Cuisinart launches its new T Series line with a coffeemaker that is going to change the dynamic of today’s kitchen. Intuitive touchscreen controls let coffee lovers tap icons to choose start time, shutoff time, number of cups, and strength settings. When the coffeemaker is not in use, the LCD screen goes to sleep – creating an ultra-sleek look in your kitchen. Simply touch the power icon to wake up the screen when you are ready to brew! With PerfecTemp Technology,This premium coffeemaker even brews hotter, and has two filters that protect the rich coffee flavor. Its superb coffee and a brand new look kitchens are going to love!
| Asin | B084F42G2X |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 7.5"D x 8.5"W x 14.5"H |
| Weight | 1 pounds |
| Manufacturer | Cuisinart |
Christopher Hoffman –
What a sad joke! The touch screen looks nice and the coffee is great… but this model is such a step backwards in terms of ease of use for Cusisnart.
I’m returning this, ASAP, and getting the standard model… with BUTTONS.
Here’s the issue:
With the standard model, for 20+ years, you can simply press one button for less than 1/2 a second, and you immediately know auto-brew is enabled with a simple light. After decades of Cuisinart Coffee Makers, my family is used to simply filling the reservoir, adding the grind, and just pressing the ‘Auto’ button so it’s lit, and then the ‘bold’ button so it’s lit, because we like that setting. And, whenever we look into the kitchen, we can see from a mile away that the coffee maker is armed and ready for launch at the impending butt-crack of dawn.
With this new machine: yes, it has an auto-on feature, but the touch screen has to be ‘awakened’ in order to arm it… AND you have to press the ‘Auto-on’ icon for 2 seconds to put it into auto-on programming mode… and then wait 2 seconds for the programming mode to auto-extinguish… which is the ONLY way to enable the auto-on light so you know it’s set.
How do you know you are in ‘Auto-on’ mode? You have to see that the icon is lit, of course. BUT: if you accidentally hit the ‘power’ button and ‘wake’ the screen again… the +]^*}*€<£+]! ‘auto-on’ mode is automatically terminated! So, THEN you have to wake the screen, press auto-on for 2 seconds, wait another 2 seconds, and only then can you ensure that the ‘auto-on’ mode is set again.
I don’t know who actually designed this touch-screeen interface, but I can guess that Cuisinart has probably handed a pink slip to the product manager for this design tragedy. Talk about a blow to the brand… how embarrassing.
Oh! I almost forgot: you have to TRUST that the person who set the auto-on was also able to set the ‘bold’ option at the same time. This is because the BOLD option light extinguishes when the screen goes to sleep! 😑🤬
Look: I’m sure it brews coffee just as well as any Cuisinart does, but we bought the thing in hopes that it would be a worthy, modern addition to a venerable classic line of outstanding Java Brewers form a reliable company (heck, the carafe is exactly the same as our model from 10 years ago… HOW COULD THEY MISS?!?) In fact, not so! No WONDER we never saw it on the store shelves locally… it probably got returned too often. 🤣
If you get one as a gift, my advice is to not even open the box. I’m sure the item can be returned… or you can re-gift it as a white-elephant, which is about the only valid reason anyone should be gifting it to you. Just be kind, thank the person, immediately drive to any local store (or search up an en-buttoned Cuisinart coffee maker on the Amazon app) and buy the genuine article.
Jim McC –
Two pots a day for two years. Good coffee. I’m buying another one.
JeffersonHI –
When my Hamilton Beach coffee maker decided to stop working after 7 years of daily use, I took a peek at Consumer Reports to see what they recommended – and saw the Cuisinart DCC-T20 among their top-rated. That very day, I ordered one from Amazon, along with a package of Melitta #4 Cone Coffee Filters. I’ve used the same brand of coffee beans and the same grind (I have a burr grinder) for years so I was able to compare the “quality of the cup” easily. I can without reservation tell you that the Cuisinart DCC-T20 coffee maker, paired with the Melitta #4 filters, makes an outstanding pot of coffee.
