I love my DGB-600BC, but have had the problem with the basket popping out and it leaking all over. I talked to product support at Cuisinart, and their suggestions were helpful.

One suggestion was that I had the grinder too full of beans and was using too much water. Only fill the beans up to the line below the edge of the grinder, not up to, or over the top.

It is possible to fill it over the rim, since the clear top keeps all the beans inside, and this is a temptation for those of us in Seattle who love our coffee strong.

Also, using more water is a temptation when we want more coffee. Mine is marked for up to 10 cups inside the water cistern, and it is possible to use more.

But if I put in 8 cups, less steam is generated, and the door is less likely to pop out. By the way, these are 5 ounce, not 8 ounce "cups". So 8 cups will give me about 40 ounces of coffee, or 1 quart plus 1 standard 8 ounce cup.

The support person also suggested I clean the latch mechanism with a Q-tip., which helped also. If you are finicky about making everything inside LOOK really clean, with no stains, this is probably not the product for you, although myself I have always noticed this problem with automatic coffee makers, which always collect coffee stains.

The instructions say not to immerse the coffee maker, but I have taken mine down to the basement laundry room, placed it in the sink, and sprayed the thing inside with a pressurized stream of water.

I let it dry for a long time before using it, and had no problem with the electronics, which are pretty well sealed from moisture, I suspect.

I bought mine refurbished, probably 6+ years ago, and with daily use I think the latch mechanism does wear down, contributing to the messy pop-out, which is a nightmare if I have set it to grind and brew coffee in the morning before I rise.

This makes a huge mess, similar to the times (twice over the years) when due to my advancing age and forgetfulness, I forgot to put a filter in the basket. The grounds clogged the spring loaded mechanism that drains coffee into the thermos when the thermos is in place, and the basket fills up and overflows. Same thing happened a few times when I forgot to replace the thermos into the coffee maker.

No fault of the design, of course, just stupid user error.

Cuisinart was very generous about sending me a free basket and basket lid when I called, in case they were contributing to the problem.

But ultimately, as the latch mechanism wears down, there are no new parts available to repair this. When customers send an in-warranty unit in for this kind of repair, Cuisinart just gives them a new one, so if you own one that is out of warranty, your only solution would be to purchase a new one, a solution I didn't like.

But I found the ultimate hack (what the techies these days call solutions that my father referred to as "jerry-rigged") that solved the pop-open problem.

I tried rubber bands to hold the basket in during brewing, but this didn't work because the front of the door that holds the basket is actually recessed nearly 1/4 inch from the front face of the sides, so it could still pop out a little bit, enough to make a mess.

What finally worked was to use a 19-inch bungee cord, wrapped around the coffeemaker at the filter door level, holding something soft and at least a half inch thick against the front.

I cut a 5 3/4 inch wide strip, about 12 inches long of some perforated soft rubbery shelf liner that I found in a close-out bin at a discount store.

I enclosed several of those large Papermate Pink Pearl pencil erasers (about 2 1/2 x 13/16 x 7/16 inch) in the shelf liner, with the erasers vertical (referencing the way they will be placed against the coffee maker door) inside the 5 3/4 inch wide strip, and wrapped the strip round and round vertically with a couple of layers now covering the erasers.

The erasers stay inside the wrap, because they are rubbery and so is the shelf liner.

Then I place the wrap (which is now about 3 x 3/4 x 5 3/4) against the door, with the 3 inch side vertical, and hold it in place with the bungee cord, fastened to itself in the rear. I did it myself, but a third hand from someone else would help.

You might be able to do this with just a sponge or a rag though.

This hack probably isn't for everyone, but it works great for me, and seems to be an inexpensive permanent solution to the filter door problem. My filter door NEVER pops out, and I suspect I could even use more beans and water, as referenced above.

My wife was horrified when I sought to fix this, because I originally planned to buy a giant C-clamp to hold the thing in place. I found one at a used hardware store, but I knew she would hit the ceiling if she saw this giant clamp encircling the Cuisinart, so I sought a simpler solution, which works for both of us.

Tad Cook
Seattle, WA

I am amazed at the bad reviews because I have had a machine for 6 months and it has worked very well, the coffee stays hot for the whole day if necessary without the burnt taste like my old machine. I CAN turn off the grinder so I can use ground coffee, I do not get coffee grounds all over the place, I do not use a filter and everything seems to magically end up in the basket. The only issue I have is the steam does get into the grinder package causing a couple of beans and some bean residue to stay in the package rather than dropping into the basket and requires washing every day, I joined this group looking for an answer to this issue.
I am surprised at how may people are having issues with this unit so I guess I have come off lucky.
If anybody has a solution to the steam entering the grinder unit I would be glad to hear from you.

Steer clear, I can't imagine a more poorly designed coffee maker.

The product review states "When the aroma of freshly brewed coffee... wafts into your bedroom in the morning, you won't need your alarm clock." The truth? 1) The coffee is brewed into a thermal carafe, so there is NO satisfying coffee aroma and 2) you won't need an alarm clock because the grinder sounds and feels like a jet rocket - VAAAAAH-ROOOOOM!

