Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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207 of 210 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't Get Much Better, July 11, 2007
[...] I have reviewed just about every coffee mill available known in the free world. I have not found one that was rated five stars (always someone has a petty gripe to knock the product down a notch or two.) I have spent many hundreds of dollars trying to find a perfect coffee mill (Sorry folks! No such animal.) I will address the common gripes that I have read about this wonderful machine:
Gripe #1: Small amounts of grind drop when one removes the glass receptacle causing a big clean-up problem and you need to waste wads of paper towels to clean it up.
Answer #1: Yes, this is true to some very small extent, but quite insignificant. A simple swipe with a damp sponge instead of a paper towel does the trick. The upside is the the glass container which minimizes static (static is the real mess maker.)
Gripe #2: The grind is not uniform. All the grounds must be the exact same size.
Answer #2: Holy cow! For over a year, I have found the grind consistency to be excellent and uniform. This complaint is NOT to be believed.
Gripe #3: This coffee mill is a bit pricey, at $199.00.
Answer #3: Yes, I suppose, if one likes to pay retail. The price on this model actually runs from $299.00 down to $139.00 (I only paid $99.95 during a sale at Costco... Lucky me.) Anything of high quality commands a higher price. KitchenAid is no exception. Consider this when making a comparison: Constructed of Die Cast Metal and Glass (not cheap plastic.) Special stainless steel helical gear controls the delivery of coffee to the burrs for better grind consistency. Cutting burrs turn at just 450 rpm, minimizing frictional heating of the grinds and preserving coffee flavor. Provides simple burr cleaning access. And if all this is NOT enough, try a TWO YEAR, NO HASSLE, replacement warranty (what other company backs their products like this?) KitchenAid has World Class customer service.
Gripe #4: The bottom coffee bin is made of lightweight glass (fragile) and can be easily broken. Plus, there is no way to get a replacement if it does break.
Answer #4: Lightweight? Yes, because the coffee bin is Blown Glass (another high quality feature.) Replacements? A quick call to customer service will get you a new coffee bin, pronto ($11.95.)
Ending. This KitchenAid Proline coffee mill is stylish, beautiful. well designed, quiet, built like a tank (for many years of service), has the best warranty (bar none) and is the very BEST coffee mill I have ever owned. It is well worth the price of $199.00 (But remember, prices can range from $139.00 to $299.00. There ARE deals are out there. Good Luck.
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91 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best of its kind, bar none, September 12, 2007
I've used several coffee grinders. My last one was a Braun mill-style, that was so good that when it broke, I managed to take it apart and fix it. Well, one day it finally gave up and could no longer grind beans, and it was time to do research again for the next one.
One of my complaints with the Braun, which really was excellent in its day, was that it was loud. So loud I would occasionally throw a towel on it in a vain attempt to muffle it. So, I decided my next one would be quiet (or at least quieter -- it is grinding hard objects into powder, after all).
Another (minor) complaint was that the grind hopper was plastic, and the little grind particles would stick all over the inside of it through the magic of static cling. Not a huge deal, but it would be cleaner and neater if that didn't happen. So, it would be nice if my next one had a glass hopper.
Finally, while the looks of the Braun were not bad, it certainly wasn't a highlight of the kitchen. So, as a third priority, it would be nice (though not essential) if it looks good.
So imagine my surprise when I ran across this little beauty. All metal. Very attractive. A variety of colors lifted right out of a high end car catalog. Very professional looking (looks right at home next to my Viking range -- that should tell you something). Glass hopper with no static cling.
And (almost) best of all? It is amazingly quiet. Seriously, I can stand right next to it without running for my ear muffs.
Plus, it makes uniform grinds, suitable for an espresso machine or, with a twist of the front dial, a coffee maker. The instruction manual (which is quite possibly the best designed manual I've ever seen, and I used to write them for a living) gives instructions for how to calibrate the grinder yourself to get the finest grind possible, if you need it. I found that wasn't needed in my case, even though I use it for my espresso machine too.
And fast! That wasn't even on my list, but it is now that I've seen it. This thing can reduce a bag of beans to little bits in no time. You can actually see the beans in the hopper going down as they are ground down. Any faster and you would need a sledgehammer. And I don't think that would result in a uniform grind.
Fantastic unit. I really can't say enough about it. It literally has no flaws that I can discern, and I can almost always find at least a few -- not in this case!
Highly recommended.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pricey but Worth It, July 15, 2007
The wife and I both really like this grinder. We've had several grinders over the years spending as little as $25 up to $60-70. We've been happy(at least at first) then disgruntled(they usually didn't last) and even stopped buying grinders and had the store do it for us due to disgust with the grinders we had bought. Dropping this kind of money on a "coffee grinder" was hard. We talked about it for a while and then finally took the plunge. We couldn't be happier.
Things we really like after having used it for about 6 months now. 1) First and foremost is the grind itself. It is very consistent and produces very little dust. Very nice. As far as making a good grind for coffee it is the best we've owned and as good as the big grinders used in the professional places. 2) Secondly is the glass grind hopper and grind bin. The static cling issue one gets with the plastic hoppers is almost non-existent with the glass grind bin. Plus the glass cleans up a lot better than plastic(the wife really likes this one). 3) Overall construction is sturdy and solid. This is not one of those plastic grinders you'll find on most shelves. This thing feels like it will last forever.
Things that could have been better. 1) The instructions give you the basic 2 tablespoons of grind per six ounces of water yada yada but the hopper and the glass bin are sans measurement lines. We had to experiment with how much whole beans to put in the hopper to make "our" perfect pot of coffee. Tablespoon measurement lines on the glass bin would have been nice. 2) The coffee beans sometimes get stuck feeding to the grinder from the hopper (it's just a gravity feed system). I've learned to gently poke at the beans to help them along their way down into the grinder.
That's pretty much it. We really like the grinder and feel confident in recommending it to others.
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