Controls on this model are pressure-sensitive “buttons” hidden behind a shiny black face-plate. A gentle tap on the always-visible On/Off “button” makes all of the others light up. The options available are self-evident and I found the black face-plate surprisingly resistant to greasy fingerprint smudges. I drink my coffee black and use a dark roasted bean, with my grind set between expresso and drip (medium fine?). I prefer to taste the flavor of the coffee beans – and *not* cream and sugar (bleh), so I always tap the “bold” setting on. I also make 8 cups at a time, so I’ve never used the 1-4 cups setting. I did have to prepare a pot very early in the morning once, and relied on the timer to fire-up the machine at 4 AM. It worked flawlessly, thank goodness…!
The coffee maker comes with about 30 seconds worth of assembly required: a small water filter that looks like a miniature oval Keureg cup must be (unwrapped and) pressed into its holder at the base of a plastic wand. Once this done, the wand itself is inserted into the open corner where water is poured. The base of the wand slips snugly into a hole at the bottom of the water reservoir. You’ll have to pass a couple of carafes of plain water through the coffee-making cycle in order to remove any charcoal dust from the filter element. Once you’ve done this, you’re all set.
I included a photo – untouched and unabashedly displaying all its early morning glory – of what the cone filter looks like after making my standard 8-cup pot. You can see that the spent coffee grind never approaches the top of the filter, so there’s never a chance that you’ll find any stray grinds at the bottom of a cup. I can’t vouch for the same result if you use other filter size/brands.
My only complaint is a minor one: the corner opening where the water is poured into the reservoir is, by design, a bit small when using the carafe itself to fill the reservoir. There is an opaque plastic window that runs up one side of the DCC with a scale that matches up perfectly with the 14-cup scale etched onto the glass of the carafe. So if you use a separate vessel to fill the coffee maker, you can use this and be assured that your water volume is accurate – and doing so would eliminate this complaint. BTW, the footprint of the coffee maker is about 7″ X 9″ X 14.”
henryandbo –
This is the BEST coffee maker that I have ever owned. It lasted 3.5 years and brewed approximately 1200 to 1500 pots of coffee. And the coffee is delicious! I already have a new one that I bought last year and just now had to get it out of storage. I will never buy another brand again. For context, other brands last about a year before needing to be replaced. Worth the little extra cost.
jwh –
On top of the listed capabilities, I found that a sudden power outage does not reset the clock or timer.
Lobster 13 –
It does make good coffee! I’ll give it that. What I don’t like about it is that it is very hard to fill. The grinds section is great and easy to use, but the water fill is awful. First of all you have to move the coffee maker out from under the cabinets. Secondly you have to rinse out the coffee pot and fill it up with water. Then with the top open all the way you have to attempt to pour the water into the reservoir and there is always water on the bottom of the top that drips onto the counter behind the coffee maker. Then you have to pour the water into the reservoir slowly as if you go too fast, it will drip all over the counter and you can never get it all in due to the shape of the pot and the lid on the coffee maker. I am getting ready to order another measuring cup to make filling the coffee maker easier. I should come with one. After all this, you close the top, slide it back under the cabinets and get a paper towel to mop up all the water you just spilled.
Aristillus –
This is my third Cuisinart coffee maker of a similar type and it is hands down the my favorite! Each of the prior ones lasted about five years. They may have lasted longer had I been more faithful to proper cleaning but they eventually suffered from hard water lime buildup. They have all made a fine cup of coffee. But pot alone, no matter the brand or cost, will turn pre-ground grocery store coffee into a great cup! I grind my own coffee right before use, measured by weight for each pot, from locally roasted beans.
So what makes it my favorite? It’s sleek and absolutely beautiful on my kitchen counter! The surface is easy to clean, with no buttons to collect dirt. It makes 14 cups, two cups more than my other Cuisinarts. And I love the digital display. There’s really nothing complicated about it if you pay attention to the instructions. Touch sensitivity is good and it holds previous settings from pot to pot unless you want to make a change. I love the side window that shows water level! With my older Cuisinarts I would…honest to gosh…have to stand on my tippietoes with a flashlight to look down into the water well and make sure I didn’t overfill.
The purchase of pot alone includes a reusable filter, no need to buy that separately, but be aware that those filters will allow sediment to drip through to your pot and spoil the cup. It also includes one water filter, which is quite easy to change, but after filtering my water in a Brita pitcher I find no need to refilter the water. The pot works just as normal without it.