The machine is also very high maintenance. There are too many parts to clean and it's cumbersome to disassemble, reassemble, disassemble, reassemble, etc. Furthermore, these parts are messy - grounds scatter all about and frequently end up in the carafe itself.

There is also no option to circumvent the hideous grinder by starting with your own grounds.

The only nice thing I have to say about this product is the fact we got it as a gift (Thanks, Mom!) that said, I can't wait to replace it!

Yes, this is my first review. I'm jumping in because I couldn't really understand some of the negative reviews. I've had this coffee maker for over 3 years now, after some real problems with other grind and brew makers. It simply makes great coffee. When we have overnight guests, they rave about the coffee.

I've used the timer, the 1-4 cup feature and even the "grind off" feature when I was out of whole beans. I was never disappointed. You CAN make weak coffee if you are so inclined, but you can also make a strong coffee. It depends on the quality of the beans and how much you use.

Yes, you do have to follow the directions. Yes, if you forget to put in the coffee filter the basket will overflow and create a mess. Yes, you do have to clean out the grinder after each use (but that's no big deal - especially if you have a dishwasher). And, yes, the grinder is noisy, but so are separate grinders.

To sum it up, it's the best of the coffee grind and brews that I've owned; it's reliable; easy to clean; and, makes great coffee.

I'm a coffee snob, and like mine bold, rich and black. I used to have a Melitta grind & brew, which produced fantastic coffee that lasted for an hour before the heat pad shut off. Turning on the heat pad for a second hour really damaged the coffee's flavor.

The Cuisinart takes care of that problem. In fact, I've found the coffee temperature is much hotter than that made by other units, and somehow stays hotter in your cup longer - which means no microwaving the coffee to keep it hot.

That said, there are many parts to this coffee maker - a 2-piece grinder, a 3-piece filter, and a 2-piece carafe. That's a lot of parts to disassemble and wash, but they are all dishwasher safe.

The carafe is well insulated, allowing me to enjoy morning-fresh coffee well into the afternoon.

Oh Cuisinart Grind 'n' Brew, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways:

1) This thing LEAKS out the bottom of the machine. My apartment has white laminate countertops, which are porous and the spot underneath the coffeemaker is stained a dingy brown gray, no matter how much I scrub it. No matter how careful I am, there is always a pool of brownish water under the machine after I run it.

2) The stylish brushed chrome will only stay that way for a short while - it shows every fingerprint and water spot and needs to be polished with stainless steel appliance spray to stay looking nice. I don't know about you, but 'polishing' kitchen appliances really isn't my bag. A quick wipedown with a sponge or papertowel is all I am willing to commit to.

3) Having the grinder and the water tank housed in the same compartment means you will invariably end up with beans & grounds in the water tank, which is very hard to clean. My water tank has a grimy brown film on the plastic. Blech.

4) The grinder doesn't hold enough beans to make a full pot of coffee; you can dump them in there, but they pile up well above the fill line and clog up on the way out.

5) The springs/latch that hold the filter compartment closed have worn out, so it takes a couple tries to get it to catch and stay closed...and every now and then it pops open during brewing, covering the countertop with hot coffee and water.

6) There is something weird about the carafe spout - you have to almost completely invert the pot to get the coffee to pour out.

7) The stupid flip-up top is too tall to fit under my cabinets when it is open. So every time I use the machine, I have to drag it out to the edge of the counter, add water and beans, and slide it back to the wall.

8) Steam fills the grinder during brewing, and the moisture mixes with leftover grounds in and around the grinder housing, creating a thick paste that dries to a nasty crust (or gets moldy quickly if you leave it over the weekend or something). This necessitates really scrubbing the grinder parts every time you use it as well as wiping out the area where the grinder is housed. After three years of use, the moisture problems have cause the bottom half of the grinder to get stuck in the gear that holds it in place, meaning I can't remove it at all. I used to be able to pry it out with a screwdriver to clean it, but now I have to turn the whole machine upside down over my sink to clean out the grinder.

9) Grounds end up everywhere. I don't know how - I guess when they come out of the grinder compartment, not all of them make it to the basket? There are grounds on top of the carafe, on the plate where the carafe sits, and dusting all the internal parts that hold the filter basket. Every time I open a compartment or remove the carafe, I need to wipe up coffee grounds.

10) Oh yeah. The coffee sucks, too. Tastes stale no matter what brand I buy or how much I (try) to clean the machines many, many parts. And it is never hot enough.


I've had the thing for three years now, I guess, and some of the complaints are age related, but most of them are the result of poor design and have been there from the get go. And you know? Three years isn't THAT long! There is no excuse for this item's price when nearly *every* component is sub-par. I love my other cuisinart appliances, but I've put up with this thing too long. Good riddance.

Although I purchased this a long time ago I thought I'd review it now. Don't waste your money. The coffee isn't hot, it's slow, it clogs. Mine broke in less than one year. When I called Cuisinart they more or less said tough. They offered to let me ship it at my expense. They would check it out and then charge me to repair it. Ridiculous considering the price of the maker. They should stand behind their products. I went out and bought another coffeemaker. I have the Mr. Coffee FT series and it's great. I recommend it. It's fast, the coffee is hot and actually gets hotter the longer it's in the carafe. I wouldn't take a Cuisinart product if they were giving it away.