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UNfortunately, the mesh filter inside the grinding chamber gets clogged up with coffee grounds, and you basically have to clean it or at least wipe it every time. When I bought this there were few others like it on the market. Most days I am happy with my Cuisinart all in one grinder brewer coffee machine. So the convenience of self-grinding is nearly canceled out by the inconvenience of all the cleaning, which is also very messy. Now there are many others which are a bit better and I think I will upgrade to a different brand next time. It grinds right there in the machine and you don't have to transfer from a separate grinding machine into the coffee machine. That is very convenient and saves the mess of spilling coffee grounds all over the place while you are desperate for your first cup of coffee.
If you attempt to make more than 3 cups, you best be prepared to get out the tools to take it apart to clean. I love a good cup of freshly ground "strong" coffee. It will stay there. The coffee grinds goes everywhere except where you can easily clean it up.I currently have this in a box in my garage. If you like strong coffee, this is not the coffee maker for you. It only hold enough bearns to make 3 cups (6 ounce cups).
That drove me crazy constantly having to turn the machine off and back on to give myself more time for hot coffee. What do you expect from a grind and brew. The coffee this machine brews tastes great and the carafe keeps it very hot.
There are quite a few parts to wash, but I pop them, in the dishwasher and am on my way. If you don't want noise, buy a standard coffee maker. The noise.
I absolutely love this coffee machine. If you are after a simple coffee maker, this one is not it. If you are after a good cup of coffee, I would highly recommend this machine.
The last machine I had turned off after an hour. I have returned to my carafe after a few hours and still have a cup of great-tasting, hot coffee.
If you forget the filter, use a double filter instead of one, forget to put the carafe in place or forget to shut the basket door firmly, you wake up to the great smell of coffee and it's always all over the floor. I've had and used it daily for 2 years. When the time comes, I'll definitely replace this one with another one, because it makes the best coffee. The carafe will keep coffee hot for several hours and I've found that it only takes a couple of minutes to clean the unit. The coffee is great and it has spoiled me as I never order coffee out anymore. The pot is also very unforgiving.
And I plan to deposit the DGB-600BC in the trash can later today.At least I think I do. I don't know why, but even though I'd cleaned it thoroughly two days ago, I just had a feeling it was due to burn me. But I quickly tired of washing the numerous pieces, which often don't come clean even in my high-end Kitchen Aid dishwasher. And the carafe that spills if you pour too fast--and only sort of keeps the coffee warm, even if you preheat it Etc.But none of that could compare to the overflow problem. I've let this thing abuse me so many times before, only time will tell whether I really wise up or fall for it yet again. But no, the new one had all the old one's problems, and the basket mechanism seemed even flimsier than the old one, meaning it popped open even more frequently.Over time, I developed a routine of cleaning the coffee maker--and particularly the basket mechanism--meticulously and frequently.
That's it, I've had it. But as this became routine and a bit of online research revealed this was a common problem, I debated tossing my almost-brand-new and (at the time) $150+ coffee maker. I made a game out of "What would make this coffee maker work properly." But I've never come up with an answer.So, I've settled into a routine of watching the grinding process and making sure the brewing has begun before walking away--and so much for the convenience of the timer, eh. Other times, we've found the coffee literally five or six feet from the maker by the time we've figured out there was a problem.Don't believe the people who try to downplay this problem. Luckily, my wife caught the mess in its relatively early stages. And then it died.Hoping I'd just received a dud, I was only too happy to return it to Cuisinart for a new one. After my Thermal Grind and Brew overflowed this morning--spilling coffee all over my tile counter (where my grout is permanently stained), my floor (where the carpet has similar stains), and even up into my walls, where the coffee has seeped during particularly bad spills--I decided I'd had enough. But then, I've said the same thing countless times before, and like an idiot, I keep coming back for some reason.My wife and I have had this unit since shortly after it was released.
This is, by conservative estimate, probably the twentieth time it's overflowed, so I took it straight out to my back patio, in a hurry to clean up the mess. And that's just what it did, minutes after I walked away.Mercifully, this time something like 80% of the grinds flowed out, and this time they didn't go into the carafe--meaning most of the coffee continued flowing into it. And that's what I did today. I three other people who own this unit, and ALL of them have the same dilemma--underutilizing or even tossing an underperforming, pricey coffee maker, or continuing to use it at risk to their counters, floors, and walls. But "reduced" is a relative term.At times, I've considered putting Velcro on the basket housing to keep it in place.
Like I said, I'm done. But if you don't already own one, you're lucky, because you can turn your back and say no, like I wish I had long ago. But not me. Immediately, I loved it many good qualities which others have pointed out--convenience of the grinder, taste of freshly-ground beans, the timer, etc. But the downside was that the thick glop of the grinds went everywhere, flowing like mud in an overflowing river.
But even then, if it pops out just a bit, that's enough to let coffee come flowing out, so I didn't bother. The first time it happened, I was in shock--and that was when I had granite counters and a linoleum floor, both of which cleaned easily enough. I found that a brush cleaned the grinds out of the workings best, and between that, daily wiping with a damp dishrag inside and out, shaking it VERY hard over the sink, and occasionally even running water through the thing's guts, I reduced the frequency of the overflows.
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