Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Review

The Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable is a dependable machine that makes a good-tasting cup of coffee. With its larger batch size brewing capabilities, this brewer is perfect for anyone with a household full of coffee drinkers.

Performance Comparison

Brew Quality

The Cuisinart 14-Cup essentially brews a basic cup of coffee — nothing really stood out. It just barely reaches the industry standard for water temperature, an important metric for extracting the most flavor from your coffee. Hitting an average brew temperature of just 195.6°F, this is just inside the 195°F to 205°F recommended range. Water distribution is also an important piece of brewing great coffee. Unfortunately, this brewer ranked below average in water distribution. After brewing, the grounds have a deeper-than-normal dip in the center of the brew bed, suggesting water channeling through the center. Water quality is also crucial to brewing a quality cup. With this in mind, Cuisinart provides a charcoal filter in the water tank of this brewer, an added feature we really appreciate.

User Friendliness

In our user friendliness testing, the Cuisinart fell into the large group of average performers. We found the 14-Cup Programmable interface difficult to navigate without reading the instruction booklet first. There is a lot to remember about this brewer. In the beginning, you will likely need to reference the booklet often.

The 14-Cup Programmable comes with many customizable features, including an adjustable warming plate, adjustable automatic shut-off, and a 1-4 cup smaller brew size option. This brewer also has an adjustable tone that indicates when the coffee finishes brewing. Other features include a bold brew setting and a separate button for the cleaning cycle.

We would have liked to see some attention to the finer details on the Cuisinart. To start, we found the brew basket doesn't seat very easily. We had to line everything up just right and wiggle it around a bit to get it to sit properly. We also weren't terribly impressed with filling the water tank. The reservoir fills from the same compartment as the coffee, and there isn't ample space between the two, which can make filling a bit troublesome without getting water in your grounds.

Ease of Cleaning

The Cuisinart was fairly easy to clean in some aspects but not so much in others. The outside of the brewer requires some more rigorous cleaning. Dark plastic brewers are better at hiding fingerprints than the metallic material on the 14-Cup. The carafe is easy to clean, and both it and the reusable filter are dishwasher-safe for periodic deep cleaning. With left-handed folks in mind, measurement markings are printed on both sides of the carafe. The descaling process took a full hour but was fairly easy to do.

Consistency

In order to test consistency, we brewed five pots of coffee, measuring the brew temperature and brew time. The average brew temperature for the Cuisinart was an impressively consistent 195.6°F, just on the low end of optimal brew temperature. This is a great temperature for brewing a dark roast coffee. The average brew time for six cups of coffee was 6 minutes and 30 seconds, which is pretty standard for a drip coffee maker.

Should You Buy the Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable?

The Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable managed to produce an adequate cup of coffee but didn't necessarily wow us. The larger brew capacity is ideal for a house full of coffee drinkers or for someone who entertains a lot, but it might take a few tries to get used to the interface. We also think there are tastier brewing options for the same cost or even less.

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