Customer Reviews

Black & Decker CBM7 SmartGrind Deluxe Coffee Bean Burr Mill, White

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Crushing is better than whipping, and at a better price than the Braun coffee burr. For years I had used one of those grinders that whipped the beans around and seldom getting an even grind. Given the same conditions, I immediately noticed the improved taste using a coffee burr, especially when making espresso. My only complaint is that some grind escapes from the container during the grinding process, probably due to static. This was an infinitesimal tradeoff for a much improved cup of coffee.

Just like other reviews had point out, this burr mill works pretty good but it's EXXTREMELY messy and loud. It crushes the beans and grinds into pretty even granules. However the sqare hole where the grinded coffee comes out is very short and does not seal tightly. Together with the static, some coffee powder will be flying everywhere after you grind it. If you try to open the cover, more powder fly out. I found two ways to prevent the mess. 1.Make sure that the collector cup is attached as tight and position as correctly as possible. 2.Pad the cup a few times before removing the cup. I think it neutrolize some of the static and bring more powder to the bottom.
Bottom line: This burr mill is cheaper than most of the others and works pretty well, if you don't mind the mess and the noise.

I purchased this product because I needed a new coffee grinder, and this seemed like an inexpensive grinder with good features, from a brand name that I have had good luck with in the past. Sadly after having used this product for several months, I would not recommend it to others. It does perform it's main function, grinding, just fine, yielding evenly ground coffee. However the devil is in the details. My first major complaint is that it is extremely messy, it seems to spit coffee grounds out the sides of the device during the grinding process, and sprinkles grounds all over the kitchen counter when you go to transfer the ground coffee to the brewer basket. I must spend half my morning cleaning up all the stray coffee grounds, very annoying. My observation is the catch basket shape and cover design seems to be the major cause of the spillage. My second major complaint is the time based system used to determine quantity of coffee to be ground. To determine the amount of coffee to be ground, you turn a timer dial to 20, 30, 40,etc seconds, an imprecise and confusing system that requires too much trial and error to get the timing down to avoid excess wasted grounds, and you have to remember what settings to use when you have guests over and want to brew a different amount then the normal morning coffee amount. In my opinion, it would have been better to have based the grind amount on a standard measure, like table spoon size for instance, with each tick on the dial representing 1 table spoon. While the quality fit and finish of the product are fine, the design and functional issues with the product prevent me from recommending this product to others.

We received the B&D coffee grinder in November. Great grounds and great coffee. HOWEVER...there are plastic parts that help hold the bean dispenser in place, and after 2 months they began breaking! When broken, the plastic piece joined the bins in the grinder and made a terrible racket, but didn't make it into the grounds. The motor got hot a few times. The 3rd and final fin broke about 3 weeks ago. The grinder works fine now (with the usual mess of flying coffee bean particles), but the coffee bean dispenser falls off if the grinder tips. It's cheap, but held up "cheap" too! We're getting a new grinder!

While the mill works well enough, the design of the container guarantees a mess. The shape of the bowl and the static generated means you've got coffee grounds everywhere but where you want them. It lives under my counter--maybe I can use it to grind something else, but I've gone back to the mill I bought this to replace.

This grinder does what it is supposed to do however it is loud, it jumps around and spews coffee all over the place. Its very messy to use and for that reason I doubt I will be using it much. This appliance is most likely a candidate for the church rummage sale next fall.

This thing makes a real mess, and the plastic teeth that hold the hopper broke the first week I had it. This is poorly designed and useless. Don't waste your money. One smart thing they did was to include a long handled scoop that has two separate functions, one side to measure and one with which to clean.

I agree with the other reviewers...save your $$. The plastic teeth in the grinder broke, it's messy, loud, and cheaply made. If you grind beans daily like we do, don't buy this.

This grinder is loud and cheap. I would rather go back to pre-ground Foldgers than have to use this grinder. I hate it.

Given the price of this grinder, I expected this to last a couple of years and produce less than perfect grounds. I was wrong on both accounts.

I received this coffee grinder as a wedding gift almost 8 years ago and I just used it again this morning with happy results. It's been beat up, dropped, moved from one side of the country to the other and back again, and has ground more cups of coffee than I certainly can recall. Granted, I don't use it daily, but I use it on a weekly basis and sometimes more than that. It's seen it's share of work and it still perfomed as well today as it did the first day I used it almost 8 years ago. Impressive.

The coffee grounds are all similar in shape and size, which is very important for a good coffee grinder. I'm very happy with the quality of grounds this puts out. A nice feature is the ability to choose the size of grounds you want and it will grind accordingly; fine, medium, or course, and numerous selections in-between each of those. Which, this machine does all those very well and precisely.

I didn't give it 4 stars for 3 different reasons. First of all, as so many have stated, it can make a mess. But you can also avoid those messes. The cup that holds the beans is not meant to store your beans. Instead, coffee beans need to be stored in an airtight container - this is not airtight. Also, just use common sense when putting the grounds cup in place. I've never had grounds fly out the sides, they stay in the cup or will stick to the shaft that feeds into the grounds cup. However, I am human and don't always do as I should. Just this morning I dropped it and grounds went everywhere (afterwhich it ground 12 oz. of beans with no trouble). The second reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is the issue with the timer. Since you can just hit the on/off button, I completely skip the timer. When the beans are all ground, just turn the machine off. But that makes me wonder then, why even put a timer on it? It only takes about 30 seconds to ground 8-10 oz of beans, I have plenty of other things to do in the kitchen while the machine is grinding. Third and final reason for giving it 4 stars is the noise. Yes, it is loud, but it's only for 30 seconds or so. If it took minutes to grind the beans, I may have an issue with it. Since it's such a short amount of time, it becomes a moot point to me.

While this product may have some downsides to it, I think that overall, the good aspects far outweigh the bad. I'm very happy with my grinder, would recommend it others and I would also buy this again.