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Nice at first, but a real pain after a while.
Pros
Cheap
Cons
Slow. Makes a mess. Makes a Mess. Makes a MESS.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Cheap for a burr-type grinder, but the required cleanup will drive you nuts!
I just deleted a review I'd written on this device several months ago. While other epinions members have suggested updating a review, rather than completely deleting it, I did so because I feel more members will be likely to read a new review, rather than a change to an existing one.
I originally rated this coffee grinder a full 5 stars. I guess I must have been smoking something "funny" that day, or just not quite having my feet on the ground. The mess this coffee grinder makes each and every time it is used, is enough to make any civilized human being ready to take it and throw it through the nearest window!
Those who've read some of my reviews will realize that this isn't the first time I've reviewed a coffee grinder, and that I'm quite picky about the manner in which I make coffee each morning. I prefer this burr-type grinder, in which the coffee beans pass between two "grinders," or "burrs," and is deposited into a receptacle as opposed to the less expensive "choppers" that are actually mini food processors that just have spinning metal blades that don't actually grind, but do indeed "chop" the coffee to varying degrees of fineness. Burr grinders grind more evenly, and don't transfer heat to the grind - something that's of little consequence if you make coffee right away, but of genuine trouble if you grind beans, and then place those ground beans into a separate container for storage. Burr grinders are also more expensive as a rule, since there are more moving parts to them than in a chopper variety.
This Black and Decker grinder is the least expensive ($25) burr-type grinder I've ever seen, and after putting up with it for several months now, it's easy to see why: certainly, the fact that it doesn't have a timer on it, but instead, a small button the user has to depress throughout the entire grinding process is evidence of a severe design shortcoming. While holding onto a button for as long as it takes to grind coffee beans may not seem like the end of the world (and, it isn't), it is nevertheless a real pain in the a** each and every time the device is used, especially since this unit seems especially slow in its operation. To make matters worse, there is a raised, somewhat sharp little ridge in the center of that button which, while not downright painful, is decidedly unpleasant to have to feel through one's finger.
As I state above, this grinder is very slow in grinding beans: it usually takes over a minute (as opposed to only a few seconds with a cheaper, "chopper" type of grinder) to grind enough beans for a full pot. And, while waiting this rather long time for the grinding process to finish, there's still that annoying little ridge digging a small hole in the center of one's finger.
But the worst of all is the mess the device makes. Once grinding is finished, the user removes the plastic receptacle and there's always a spray of coffee grounds that come out of its small opening. Removing the lid of the receptacle results in another spray of coffee grinds, and emptying the receptacle into a coffee pot makes another mess as well. A friend of mine watched as I emptied the receptacle into my coffee pot one day and, after seeing the mess it made, stated, "that would go right into the garbage, if it were mine!"
I used to live in Colorado, where the climate is unusually dry, and I blamed the mess this machine makes on the very low humidity there. Now that I live in South Carolina, with much, much higher levels of humidity, the mess of "coffee spray" whenever I use the device is worse than ever, so humidity clearly doesn't play a role at all.
No matter how carefully I handle this grinder, and attempt to remove the receptacle once grinding is finished, I always wind up with a mess all over my kitchen counter (and, sometimes, in the drawers near and floor beneath where I use it). I've reached a point where I've had enough, and just don't want to put up with this device any longer.
I've owned dozens of grinders throughout my lifetime, both burr-type, and those of the chopper variety, and still feel that overall, the Braun KSM-2 (an inexpensive chopper type) is the best deal for the money. I once used a costly ($85) Krups burr-type, but that unit's no longer made.
While I still prefer burr-type grinders over the choppers, I don't know of any I'd presently recommend. Maybe I'll find one someday, but in the meantime, this Black and Decker model certainly is not the right choice, unless you enjoy having a mess of coffee grinds all over your kitchen each and every time you use it.
I originally rated this coffee grinder a full 5 stars. I guess I must have been smoking something "funny" that day, or just not quite having my feet on the ground. The mess this coffee grinder makes each and every time it is used, is enough to make any civilized human being ready to take it and throw it through the nearest window!
Those who've read some of my reviews will realize that this isn't the first time I've reviewed a coffee grinder, and that I'm quite picky about the manner in which I make coffee each morning. I prefer this burr-type grinder, in which the coffee beans pass between two "grinders," or "burrs," and is deposited into a receptacle as opposed to the less expensive "choppers" that are actually mini food processors that just have spinning metal blades that don't actually grind, but do indeed "chop" the coffee to varying degrees of fineness. Burr grinders grind more evenly, and don't transfer heat to the grind - something that's of little consequence if you make coffee right away, but of genuine trouble if you grind beans, and then place those ground beans into a separate container for storage. Burr grinders are also more expensive as a rule, since there are more moving parts to them than in a chopper variety.
This Black and Decker grinder is the least expensive ($25) burr-type grinder I've ever seen, and after putting up with it for several months now, it's easy to see why: certainly, the fact that it doesn't have a timer on it, but instead, a small button the user has to depress throughout the entire grinding process is evidence of a severe design shortcoming. While holding onto a button for as long as it takes to grind coffee beans may not seem like the end of the world (and, it isn't), it is nevertheless a real pain in the a** each and every time the device is used, especially since this unit seems especially slow in its operation. To make matters worse, there is a raised, somewhat sharp little ridge in the center of that button which, while not downright painful, is decidedly unpleasant to have to feel through one's finger.
As I state above, this grinder is very slow in grinding beans: it usually takes over a minute (as opposed to only a few seconds with a cheaper, "chopper" type of grinder) to grind enough beans for a full pot. And, while waiting this rather long time for the grinding process to finish, there's still that annoying little ridge digging a small hole in the center of one's finger.
But the worst of all is the mess the device makes. Once grinding is finished, the user removes the plastic receptacle and there's always a spray of coffee grounds that come out of its small opening. Removing the lid of the receptacle results in another spray of coffee grinds, and emptying the receptacle into a coffee pot makes another mess as well. A friend of mine watched as I emptied the receptacle into my coffee pot one day and, after seeing the mess it made, stated, "that would go right into the garbage, if it were mine!"
I used to live in Colorado, where the climate is unusually dry, and I blamed the mess this machine makes on the very low humidity there. Now that I live in South Carolina, with much, much higher levels of humidity, the mess of "coffee spray" whenever I use the device is worse than ever, so humidity clearly doesn't play a role at all.
No matter how carefully I handle this grinder, and attempt to remove the receptacle once grinding is finished, I always wind up with a mess all over my kitchen counter (and, sometimes, in the drawers near and floor beneath where I use it). I've reached a point where I've had enough, and just don't want to put up with this device any longer.
I've owned dozens of grinders throughout my lifetime, both burr-type, and those of the chopper variety, and still feel that overall, the Braun KSM-2 (an inexpensive chopper type) is the best deal for the money. I once used a costly ($85) Krups burr-type, but that unit's no longer made.
While I still prefer burr-type grinders over the choppers, I don't know of any I'd presently recommend. Maybe I'll find one someday, but in the meantime, this Black and Decker model certainly is not the right choice, unless you enjoy having a mess of coffee grinds all over your kitchen each and every time you use it.
