I couldn't be happier with my new coffee grinder. In half a minute, I have the best smelling grounds--the entire house fills with the scent. And most importantly, within minutes I have wonderful, fresh coffee. Sweeeet!

Specs:
~Grinds enough for 18 cups
~Stainless steel blade and exterior
~18 month warranty

Assembly: Gotcha. There is nothing to assemble. Inside the box is the base unit/motor, the cup for the beans with an attached blade, a cover piece, and a small lid to seal the cup in case you grind too much. It snaps together in a second. (The box warns to be careful not to toss out the enclosed lid since it's small and easily missed in the box.) Oh yeah, there's also an instruction manual.

Usage: Pop it together, plug it in, toss in some beans, press a button for a few seconds. Viola--you're done!

The instruction manual walks you through the couple basics you need to get going. Approximately how much beans to use per cup (adjust to taste) and how long to grind based on brewing method (i.e., automatic drip, french press, etc). For my regular, automatic coffee pot, beans need to be ground for 30 seconds. For espresso machines, it's about 20 seconds.

One final note about the grounds, is that the grounds at the bottom of the cup are usually compacted and the cup needs to be gently tapped a few times on the counter to get the grounds out of the cup.

Instruction Manual: Since I'm on the topic of the manual, I'd like to point out that it's the only thing I don't like about the grinder. It's not very well developed. For instance, I had a few questions that weren't answered in the booklet. First, the box/package the grinder came in indicated that there was a cord storage area on the grinder. The booklet doesn't mention one. I finally determined that by very forcefully pushing the cord into the hole it comes out of, you can cram some of the cord back into it. Personally, unless instructed to do so, I have being forceful when using any new product - because I'm always afraid I'm going to break it.

Secondly, inside the little cup that you fill beans are markings to indicate the correct amount of beans to use for 4, 6, 12, and [max] cups of coffee. After grinding the beans, the grounds are always way over the marker. It made me wonder whether the line indicates the amount of beans to grind or the amount of grounds to use. I would have liked the manual to explicitly state that. However, I'm pretty sure it's regarding the amount of beans to use, it would just be nice to know for sure.

And finally, there is no warning about trying to disassemble the blade from the cup. Having never owned or operated a bean grinder previously, I was a little surprised to find the grinding blade attached to the bean cup. Especially since the booklet recommends storing extra coffee grounds in the cup. It seemed a little dangerous to use something with a blade attached as a storage container. Which made me question whether or not the blade is removable. (I'm pretty sure it isn't.) As with any device with sharp blades, it should give a warning on removing it.

Appearance: It's stainless steel and a neat little box. I like the design and it's very sleek. My only comment is that there is that I wish there were a way to store the cup lid on the grinder itself. I just know I'm going to misplace the lid one of these days. If I could just attach it to the back and forget about it, it would be better. When the grinder is fully assembled, if you try to put the lid on the cup, the cover piece won't close. It's one of those awkward little things. If I stick it in a drawer with my other thousand storage lids, I know I'll never find it again. No biggie, but not the best design feature.

Cleaning: The outside wipes clean easily. Although, I haven't gotten it covered in anything too messy yet (like whipped egg yolks). I usually avoid stainless steel products because you need special cleaning supplies, or steel wool, etc. But so far I've just been using regular cleaning products and it's working fine. After I grind beans, I usually just rinse the cup and the cover under hot water and the little coffee grounds come right out. I don't feel it's necessary to wash it with soap or anything. I've ground coffee of all flavors and I never notice that not using soap leaves any aftertaste from other bean flavors.

Noise: It's very sleek, you'd expect it to purr. But it doesn't. Overall it's pretty loud, but don't let me scare you. It's not a terrible noise, but it is louder than I thought it would be. It's my new alarm clock. Somehow I manage to sleep through the beeping of my alarm, but once my hubbie starts grinding the morning brew, it actually wakes me up.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 35