Introduction
Cuisinart is a world-famous American home appliance brand that has a founder inspired by French cuisine. Many celebrity chefs love and use their products. Especially their lifetime warranty policy makes these appliances very intriguing for people all around the world. Who wouldn’t love a device supported by a brand that is sure of itself to create excellent and durable products free of manufacturing defects with incredible quality?
So, when it comes to picking a new favorite coffeemaker, which you will frequently use if you are a dedicated coffee lover, you might consider going for one of their products to make sure that you do not need to go and buy another coffee maker every year. The Cuisinart products are ride-or-die appliances for almost a lifetime.
Features of Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker
If you are looking to buy a great coffeemaker, first, you need to know what kind of features you require. The necessities will depend on your household’s daily coffee intake mainly. The unique features will be the things you will pay the big bucks for, and you should get your money’s worth if you buy an expensive item. We can define the key must-have features for a coffeemaker under five categories. These are temperature, speed, easy controls, brew strength, and filtering.
When brewing coffee, you first need to know that the brewing temperature must be between 195-205 Fahrenheit. If the temperature exceeds this, coffee grounds will burn and give a bitter taste to your coffee. If the water is not sufficiently hot, you cannot extract the coffee properly, and most of it will be wasted. Cuisinart coffeemakers are very precise about it, and they also allow you to pick the desired temperature. There are no complaints about Cuisinart products on this matter.
Other than that, you would expect your coffee to be brewed fast. This issue submerges mostly after using the coffeemaker for months. In time, the speed decreases significantly, but not for the Cuisinart products. If you encounter such an issue, you can contact customer services and get assistance from the technical service immediately.
Let’s talk about the controls of the product. When you use Cuisinart SS-15 Series coffeemakers, you can use the 24-hour brewing timer to set your coffee for the next day. In addition, it has a self-cleaning option to get rid of accumulated calcium. Besides all these, you will get an auto-off option so that you will never come face to face with a burnt carafe and a house smelling like burnt coffee for days. Cuisinart products have all the necessities without ringing the costly bells and leaving a burning hole in your budget.
Brew Type
On one side, this product is a fully automatic 12-cup coffee maker, and on the other, it is a single-serve K-cup-compatible brewer, so you can entertain a crowd or unwind with one perfect cup. With the single-serve function, you can also use your favorite beans.
If you have never heard of a K-cup, it’s a single serving of coffee packaged in a small plastic cup. Within the cup is a filter that holds the coffee, and the machine has two needles puncturing the lid and bottom of the K-Cup. As a result, water flows through the cup and into the filter, allowing the coffee to flow out the bottom while preventing the grounds from dripping into your mug.
The brewing strength option is a must-have if you buy a coffeemaker. When brewing coffee, the water pouring speed is crucial and affects taste. If the water flows too fast, you will get much softer coffee. And if it’s too slow, the taste will get stronger accordingly. Cuisinart SS-15 has a variety of brewing strength options to choose from.
Material and Carafe Type
The overall body of this coffeemaker is made of stainless steel, plastic, and glass. The plastic used for this coffeemaker is high quality. You also don’t need to worry about the handle of the carafe. You will not experience any breaking while you are holding a full carafe.
It’s extremely tough and almost unbendable. The only issue you might encounter is if you drop the carafe on a rough floor directly, such as a tile, the chances of not breaking is low. But if your floor is covered with something like a soft carpet, it could survive the fall. The carafe is surprisingly durable thanks to its design, even though the primary material used in production is glass.
Water Filter
Water is the primary component when you are brewing your coffee. If the water you use from the tap doesn’t taste good, it will also affect your coffee’s taste. Cuisinart includes charcoal water filters in its water reservoirs to remove the chlorine, undesirable aromas, and odors. It’s a fantastic feature to get the purest flavors from your coffee. Without this feature, even the world’s most exquisite and expensive coffee could not taste nearly as good as a hot drink vending machine’s coffee.
Reusable Filter Cup
If you are a coffee lover who brews multiple times a day, you already know the challenges of keeping enough filters at home. Without a filter, it’s impossible to make coffee except for those instant versions.
