I would give this machine 16 stars if I could, except the glass carafe is soooooo breakable. Please address this, Cuisinart!!! The carafe alone can be replaced, but it is expensive to do so. Otherwise this machine makes the best coffee, it's fast, it's high-quality, the coffee is fresh tasting and clean, and it is nice and hot.
After running a few pots with just tap water, the coffee maker smelt like burning plastic. The first pot of coffee tasted like burning plastic. I then ran a vinegar water solution through the coffee maker which temporarily took out the burning plastic smell and taste. Over the following weeks it was hit-or-miss on whether or not our coffee would taste like plastic, that we would then have to dump down the drain and start over with a new pot. Since switching to Brita water exclusively, the plastic taste has reduced greatly. We have used older models of the cuisinart coffee maker for years with tap water and no issues.