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(More customer reviews)ORIGINAL REVIEW WRITTEN IN 1-2009: The Kitchen Aid Pro Line burr grinder has been sitting next to my drip coffee maker for more than a week and it effortlessly became part of my morning routine after its first use! It is solid, quiet, quick and grinds beans evenly with no static mess.
BACK STORY: I have owned burr and conical burr coffee grinders for more than 20 years. Most recently, I owned the Bodum conical burr grinder and it died after maybe 5 years of daily use. I did quite a bit of research and decided on the Breville conical burr grinder Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder as a replacement. The reviews on Amazon rate the Breville very highly for its price class but I was extremely disappointed when I received it. I found it was extremely lightweight and flimsy in construction. Other than the burrs, it's made of plastic. Worst of all I couldn't get the burrs (which had to be removed for cleaning along with the plastic bean hopper and grind cup before first use) to fit back in properly. I tried and tried. There was no diagram or detailed instructions. No information on the Breville web site and a customer service telephone number that was never answered. Someone suggested just letting the burrs sit "unsecured" under the bean hopper. When attempted, the unit spewed ground coffee all over the kitchen creating a mighty mess and extreme cursing. I wasted four days trying to get Breville customer service! With great aggravation, I returned the Breville to Amazon. Back to square one.
After more research, I decided that I needed to spend more money to get the kind of coffee grinder I could live with. I wanted quality construction, ease of use, good even grind from coarse to fine, reliable customer service from a company that was not going to disappear in a few years, and finally, no plastic parts that contributed to the static electricity that caused the ground bean residue to fly around and settle on to everything nearby.
I chose the Kitchen Aid. The Kitchen Aid is ugly-handsome in a 1930's futuristic, form-follows-function way. Like the classic Kitchen Aid mixer, this grinder delivers what it promises. "Just the facts, m'aam". It is made of solid, heavy metal and the bean carafe and grind carafe are both made of glass. No static! No mess! Heaven! The instruction book is extremely well written and specific to a fault. The unit is surprisingly quiet....no frightened cat! No closing the kitchen door so not to wake the household! The beans are evenly ground. There are over 15 grind settings to choose from. No timer, but really, why have one? I've never used a timer that delivered the quantity necessary. I don't even miss it.
Kitchen Aid offers an excellent, two year guarantee. The glass parts are removable and dish-washable. And, probably most important, should disaster strike, the glass parts as well as the burrs are replaceable! (NOTE 5-10-10: Disaster struck! The ground bean hopper broke! I called the KitchenAid Customer Service 800# printed in the instruction book and ordered a new glass hopper for $12.95 which included S/H. It arrived in several days. While on the phone, I asked the rep why I couldn't find the Coffee Grinder or spare parts for the grinder on the KitchenAid web site. She told me that KitchenAid was coming out with new small kitchen appliances very soon. They are selling out of and discontinuing manufacturing this particular model although spare parts would be available for several years.)
So far, I am delighted!
UPDATE 2-10: Excellent grinder. No complaints! A few months ago I noticed that the normally even grind was getting a bit rough and that beans were sometimes getting stuck in the grind mechanism. I got out the extremely well illustrated instruction book, opened up to the chapter on "Care and Cleaning" and followed the easily duplicated instructions. I loosened two screws, opened the faceplate assembly, removed the burr shaft and cleaned everything out with the supplied burr cleaning brush. I treated the bean hopper and grind container to a wash in the dishwasher. Re-assembly was a snap (unlike earlier Breville re-assembly fiasco) and my problems were resolved. A note to reviewers who have static problems: washing the grind hopper with dish washing liquid solves the problem. Also, I found that cleaning out the burrs and burr shaft helps to reduce the incidence of grinds falling onto the bin platform when the grind hopper bin is removed. Thus eliminating the need to BOP.
I've owned my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer for well over twenty years. Maybe, just maybe this coffee grinder will be around for a long time too!
Hopefully, KitchenAid will continue to offer spare parts!
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KitchenAid Pro Line Series Burr Coffee Mill, Onyx Black
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