Cuisinart DGB-900BC 12-Cup Grind-and-Brew Automatic Coffee Maker with Fresh Bean Grinder - Perfect for Home, Office & Entertaining Guests

I purchased this coffee maker in December '09, and it has been fine. Although there are some caveats about how I actually use it.The problem is that the settings for strength and number of cups do not grind enough beans to create the proper strength for my tastes. (Think "starbucks" coffee strength...in fact, I buy only Starbucks beans). To accommodate my tastes, I have the "strength" set to "strong" and then set the number of cups to two cups higher than what I'm making. So if I'm making 4 cups of coffee, I have to set the coffee maker to 6 cups. This effectively makes this a 10 cup coffee maker, and not a 12 cup. I can say this is a discrepancy with the grinder, since if I measure out 1 tablespoon of already ground coffee per cup, the coffee strength is correct sans grinder. So it is something to do with the grinder measurement. And yes, I have confirmed that the grinder "chute" is nice and clean. So it is not because the grinder is blocked or anything. It is just the way Cuisinart has set the measurement for grinding. To me that is too weak. But, it is no big deal for me to just set the cup count higher.I've also read comments below about the carafe. Give me a break...it is a THERMAL carafe. If you don't want that feature, then don't buy this model. Cuisinart and others make plenty of models without the thermal carafe. By virtue of the way a thermal carafe works, it is able to keep things either hot or cold. For hot liquids, to get the best results with ANY Thermos, it is best to pre-heat the carafe with hot-water if you are going to put hot liquid into it. Otherwise, (and as a matter of physics), the heat will transfer from the hot liquid to the stainless steel carafe (cooling your liquid, and heating the carafe). That is just the way of physics. So if you want your coffee to be hot with this model, you MUST preheat the carafe with hot water (I use plain hot water from the tap). The nice thing is that the coffee then STAYS hot for several hours, without having it gum up because it has been on a burner all that time. Seriously, I've had numerous thermal carafe coffee makers, as well as thermoses, and ALL needed to be preheated with hot water for best results. Don't blame Cuisinart because you might not like the inconvenience of dealing with a thermal carafe. They ALL work this way. As I say above, if that inconvenience of preheating the carafe is a problem for you, then simply buy a coffeemaker with a regular carafe and heat plate. (Ok...rant over...)In general, I like the design, and I believe this model has a nice look. It works pretty well, and I've no operational issues since Dec '09 when I purchased.When my old Braun coffee maker died, I needed to find a replacement. For me, I wanted several features in my coffee-maker: Water-filter, Re-usable Coffee filter (gold basket), and a Thermal carafe. There are very few coffee-makers on the market with all of these features. The integrated bean grinder was a new feature, that I thought would be pretty cool. It is. I very much appreciate the set-up time for this machine, and it seems to be a lot more convenient for me than my old Braun.Finally, with the settings I mention above, the coffee product it makes is delicious. Over the holidays we had several compliments on how good the coffee tasted...so much so that others wanted to know my recipe. (And there really isn't a recipe...it's simple...1 tablespoon of coffee per cup, and a good brewer. Just goes to show how people get used to crap coffeemakers and/or being stingy on the amount of coffee they use to brew...)So, with all that said, would I buy this model again? You betcha! It's a great coffeemaker. I would recommend to Cuisinart to adjust the grinding settings...but then they'll get complaints (like I already saw below) that is uses too much coffee. To those critics, all I can say if you are buying this coffee maker you are wasting your money...you obviously can't appreciate what it takes to make a good cup of coffee. Go buy the $20 model and keep using your Maxwell House or Folgers supermarket filler."The Coffee Snob..." (LOL!)