Cuisinart Coffee Maker, Perfecttemp 14-Cup Glass Carafe, Programmable Fully Automatic for Brew Strength Control & 1-4 Cup Setting, Black, Stainless Steel, DCC-3200BKSP1

We've replaced an older Cuisinart DCC-1200 with this DCC-3200. Since it's a popular line, I thought others might be interested in how they compare. (In the attached comparison photos, the 1200 is on the left and the 3200 is on the right):Taste: Coffee in the 3200 is more flavorful. A new machine might be expected to be better, but I think they've gotten the flow and temperature of the brewing process better.Temperature: The brewed coffee is much hotter. Both units have three temperature settings for the hot plate, but the settings on the 3200 are hotter.Size and Capacity. The 3200 handles 14 cups compared to the 1200's 12 cups. Yet as you can see from the photos, they are the same height to fit on a counter. They seem to get the extra capacity by making the 3200 a little deeper from front to back. We've been surprised at how useful the extra capacity is.Carafe: The new glass carafe is just like the old one, only larger. It pours nicely with or without the lid on it. The new lid works the same as the old one, popping off and on. (I read some complaints about the lid on an intervening model with a spring opening, but if so, they fixed that by going back to the 1200 style).As far as I can tell, there isn't a version of the 3200 designed for a thermal carafe like there is for the 12-cup models. I prefer the glass carafe because it keeps the coffee hotter longer, and I can always pour the coffee into a thermal carafe if I want to.Water Filling. The bigger size also increases the size of the water fill hole. The lid on the top of the 3200 unit raises to 90 degrees straight up, where the lid on the 1200 tilted further back and out of the way. Still the 3200 is easier to fill, and I suspect that the restriction on the tilt may help preserve the integrity of the hot water tube.Sneak a Cup. Taking out the carafe to sneak a cup during brewing worked great on the 1200 with little dripping, and still does on the 3200.Basket. The basket on the 3200 is very similar to the 1200, but a slightly different shape to accommodate more grounds for 14 cups. Actually, grounds just barely fit with a 4 cup paper filter in the new basket, and sometimes go above the filter in the basket. The basket actually seems more designed for the included gold filter.Water filter. The 3200 uses the exact same carbon filters and filter holder as the 1200, but the holder seems to fit more snugly in its hole, which may help prevent clogging (see below)Beep. The 3200 allows you to turn of the coffee-ready beep if you want.Controls. Controls on the 3200 are a little easier. The 3200 uses all push buttons with no switches. Separate hour and minute settings make it a little easier to program and set the clock. There is a new "Bold" setting which does indeed seem to result in stronger coffee. There is still a setting for smaller, 1-4 cup pots, but I never use that. You can still set the hot plate to stay hot for up to 4 hours, which is important to me. There is a fairly bright blue glow from the LED display on the 3200.Cleaning. There was a sensor button on the hot plate of the 1200 that's gone on the 3200, so the plate stays cleaner. The extra stainless steel looks good on the 3200 but probably shows smudges more and might benefit from special cleaner fluids.Coffee Grounds Overflowing and Clogging. This was the biggest problem before, and I don't know if it's fixed, but it seems better. On the 1200, if you put too many coffee grounds in the filter it could overflow in the brewing process, and sometimes grounds would get into the water system and clog the tube. The 1200 was designed not to be repairable, but customers tried anyway with some difficulty. After one successful repair, we eventually had to replace the 1200. So far, we have not had any overflow issues with the 3200. The larger basket (with possibly a bigger drip opening), the deeper reservoir and longer case, and the more stable, non-tilting lid may help with this, but we will see how it works over time. I do notice that they made the bottom panel easier to remove, with regular screws instead of Torx, if it ever comes to that. My one tip for users is to always use the filter holder with a filter in it, even if your water is fine, because that should help prevent grounds from getting into the heating system.In all, the 3200 is an excellent replacement for the 1200, and worth the extra money if you are choosing between the two models new.

As you read, please know this review is written by a coffeemaker snob with extremely high standards. Now to the good news. This is a great machine and delivers a piping hot carafe of coffee, flavorful and bold (I use the bold feature every brew). You can make a surprising volume of coffee with this 14-cup carafe. I am impressed with the speed an 8-cup carafe brews to ready. It makes an audible beeping alert (optional) when the pot is ready.I like a piping hot cup of Joe. This machine delivers. Even the second cup is piping hot. But it doesn't cook the coffee like some hotplates do. It has programming features, but I don't do that. Easy to clean. Comes with a gold screen reusable filter, but I prefer #4 paper filters. You get a small pack of them. I like the little tab that sticks up from the filter holder. Easy to grab.I'm ridiculously picky about my coffee and am here to say this is a great machine and delivers on the basics, which is all I care about. It's a sleek, modern update to a classic model. I like the buttons, don't need any touch screens. Cost was $99.95. Reasonable, assuming I work it doggedly, day after day until death.

Bought this to replace the Braun coffee maker I was running. The clock on that one was always drifting. Plus the coffee basket (not the mesh one, the plastic one) broke after removing it a few times. Not having a measure for the water that could be viewed from outside the maker was a total PITA.I had the previous generation of this coffee maker and liked it. Until it had issues and needed to replaced. Pretty sure one of the power outages I had did that one in.I do like how this one is updated for functions. But still retains the important ones, and the settings are easy to make. Being able to set the hot plate to a lower temperature is no small item IMO. I keep it on low so that the coffee doesn't get too hot if it sits. Auto off is pretty standard these days. Being able to easily set the value for hour/minutes is far better than the Braun.Another spot where the Cuisinart is better is the 'finished' notification. The Braun didn't have that at all. This one DOES. Which means I don't need to be even close to it when it's done, and I'll know it's done. Might not be a big deal for people, but it's the 'little things' that make a large difference.IF this one had an issue in the future, I'll probably get another to replace it. I do wish they offered a smaller capacity model with the same feature set. Since I only use the 1-4 cup mode. Having an 8 or even 10 cup capacity model would be welcome. Hell, I'd LOVE to find a maker with the same features in the 1-4 range what wasn't a stupid price.

I like this coffee maker except for one thing, the carafe is a poor design. I read a lot of reviews including Consumer Reports which gave this unit high marks. I agree it makes very consistent cups of coffee. Easy to set/program. It keeps the coffee hot on the plate which has three temp settings and an auto off feature. The only con is the carafe. It has a plastic ring around the top that prevents all the water from being poured into the reservoir. I included pics but it is difficult to see that you must turn it upside down to get out the last water. It should be designed like my old Mr Coffee without the rim. See my pic of the old Mr coffee. If you watch the videos made for this unit, they all show the reservoir being filled with a separate pitcher of water. After purchasing I now know why. One other note, it claims to be a 14 cup unit but the size 4 paper cone shaped filters that are recommend and a few are shipped with the maker, are all 12 cup. You could only get 14 by leaving out the filters.