Update: As of 2/8/2006 this grinder is still going strong. We've had no problems with it at all and it is now 22 years old!

As a wedding gift 16 years ago we got a Braun coffee grinder. It has lasted all these years! The first thing I do in the morning is sit at my computer with a cup of coffee, so when the Braun no longer worked, I immediately checked here for recommendations.

In general people did not review the Braun favorably. It looked like Krups was what I wanted. I had to go to Wal-Mart that day and while there I looked at coffee grinders. The only brand they had was Salton. I know that name because I used to have their yogurt maker. It was just under $20 and since I needed one and didn’t want to go to other stores I bought it.

It didn’t work. Period. It did not grind coffee. I returned it; went to Sears and decided on the Cuisinart. They also did not have Krups and I know Cuisinart has had a great reputation. I did remember reading some favorable opinions about this one. So I am now the owner of the Cuisinart Coffee Bar Coffee Grinder.

This is a great little grinder. I say little because it measures only 7 inches high and 3 ½ inches across, more of less since it is round. I like the look of it. When reviewing many products we are asked at the end what style the product is and I usually put down utilitarian. This time I can put the product in a different category.

This grinder could not be easier to use. The beans go into a stainless steel bowl at the top of the grinder and the lid goes onto the grinder base. You press and hold the on/off button to start grinding. It is important to realize that the on and off button is a safety feature so you can’t take off the lid and put your fingers into the grinder. This is especially important if you have little ones around. It is a feature I will mention in a moment when comparing it to a more expensive machine.

You grind until you get the consistency you want. Cuisinart suggests 10 seconds of grinding time for a coarse type bean – that would be for a percolator; 20 seconds for medium course beans for an automatic drip coffee maker and 30 seconds for fine course for espresso. I mention this because this also will become important in a moment.

This grinder makes enough for 12 cups of coffee, which is a 2.5-ounce capacity. The blades are stainless steel which is supposed to give you superior grinding. I must say the coffee I have had since buying this grinder has been delicious. Perhaps it is because our Braun was old and not working well; perhaps it is psychological!

The Cuisinart Coffee Bar grinder is simple to clean. You just wipe the inside of the stainless steel bowl where the beans go and the lid with a damp paper towel. The lid is dishwasher safe.

A feature I love about this grinder is that is has a storage unit for the cord in the base of the unit. You just push it in and it disappears. I don’t like seeing cords hanging around my kitchen counter. It makes me nervous so this is at least one appliance I have which hides the cord.

Now to discuss what I was referring to previously. As I said we had a Braun coffee grinder. It wasn’t the coffee bar type, which are very popular, I think because they do the trick and are inexpensive. Our old one had a separate unit for the beans and a separate unit that the ground beans went into.

You didn’t have to hold an on/off switch to grind the beans. There never seemed to be a safety factor with my old machine and it was nice to be able to walk away. I know it is only for seconds, but it seems that when you are holding the button down in the Cuisinart it isn’t seconds but forever.

Another feature my old Braun had was a dial for consistency. You turned the knob for the length of time you wanted it to grind. Again you just turned the dial and it turned on. No counting to 10, 20 or 30!

However, that was a very different style grinder and about 3-4 times the cost of the Cuisinart and others of this style. We felt we didn’t want to pay $70 for a new grinder. It was great as a gift, but unnecessary for our purposes.

In summary, if you are looking for an inexpensive, inconspicuous, coffee grinder that does the job, I would highly recommend trying the Cuisinart Coffee Bar coffee grinder.

Recommended: Yes