Others say...

"Nice enough coffee maker but horrible carafe"
I purchased this coffee maker a couple of months ago from another retailer for about $50-55. We liked the coffee maker and the front water access but the carafe broke after just a couple of months of usage. It had not been dropped nor exposed to temperature extremes; it simply broke apart when I was rinsing it with water so I feel the carafe was poorly made. After looking all over the place for a replacement carafe for this model, I e-mailed DeLonghi; that failed because I received a permanent error for their e-mail. I then called DeLonghi customer service who initially told me the price for the carafe with shipping would be $44.90 but the rep then spoke with someone else who said they could ship it for $20.95. Since I expect the second carafe to break after a short period of use as well, I am not going to pay almost half the cost of the coffee maker for just the carafe (which you seem to only be able to obtain by calling them since it is not even available on their own website). I am instead going to purchase a new coffee maker and will never buy another DeLonghi product since it would be such a hassle/expense to replace their poorly made carafe.

"NOT WORTH IT!"
I bought this coffee maker about 4 months ago and it is already in the garbage. After the first month coffee would slowly come out of the carafe around the silver strip near the bottom and get on the burner and the smell of burnt coffe would fill the house. Then this weekend as I was filling the carafe with water it cracked. Carafe's online are $20 + shipping. NOT WORTH IT! So, I went out and bought a Cuisnart Coffee on Demand 12 cup programmable coffee maker and so far it is wonderful! Flavorful and hot coffee and even better there is no carafe to worry with!!!

"Warning: Avoid this model--it died after 40 days"
Summary: it died after 40 days.

I did my homework before picking this one, relying a lot on other reviewers' comments. I concede that the pour-from-the-front feature was appealing, but after getting the machine, I realized that it's not such a great design. Because the water channels through this front access swing-out arm, it's very difficult to REMOVE unwanted water, not to mention grounds that somehow end up in the reservoir. When I used a flashlight to examine the reservoir, I was appalled at how scummy it was, even after only a few weeks' usage.

The digital clock is terribly clumsy. To set the clock or brew time, you must hold down a single button until it reaches the desired time. The brew time defaults to 6AM, so if you want to set it for 5AM, you must cycle through 23 hours of counting.....and if you want to change it for the weekend, it's very awkward. Hey, this is 2008! Can't you do better than this, DeLonghi? This is a stone-age digital clock!

But the bottom line was simply this: the heating element stopped working after only 40 days of use. That's simply not acceptable. In the past, a coffeemaker could be expected to last for many years of daily use. Sadly, none of the "imported" coffeemakers I've tried recently can match that performance. This model was an exceptional failure.

"Great product"
The swing out top is very convenient so now we don't have to slide the entire coffee maker out just to put water and coffee grounds in it.

"GREAT MAKER"
DeLonghi DCF212T Drip Coffeemaker with Convenient Front AccessI received this coffeemaker a few day ago and have been enjoying great coffee every morning. I really like the design and the aroma setting that extracts everything from the coffee grounds and makes the best tasting coffee possible.