swing back into the machine all the way and it will overflow.

Bottom line is...I wish I would have read these reviews before I purchased this unit. I will not be buying another Cuisinart machine. My parents and in-laws also have this unit and they appear to be happy with it, but we have not had the same luck with it. This machine is just too finicky to mess with!!!

we purchased this to replace a braun that we were very happy with(it's now in my garage), but it had to be unpluged because it wouldn't shut off anymore. we wanted a larger capacity, and better thermos. man did we get it, this thing is incredible. it works sooo much better it is ridiculous. this carafe keeps coffee HOT, so far 5 hours. we had to put the braun in a butler, and it didn't keep it hot this long. i love and would recommend it to anyone that doesn't like a burnt bunn of coffee after an hour or so on a warmer

I have been using this coffee machine for 7 months now. I purchased it because I liked the sleek look; I still do. But there are some serious design-flaws IMO. It`s too high to fit under the hanging cabinets; at the very least it`s impossible to fully open the water tank lid when filling it. The column that indicates the fill level is only readable from the side, not from the front. Don`t underestimate this: you have to hold the lid open with your left hand (because of the cabinets above) with the water source in the right hand while doing acrobatics with your neck to be able to see the fill level. Not fun. The pot is difficult to clean because the openening ist very small. Even though I have so far been lucky enough to not have my kitchen flood it`s been an annoying time nonetheless. To align the lid to close at first try is almost impossible to achive. It`s best to not trust for the brew-stop to work either; often, and without any warning, it does not. After now the red ball that indicates the fill level just stopped doing its job I decided to return the machine. I had a Krups before for 10 years; this machine can`t hold a candle to my old one. I would not wish it on anyone.