Grinding your own fresh beans is the only way to go if you want to brew perfect coffee at home. A KitchenAid coffee grinder is a solid choice from a quality kitchenware manufacturer, so it makes sense to consider buying one.
KitchenAid only produces a handful of coffee bean grinders, which makes choosing easier. You'll need to think about how much you want to spend and how serious you are about coffee. The KitchenAid Burr Coffee Grinder is the top choice for barista-quality coffee.
Coffee grinders can either use burrs or blades to grind coffee beans. KitchenAid makes both types of grinders, so you'll need to consider your options before buying.
Blade grinders use spinning blades to chop beans into tiny pieces. They're compact and affordable. Since there's only one button to start and stop the blades, they're extremely easy to use with no settings to figure out, though you will need to learn when to stop grinding depending on how coarse or fine you want your beans. The problem is blade grinders don't give such consistent results. Each tiny piece of ground coffee will have a slightly different surface area, which impacts extraction, leading to subpar coffee.
Burr grinders use disks or cones to crush beans, rather than chopping them like blade grinders. This gives an even grind consistency for superior extraction resulting in a delicious cup of coffee. KitchenAid burr grinders also offer a range of grind settings to automatically give you the right size grind for whatever type of coffee you're making. There's no doubt they're objectively better, but they're far more expensive.
High-end KitchenAid grinders are programmable. You can program precise measurements and grind sizes, so you don't have to flick through a load of settings every time you want to make coffee. It's a great feature when you're bleary-eyed in the morning. You can save several programs so you can have different ones stored for each coffee maker.
You'll only get a choice of grind settings on a burr grinder. KitchenAid's offering gives you 70 settings to choose from, with fine espresso grinds at one end of the spectrum and coarse French press grinds at the other.
Like other KitchenAid appliances, these coffee grinders are available in a range of colors, from empire red to matte charcoal gray, though some models have more color choices than others,
If you want to grind spices in your coffee grinder, some models have a separate spice attachment to prevent flavor transfer.
This holds a standard espresso machine portafilter so you can grind coffee directly into it, saving the effort and cleanup of grinding beans into a hopper then transferring them to your portafilter.
KitchenAid blade coffee grinders cost roughly $40-$60, while the company's burr grinders cost around $200.
A. Espresso needs an extremely fine grind for the best results. Luckily, you can achieve this with a KitchenAid grinder, but it's easier with some models than others. If you buy one of KitchenAid's burr grinders, there's a setting for espresso, so you'll just need to adjust the controls and it will automatically give you the perfect grind size. With blade grinders, on the other hand, you'll just have to keep grinding until you reach the desired consistency. This is fine for people who know how ground coffee for espresso is supposed to look, but anyone new to making espresso may have trouble getting the consistency just right. You'll always get better, more even results with a burr grinder, so if you want to make the perfect espresso at home, it's worth the investment.
A. This varies between models. Some have removable bean hoppers or grinding bowls that you can easily hand wash with soapy water. Others have parts that aren't removable so you can only clean them with a brush or wipe them with a cloth. Check the instruction manual to find cleaning instructions for your chosen grinder.
KitchenAid Burr Coffee Grinder
What you need to know: Serious coffee fans should opt for this programmable burr grinder.
What you’ll love: The burs give an evenly sized grind that allows for better extraction. You can choose from 70 precise grind settings to suit all types of coffee. Smart dosing technology automatically grinds just the amount of coffee you need.
What you should consider: A handful of buyers report faults, but you'll be able to get a replacement for any faulty unit.
Where to buy: Sold by KitchenAid, Amazon and Kohl's
KitchenAid Blade Coffee Grinder
What you need to know: If you just want decent coffee and aren't concerned with perfection, you'll love this affordable blade grinder.
What you’ll love: You can easily control the grind size by adjusting the length of time you grind for. The internal measuring lines make it easier to grind the correct quantity of coffee. It finds enough beans to make up to 12 cups of coffee.
What you should consider: It won't grind as uniformly as a burr grinder.
Where to buy: Sold by KitchenAid, Amazon and Kohl's
KitchenAid Blade Coffee and Spice Grinder
What you need to know: With interchangeable spice and coffee grinding bowls, this is a versatile grinder.
What you’ll love: It's perfect if you want to grind both coffee beans and whole spices without serious cleaning when switching from one to the other. It's easy to use and fairly easy to clean thanks to the removable grinding bowls.
What you should consider: It could be more powerful, which is especially noticeable when grinding tough spices.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Kohl's
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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
