Black & Decker CBG100S Smartgrind Coffee Grinder, Stainless Steel
25
Nov/092
Nov/092
Sleek and stylish, this electric coffee grinder not only looks good in any modern kitchen, but it also makes quick work of grinding whole coffee beans into freshly ground coffee ready for brewing. Simply add whole beans to the stainless-steel grinding chamber, position the cover securely in place, and press the button to set the stainless-steel blades spinning. The unit’s powerful yet quiet motor delivers a fast blade speed for quick, uniform grinding, while its pulse control m…
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1:27 am on November 26th, 2009
I thought the only problem with this grinder was that it didn’t grind up the beans completely until the grinder kept going even when the lid was removed! I had this grinder less than 30 days and, needless to say, it has been returned. At the speed these things grind they have to have safety features that work. It was an intermittent problem but even once is too often if you have to unplug the thing to get it to stop.
1:53 am on November 26th, 2009
If I were this grinder’s parent it would be GROUNDED for bad design. Whoever designed it was clearly not a coffee drinker of coffee made from freshly ground beans. While this coffee grinder does the job (2 stars awarded for functioning out of the box), there are several elements of this grinder that really just stink.
1) The cap. The cap design is probably an example of the least thoughtful engineering I have ever seen. The button that engages the grinding function on the motor unit/base extends from outside the cap like a thin spindly finger, almost like it is silently flipping you the bird because you woke it up too early in the morning to do its work. The worst part (and the reason I wrote this review): the capacity of the cap is LESS than base cup. This means if you grind more coffee beans than can fit in the lid (not even 2 cups worth), you will end up spilling the grounds EVERYWHERE if you try to use the cap to dump into your coffee filter/press/what-have-you. You will need to use the motor unit to pour the grounds, and this is quite awkward, and pretty ridiculous.
2) The cord. Speaking of pouring grounds out of the base, keep in mind that you’ll probably need to unplug the cord before doing so. Unfortunately, the cord is not easy to wrap up beneath the base, so plan to leave this unit out on your counter. Additionally, there is no way to secure the cord easily such that it doesn’t protrude from under the base in a haphazard manner while you’re grinding it. Plan to steady it with one hand and press the grinder with the other.
3) The grinder does not handle large amounts of beans very well. It has a pretty powerful motor so what happens if you “overload” (read: 2 servings worth of beans which is about 2 oz) the grinder, the beans near the blades get overground and really fine. Forget about using the French press for this one unless you want to grind one bean at a time or you really enjoy your morning cup of sludge.
Moral of story: Black & Decker is good at power tools. Put your $20 toward a nice set of drill bits instead.