Krups 203 Electric Coffee and Spice Grinder with Stainless-Steel Blades

I have had my grinder for 12 years now. It works the same today as it did new, and I use it about 10 times a week. For the money, it can't be beat. That said, this grinder is not for everybody.

This grinder is perfect for anybody with a coffee maker that uses #4 paper CONE filters (or slightly bigger or smaller). I emphasize PAPER because a permanent filter is not good for this grinder. Like any blade grinder, it will produce some dust. That creeps through the permafilter and into your pot is makes sludge. It sloppies up your coffee. Nothing gets through paper filters though.

It also grinds coffee fine. You really don't have a choice. It is ok for espresso as well if you are not a connoisseur. If you try a coarse grind with this unit, you will be out of luck. If you don't grind long enough, you will leave a few beans whole or in large pieces.

If you need anything other than a fine grind and don't mind using paper filters (I prefer them), then look no further.

I deducted a star because it has limitations, but the truth is, for probably 80% of the coffee drinkers out there, this grinder is all you need.

A little over 6 months ago we read about the benefits of grinding flaxseed and eating it with cereal, and decided to try it. So we bought the Braun KSM-2 grinder for the purpose, and it worked reasonably well.

However, while staying at a friend's house we tried the same thing with a Krups grinder, and found that

1. it ground the flaxseeds more thoroughly (we think it is because of the oval shape), and

2. it was quieter

We like the Braun's space for winding up the cord, and the Braun seems sturdy enough, so it's not a bad unit. But we bought the Krups and have been using it for a few weeks now, and we prefer it.

Our theory is that the key to the Krups's better grinding is the shape -seen from above it is an oval with one end chopped off. This shape appears to stop the forward momentum of the flaxseeds (or whatever) so that the blades hit them with more impact. That is, in a circular grinder the seeds tend to pick up speed and swirl around with the blades, but the shape of the Krups doesn't let the speed build up so much.

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We are serious cooks and take our coffee seriously. Own two of these and the first one is at least ten years old and the newest one less than two. Grinds whole beans according to your desired taste. We own two simply because we like plain as well as flavoured whole bean coffee and simply wish to keep the flavors separate.

Two helpful hints someone suggested that I pass on. Place this grinder on a small towel or pot holder as it helps muffle the sound. Secondly, invest in a good quality nylon paint brush that you can use to "sweep" out your coffee grinder weekly so that you have no grounds left as these can turn rancid over months and leave an awful taste.

Oh and if this or any appliance breaks down contact the maker not Amazon.com and they will replace it. Krups is a reliable maker and I know firsthand that they stand by their products.

Read Best Reviews of Krups 203 Electric Coffee and Spice Grinder with Stainless-Steel Blades Here

There are two things I take very seriously in this life: one is books, the other is coffee (not surprisingly, the often go together). While the bulk of my reviews are children's books, I felt it necessary to go against type and review this coffee grinder. Most coffee experts as well as everyday, casual drinkers agree that the best tasting coffee is brewed with freshly ground beans. Once beans are ground, they begin to oxidize, much like an opened bottle of wine. Old preground coffee has a tendency to taste bitter, and with the proliferation of inexpensive grinders, more and more people are buying whole bean coffee to grind right before they brew. Of course, finding the RIGHT grinder for the price is the tough part. Grinders exist in every form and size and expense bracket. Quite a lot of round, domed grinders I've used have unsharpened blades on a mount that is too high to really grind beans fine enough for specialty coffee like espresso or Turkish. The Krups has a few advantages over other grinders, namely these: ** The blades are sharp and mounted low in the housing. Maybe other manufactures are saving a few pennies by putting flat tongues of metal in their grinders, but they don't have the edge to pulverize beans like the Krups can. ** The machine has a higher RPM than other machines. This makes it easier to reduce grind times and with additional speed, can reduce whole beans to powder in less than a minute (I've had a Black n' Decker that couldn't grind beans for Turkish coffee if you held the button for half an hour). ** the housing is oval and the lid is flat. I'm not an engineer or physicist, but I think the flat lid and oval shape allow the beans to fall back towards the blades for further grinding (again, my Black n' Decker allowed the beans to spin around the lid in a whirlpool pattern that was pretty to look at, but pointless for actually reducing the grounds to the small particles I wanted). ** it has a large capacity. Do you like strong coffee?? Use more grounds, then!! The box says that you can grind up to 20 cups of java at a time. I don't know about the sorts of demitasses they must be using to gauge the volume of a "cup", but I do know that this machine can grind up enough beans for a number of very stiff MUGS of coffee. In the disadvantages column, the only one I could site is that the housing cup is slanted down, I'm assuming for decorative purposes. Hence, I'm forever spilling beans out of the lower side. My new secret is to measure the beans out in the LID, first, then turn the whole thing upside down and put the housing into the lid. Since I only use it to grind coffee (and while I drink my fair share, I don't have the thing running nonstop day and night), I can't speak with any aplomb about how sturdy a machine is or how long it lasts. I once dropped one after a year and broke it, but it seemed nowhere near quitting, so I can't vouch for how long it would work under normal, non-butterfingered conditions. My assumption is that anything with such a high RPM rate isn't intended to be kept running for long periods of time-creates too much heat and friction-so if you plan to grind coffee night and day, it's probably best that you spend the money on a professional model intended for cafes. All in all, a fine piece of workmanship and definitely worth the extra few dollars over many of the other, cheaper, more poorly-designed grinders on the market today.

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This grinder was the top recommended spice grinder in Cooks' Illustrated, and it does a good job, but it just won't come clean. Some reviewers have said that it is difficult to clean, but that's an understatement: it is impossible to clean after using it for spices.

I bought this grinder last night and after just one use of grinding spices (a mixture of dried chili peppers, coriander, cumin and black pepper), it looks five years old. Even after soaking the plastic lid in warm, soapy water and scrubbing it, the bottom half of the lid is a dingy brown: this staining would occur even in the black model since the lids of both the black and white are the same. The plastic lid has two textures: smooth and cloudy; the staining occurs only on the cloudy portion, but not on the clear portion. Also, the interface between the metal bowl and the white plastic is stained and it smells strongly, even after I wiped it with soap and water and a toothpick. While I don't mind the smell, in a few months the oils from the spices could turn rancid.

Update: January 2011: Three years ago at a big box store, I bought a Black and Decker coffee grinder for half the price of this one. It has stayed clean even from grinding hot spices. It also works for grinding flax seeds.

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