KitchenAid BCG100 Electric Blades Grinder

Intro:

Nothings better than freshly ground coffee beans for the ultimate taste, but this coffee grinder has to be avoided. I ll never buy canned coffee again, just the whole beans and ground fresh prior to brewing. Anyone using a coffee grinder for the first time that has the KitchenAid BCG100 may not realize there s a problem yet only enjoying how much better the coffee tastes using freshly ground beans.

I m going to try and explain without getting too technical why not to buy this coffee grinder. I received it as a gift about 1 month ago from someone that knows I like above average quality and knows I grind my coffee beans every morning. This coffee grinder arrived just in the nick of time as my other little noisy Cuisinart was having issues. Some vibration from a broken plastic blade hub, time to stop using it before it breaks off completely.

First Impressions:

If you see one on the store shelf they ll catch your eye if the red one s facing you. You ll notice it s slightly different the other coffee grinders because of the top clear polycarbonate (plastic) cover. When I finally took mine out of the box and read the instructions my first impressions were "This is a well built solid machine that"s going to last a long time"

First Grind:

Very easy to measure up and make a light to dark brew for up to most 12 cup household coffee makers, up to 4 ounces of beans seems to equate a full 1 cup (liquid). The first few seconds I push the cover down to spin the blade I immediately noticed a fair amount of the ground beans were spinning and clinging to the top of the plastic bowl. Obviously there was some amount of static electricity interfering with the production of an evenly ground mixture.

I stopped and started it a few times, lightly tapping the top of the plastic top allowing the ground coffee to drop towards the bottom thus hoping to get an even consistency. I knew after the first batch I ve got a problem.

Cleaning:

Unlike most 2 piece grinders this KitchenAid BCG100ER has a separate motor base allowing you to wash the Bowl & Cover separately. Both the bowl (brushed stainless) and (plastic) cover are dishwasher safe, the motor base is wiped down as you would a common household blender.

Quality Construction:

The design of the blade is this grinders major fault. If you ll notice most two winged chop blades in coffee grinders have their tips opposed, one tip is pointing up and the other is down. On the KitchenAid BCG10ER they both point up. To me this cuts down the efficiency of the chopping action as would a prop plane with flat propeller blades.

Bottom line is you can actually see this flaw in action. Towards the end of the 10-20 second grind (depending on the bean and coarseness desired) you ll start to notice the motor is revving higher as the blade is somewhat freewheeling, doing nothing! This effect must be what s causing the static electricity.

I personally don t care how many watts this motor has, it s probably overkill as it s not matched with the super inefficient chopping blade. Even if this KitchenAid BcG10ER had a lifetime warranty it would have gone back to the store the same or next day. One thing I noticed was the blades bearing assembly looked of higher quality with a nice (no play) feel, would probably last a long time but a worthless effort matched with a useless blade.

If you bought one of these and are now reading this I feel your pain. If you read this and go out and buy one only do it as a gag gift. I m serious, the static electrically charged grounds are going to make a mess as they act like millions of little magnets that are positively charged not wanting to go into the positively charged coffee maker filter basket.

You have to see my coffee maker after I ve emptied the bowl of coffee grounds. There s about thimble size amount of grounds on and around the coffee maker and filter basket. Another problem and yet another chopping blade issue and probably will summarize my review is the grounds are inconsistent leaving you with coarse on top to a powdery goo at the bottom which sticks as well.

Anyone who buys this coffee grinder with the same blade (both tips up) is going to be buying the same headache. I m actually going to contact KitchenAid and see what they say. Never has a simplistic kitchen appliance ever made me mad. A new $2500 refrigerator that stops making ice on the 4th of July, I m not smiling. How could a multi-billion dollar corporation design such a worthless contraption?

Finally:

It grinds coffee so poorly I can t understand how such a product got mass produced. Amazingly I m still using it until I find a replacement. Did I mention how noisy it was? All the grinders I ve used over the years are comparable in decibel levels. I still have to do my morning grind out in the garage so I don t disturb the sleeping family and especially the cat that reacts the same way when I pull out the vacuum cleaner.

For what it s worth they come in black, white and red. The last two letters of the model number designate the color. Mine is (was) red or: BCG10ER. I think the BCG stands for Blade-Coffee-Grinder. If you really want to go to the manufactures website link: http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=ModelNumberLookup&productId=413

Favorite Feature:

I'll say the ability to wash the bowl and lid in the dishwasher.

What I really want to do:

I'm going to contact KitchenAid and see what their position is. The blade is replaceable, hopefully they've got an updated replacement one to correct the problem. That would completely change my rating to 4 stars. If not I'm going to go "Gallagher" on it and take the "Sledge-o-Matic" to it!

Features:
4 ounce capacity (3 ounces is strong enough for me)
200 watt motor (overkill)
Removable, dishwasher safe stainless steel bowl and clear top cover
Pulse Control (you have to pulse or all your grinds will stick to the top cover)
Dual Interlock System (bowl must be secured to the base or motor won t run)
Etched Internal Capacity Markings (3 of them in 1 ounce increments)

Dimensions and weight: 2.3 lbs. Depth:4.5 inches Height: 8.5 Width: 4.5 inches Cord length: 36 inches (like a toaster)

List price $39.99 Retails for around $29.99

The only positive with this grinder is my coffee still tastes great.