However, after some time, you might start feeling bad about using a filter once or twice and throwing it in the garbage, which is also not good for the environment. It’s also essential taste-wise to use high-quality filters to get the best out of your coffee. Using a cheap filter with low-quality material highly affects the taste and sometimes even gives an undesirable taste to your expensive, freshly grounded coffee.
Thankfully, Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker comes with Cuisinart Homebarista reusable filter cup. This filter has a nice gold-tone color, which is nice if you don’t want to see a white reusable coffee filter turning brownish like it’s not clean anymore.
While we are on the topic, if you have one of those reusable white filters, you cannot go back to its good old whitest days after a few times of brewing. Hence, you can stop buying expensive cleaning products to whiten it or dipping it into whine vinegar. You are only wearing your reusable filter off and wasting your precious time.
Capacity
Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker is advertised as a 2in1 coffee center. This fantastic machine has a twelve-cup coffeemaker on the left and a single-serve one on the right.
This is a great feature if you are living alone and tired of drinking the same coffee you made hours ago or just wanted to cut back on your daily coffee intake but still want to brew high-quality coffee. It’s hard to make just one cup of coffee while you have a gigantic coffeemaker.
Cuisinart SS-15 is also suitable for big families because this appliance has a 40-ounce water reservoir. In addition, the water tank is removable, so you do not need to worry about spilling the water while pouring it into the tank. Thanks to this feature, you can forget about the hazards you might encounter in the future because it’s really easy to forget that the machine is plugged in and turned on when you are having a long day and just want to brew a cup of coffee to regain your energy.
Also, you can use most of the travel mugs out there directly with Cuisinart SS-15. You must remove the drip tray under the single-serve brewer to fit your travel mug. You have the option to brew for six, eight, or ten ounces.
Programmability and Auto-Off Feature
Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker has an advanced programmability feature that can initiate 24-hours advanced brew-start, self-cleaning, and bolder coffee flavor strength setting. Upon 30 minutes of inactivity, the unit’s lights will dim. You can make your selection with “auto-on” to program the coffeemaker to start brewing at the time you prefer, or use “auto-off” to shut “Keep Warm” mode off up to 4 hours after brewing.
You can also set the carafe temperature according to your preference. The heater plate has low, medium, or high options to keep the coffee inside your carafe at the perfectly suitable heat you prefer.
Cleaning
Before cleaning Cuisinart SS-15, always turn the unit off and unplug it from the outlet. Remove the reservoir cover for the coffee machine. Remove and throw away the coffee grounds and paper filter. The filter basket can be cleaned on the top rack of the dishwasher or washed in warm, soapy water and thoroughly rinsed.
After use, dry every component. After removing the filter basket, don’t add water to the appliance. With a moist cloth, clean the area underneath the filter basket. The carafe should be taken from the heating pan. Throw away any leftover coffee. The carafe and the lid can be washed in a dishwasher or in warm, soapy water and then thoroughly rinsed. Only the upper rack should be used to store the carafe and its lid.
Avoid using scrubbing agents or harsh cleaners on any component of Cuisinart SS-15. Never immerse the base unit in liquids, including water. Wipe the base with a fresh, moist cloth and let it dry before storing it to clean it. The housing can be cleaned using non-abrasive cleaning agents or soap and water to remove fingerprints and other imperfections. With a clean, wet cloth, clean the heater plate. The heater plate should never be cleaned with abrasive, rough products. Avoid using a cloth to dry the interior of the water reservoir since lint may be left behind.
Descaling
Descaling is necessary to remove calcium deposits that accumulate over time on the coffee maker’s metal components. Calcium deposits (scale) may accumulate in your coffeemaker depending on the mineral concentration of the water in your neighborhood. Despite not being harmful, the scale can have an impact on performance.
The heating element and other components that come into touch with water will be better protected if the coffeemaker is descaled when the indication indicates it is time to do so. Coffeemaker should be descaled every three to six months for best performance. The 12-cup coffeemaker’s “CLEAN” light will turn on and indicate that it needs to be descaled if calcium deposits accumulate more quickly.
Cuisinart SS-15 vs. SS-15P1
This is one of the main questions that comes to buyers’ minds when considering buying an appliance from Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemakers. While researching coffeemakers, you will see a name-coding style for the products. This is not solely used for coffeemakers; you might also come across such naming format for many other products.