It arrived extremely well packaged. In fact it was almost like opening a Russian Matryoshka doll with a cardboard box inside a larger cardboard box and inside those was the store display box with the pot inside protected by more cardboard…no Styrofoam…bonus! I doubt anything less than a truck running over it could have broken the glass carafe.
Like my previous Cuisinarts, settings allow you to turn off the burner as soon as the coffee has dripped through. Or you can choose H, M or L temperature if you like but leaving coffee on a hot burner makes for burnt tasting coffee very quickly. Much tastier to rewarm in the microwave if it has cooled. There’s a wide range of settings, so it’s easy to personalize in a way that meets your needs. How long it will last is hard to say but my previous Cuisinarts served me well for years and hopefully this one will too.
Chuck & Karen –
After several weeks of research on which coffee maker would replace my 10 year old Brewstation, I settled on a Cuisinart Perfect Temp model. While deciding between the DCC-3200 and the T20, I chose the T20 for its style as well as function.
Upon unboxing of the T20, I was surprised by how light weight the unit was with so much light weight plastic. That was a little off-putting as we sometimes correlate quality with heavy/sturdy construction. I know current manufacturing using lighter materials may make that an old-fashioned comparison. I hope to prove the new way is as good or better over the life of this T20, should it also last 5-10 years.
At 14 cups this can make a BIG carafe of coffee. I read several reviews that said the carafe was ‘clunky’ because of the way the lid is not hinged. I find it VERY useful and easy to use. Removing the lid is as simple as popping it off. Nothing complicated as detaching the typical hinge based lid. Pop it off, complete your washing of lid and carafe, then snap it back into place. The glass carafe is not heavy (empty), and the handle was sufficiently ergonomic to pour easily. Many reviews (of many coffee makers) will comment on if a carafe empties completely. This one empties easily enough with a typical pouring angle. It will leave a bit still in the bottom (about 1/8th of an ounce), and you will have to up-end the pot to fully dislodge. I don’t find that to be uncommon and we do that anyway when washing and putting the pot away for the day anyway.
The touch-screen works well. A single touch turns on the full screen, showing all the display “buttons”. There you can adjust many settings such as:
– how long you want the warming burner to stay on (auto shut off)
– how hot you want that burner to keep the coffee (Low/Med/High),
– Clock Setting (and delayed/timer brew functions)
– Sound control on/off (for the touch screen and for the coffee is ready alert and the auto-shut off alert)
– You can also set the size of pot to make (1-4 cups or 5- 14). FYI That part is more to adjust the heat and timing, as you will still need to only add the amount of water you intend to brew.
Don’t fill the reservoir to the max (14 cup) and expect only 4 cups to be brewed.
Also, I suggest you use a separate container with a good pour spout to fill the water. The reservoir opening is not large and you will want to have some accuracy to where you pour. We use an old “Brita Filter” container and it works wonderfully. I have marked it for various amounts (4 cup, 10 cup, 14 cup, etc) so we can easily fill it for the desired amount of coffee. The reservoir on the coffee maker fills from the right side of the machine and there is a clear plastic window indicator with markings to aid you in filling to the desired number of cups.
The grounds basket utilizes the #4 cone filters and the machine also comes with a golden mesh basket if you want to eliminate using paper filters. We actually use both the paper filter AND the mesh basket together and we enjoy the smoothness of the coffee with ZERO sediment making its way into the carafe.
-Let’s get to the good stuff: Making Coffee. One of the primary selling points of this coffee maker is the focus on brewing the coffee at the optimum suggested temperatures (195-205 F). Since it is in the name (“Perfect-Temp”), I am not surprised to find this unit mostly stays within those temps during the brew cycle, resulting in an excellent tasting cup of coffee every time.
rereksnake –
I bought this coffee maker for the looks and for the cone filter. So it looks great and of course comb filter coffee taste better.
It says 14 cup which sounds like it’s huge but it means 14 6 oz cups so it really is only a 10 or 12 cupper or normal size.
I also bought extra water filters. Looks great!
Flint –
This product makes great coffee. The only issue I have is that it is hard to fill the water reservoir with the decanter. The last little bit of water does not want to come out.