My last coffee maker was a Cuisinart. Three of them, actually, over six years, and I already told you how that went, https://v64otd.com/gear/cuisinart-14-cup-review/ — great coffee, dead machine, repeat. This is the review of what replaced it, and I'm writing it 15 days in, so consider this the first draft of an opinion rather than the final word.
I went with the Ninja CE251 for a couple of reasons that had nothing to do with review sites or spec sheets. First, brand trust: our family's had good experience with Shark and Ninja products being reliable and long-lasting, and that history counted for something when I was standing in an aisle making a decision I didn't want to be making. Second, price. This wasn't the cheapest option on the shelf — it sits solidly in the middle, more than a Mr. Coffee or Hamilton Beach, less than another Cuisinart or similar "premium" brand. After three Cuisinarts in six years, "premium" had stopped meaning much to me anyway.
First impressions out of the box: mixed. The removable water tank and its lid feel like cheap, rigid plastic — the kind that seems unlikely to forgive a drop onto a tile floor, compared to the tougher, higher-impact plastic I've gotten used to on other appliances. The carafe itself is noticeably thinner glass than the Cuisinart's, and — this one actually bugged me more than I expected — it has no markings to show how many cups are left in the pot. I fill the tank straight from the tap, so I figured that wouldn't matter. It mattered. Not knowing how much coffee is left in the pot at a glance turned into a real, if minor, annoyance.
Then there's the tank lid. It doesn't hinge, doesn't attach, doesn't do anything but sit there on top of the tank like it's not sure it wants the job. Wrestling it off and back on is awkward on a good day. Doing it half-asleep, pre-coffee, bar none, the worst possible time to be handed a fine-motor-skills challenge, is worse.
Nitpicking's done. Here's the part that actually matters: the coffee is robust and hot, and — I genuinely don't know how this is possible — it tastes better than what I was getting out of the Cuisinart. It also brews hotter and holds that heat longer than my old machine ever did. We like our coffee strong, and the Ninja has a "Rich" setting that gets you there without dumping in an extra scoop of coffee that isn't getting any cheaper. Taste and temperature are the two things I actually care about in a coffee maker, and on both counts, this cheaper-feeling machine outperforms the more expensive one.
What I can't tell you yet is how it holds up. I can't speak to longevity, and I can't tell you what those external components will look like in a year or two — the plastic that felt cheap on day one might feel a lot cheaper on day 500. A quick look at Amazon shows replacement parts are easy enough to find if it comes to that, which is at least reassuring. In fairness, I should've looked into that before I bought it, not after. But I was two days into drip-coffee withdrawal by then, and rational pre-purchase research wasn't exactly at the top of my priority list.
One more thing, because it's the kind of detail this newsletter exists to point out: I paid $89.99 for this machine 15 days ago. As of writing this, it's listed at $69.99. Twenty-two percent off, arriving right on schedule, the moment I could no longer return it for the difference. I don't have a corporate villain to name for this one — just a reminder that "buy it now because you need coffee tomorrow" and "buy it at the best price" are rarely the same purchase.
One update since I bought mine: the exact model I have, the CE251, appears to have been phased out on Ninja's own site. Its apparent successor is the CE451 — same "Fresh Brew" line, same Classic/Rich brew settings, same small-batch and delay-brew features, just bumped up from a 12-cup/60oz tank to a 14-cup/70oz one. If you click through and land on the CE451 instead of the CE251, that's why. Based on the spec sheet, it looks like the same machine with a slightly bigger tank rather than a different one.
Final verdict: 5 out of 5 stars. That's based entirely on taste and brew temperature — the two things that actually matter to me in a coffee maker. Everything else, the plastic, the lid, the missing cup lines, is real, but none of it outweighs what's actually in the cup. Ask me again in a year whether the hardware held up. For now, I'm caffeinated, and that Cuisinart is still sitting dead in the trash where it belongs.