The only difference between SS-15 and SS-15P1 is their color, nothing else. The other features and materials used in the production are precisely the same.
Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker has three different variations:
- SS-15P1: Stainless Steel Color
- SS-15: Navy color
- SS-15CP: Copper color
So, you might pick the color you want and go with that one. However, when you find yourself in a problem such as this one, we suggest you check the different colored products and their names first.
Conclusion
If you think Cuisinart SS-15 Series Coffeemaker fits your budget, it’s a great appliance to buy. It has a lifetime warranty, outstanding durability, and all the essential functions you might need daily. The only downside of this product is that it does not have a built-in coffee bean grinder. Usually, coffeemakers with built-in grinders are much more expensive compared to the ones that don’t have a grinder.
You must decide if you want to brew your coffee immediately after grounding it yourself. But we should warn you that grounding coffee beans is a loud process that might wake the entire household in the morning. Still, if you prefer brewing your coffee from freshly ground coffee beans, we suggest you check our other articles.
Top Amazon Customer Comments for SS-15 vs. SS-15P1
For SS-15
Marcus Twin – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: Great at making coffee, but throws up lights for “clean” etc that I have no clue about.
Scott Larsen – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: Taller than our old, dead machine by about 4 inches, it’s difficult to fill when in position where we typically want to use it. I think this is because it also brews a larger pot than our old one, 12 cups vs. 10. So okay, but measure your space.
LadyM – ⭐⭐⭐
Review: I have had several Cuisinart Coffeemakers and was so excited about this one however it leaks water all over the counter. We think it is coming from the coffeemaker side. What a huge disappointment and it wasn’t cheap either. What to do ?
Michelle – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: OMG! This the best dual coffee maker ever! I was told to get Cusinar for their quality and durability I don’t regret a minute of my recent purchase. One of The best setting is you can set up a timer to keep your coffee hot for a couple hours I just love it!! When you are in a rush and don’t have time to make a fresh pot of coffee you just need to switch to the K-cup it’s easy and quick to used. The only thing I would say on the K-cup side is the option 10 oz water is the max you can choose for the dual machine and it’s not quite enough to fil a regular traveling mug. I think a 12-14 oz maximum option would be better. But the traveling mug fit nicely under the machine.. Overall I would recommend this Dual coffee maker 100%.
N. M. – ⭐⭐⭐
Review: I love Cuisinart Products and I have owned 2 coffee makers and have lasted a few years until one of them stopped working and there are no replacement parts according to cuisinart customer service. I was happy to find a beautiful navy color and a dual coffee maker with a carafe and a K-cup sections. I was disappointment at the K-cup sharp needle. A special low acid coffee pods do not work in this coffee maker. The coffee pod gets opened on the side and the ground are sprayed all over and cleaning it is a pain. The design of the K-cup compartment should have been slanted like the old models and the metal needle piece should be thinner. I don’t understand why I have to push the coffee pod first to puncture the bottom and then close the lid. The plastic of the coffee maker is of a cheap quality. Also, as some people have commented about filling the caraf compartment with water, I agree that it is too tight of a space and hard to pour the water. I was not able to attach a few pictures.
Clifford spangler – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: They brew/warm button broke after 10 pots; this machine is junk!!
Sara – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: I love it because it has revolutionized my morning in that I can now program my coffee maker to go off while I’m sleeping. I also love that it has a reusable and permanent filter. Two very minor issues though.
Ford55 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: I like Cuisinart coffee makers because they make the hottest coffee.
For SS-15P1
Taylor Family – ⭐⭐⭐
Review: All right, so basically my disappointment in the Cuisinart Coffee Center lies in what you get for the money you pay. I have a lot to say here. I’ve had this for a week now, and I’m not new to the Cuisinart brand, but I’ve gotta say I am really disappointed in this. This was purchased to replace two coffee makers and save counter space. It is replacing a small one cup Keurig and a Cuisinart Grind & Brew.
Taylor Family – ⭐⭐⭐
Review: I bought the SS-16 to replace a 5 year old SS-15 model. This unit has improved upon some of the negative features of the older model. Here are the improvements: