KitchenAid BCG100 Electric Blades Grinder

Blather
I've never been enamored by coffee grinders. Not that I don't like fresh ground coffee. On the contrary, I strongly prefer it to the dry, tasteless pre-ground variety. Always thought that stuff too closely resembled commercial sweeping compound. But I've been less than impressed with examples of the breed that I have owned and used daily for more than a few years - first, the Braun KSM 2/4 and, more recently, the Krups Fast Touch 203.

Granted, both those machines would produce relatively acceptable ground coffee. Beat the hell out of trying to brew a pot using whole beans. But they had their share of shortcomings. Both were ear-piercingly loud, barely held enough beans to make 10 cups, and had fixed grinding chambers that were a pain to clean. Worst of all, pop the top on the Krups and ground coffee spewed from here to the kitchen door. Needless to say, I didn't sink into a blue funk when the Krups, which had replaced the Braun a few years back, decided to cash it in.

Picking a replacement wasn't as simple as I had hoped. As always, I read all the user reviews I could get my hands on, hoping to find one or two grinders that were clearly superior. But that wasn't to be. What I found was a lot of underwhelmed owners of just about every iteration of coffee grinder in the $20 to $80 price range. But the KitchenAid BCG100, although not widely reviewed, piqued my interest. After shopping several of the larger local retailers, I found them at Foleys (one of the May Company department stores). On sale for $29 (regularly $39), I decided to try one on for size.

First Glance
I was surprised at the heft of this bad boy. It was a quite a bit taller, broader and heavier than the Krups, and it was the only one I found to have a round power cord. Important? Probably not in the grand scheme of things. But a round cord tends not to twist and kink like a flat cord, so right out of the box, I was pleased.

What it lacked, though, was cord storage. Some of the more recently designed grinders have a cord wrap in the bottom, making them less unsightly on the counter, or easier to stow away in a cabinet. But I liked the looks of it so well that I figured I could live with its dangling umbilical.

The KitchenAid is relatively attractive, as coffee grinders go. It's perfectly round and has a nicely curved profile. It has a larger footprint and is rather bottom heavy, so it's less apt to be knocked over than its predecessors. The deep grinding chamber is brushed stainless and is visible through the clear plastic cover. I went with the black version of the grinder, which looks particularly good with the stainless. It's also available in the typical KitchenAid assortment of colors - white, empire red and cobalt blue - all equally attractive.

In Action (revised 02/16)
On the job, how does it compare to the Krups Fast Touch? That's sorta like comparing a Cuisinart blender to a hand-crank eggbeater (and we own one of each). The KitchenAid is the hands-down winner in appearance. Thankfully, it's also quieter - far more subdued than the raucus rattle of the Krups.

It has a larger chamber capacity (4 ounces versus 3 in the Krups), so I take advantage of that by putting in a larger measure of beans. The more I can grind at once, the fewer times I need to do it to get the amount I want. The end product is a far more uniform grind than I'm accustomed to, although that could possibly be due to the Krups' blade becoming dull after several years of daily use.

The KitchenAid has a more powerful (hence, possibly more durable) motor - 200 watts, compared to 160 in the Krups. In reality, the extra power is probably needed to handle the added load created by its 33% greater bean capacity.

Grinding in the Krups was controlled by depressing a button located on the top edge of the cover. It was a flimsy little device that ultimately broke, leading the whole thing to the bottom of the trash can. With the KitchenAid, grinding is started by pushing and holding down the unit's cover. It may not be any better, but it feels far more substantial.

The Krups was notorious for making a terrible mess out of the countertop, a reality that I reluctantly came to terms with. While the KitchenAid does leave behind a few loose granules, it doesn't come close to the brown mushroom cloud that erupted from the Krups each time I opened it to remove the ground coffee.

KitchenAid's removable grinding chamber has three big pluses:

1. With the Krups, the only way to make sure the ground coffee was consistently the same day-to-day was to fill it completely. And three ounces wasn't much! KitchenAid chose to stamp fill level marks inside the chamber, so there is no guesswork involved in measuring the beans.

2. The only way to get coffee out of the Krups was to pick up the whole unit and (hopefully) dump as much of it as would readily come out into the glass storage canister I use. But a lot of the coffee clung with a death grip to the inside of the chamber. It would release only with the help a small basting brush, and half of that would end up on the counter. The KitchenAid chamber comes out of the machine with a quick wrist twist, and far more of the coffee ends up in the canister.

3. KitchenAid's removable grinding chamber (and cover) can be tossed into the dishwasher. No more hand-cleaning like the Krups required, and no more foul odor / flavor from stale grinding residue laminated inside.

Finee'
Only time will tell whether the KitchenAid is any more durable than the Krups. It did, after all, last six years, although for five years, 11 months and 29 days I hoped it would self destruct so I could justify buying a different one. KitchenAid provides a one-year, "no hassle" full replacement warranty, and that reassures me that this grinder, or another just like it, will be in our kitchen for at least the next twelve months. Just hope I like using it that long.

Link
copy & paste for pics & specs:
http://kitchenaid.suresource.com/itemdetail-netcache.asp?uid=2003021313280180&Item=BCG100WH&edp=23601&itemcat=BCG100ZZ