Kitchen & Housewares Breville BCG450XL Ikon Conical Burr Grinder
- Would not grind fine enoughBreville products are generally very good, although customer service at BrevilleUSA is non-existent. However this grinder could not grind fine enough for my lever espresso machine. Try the Kitchenaid pro for a finer grind.
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- Form defintely does NOT follow function - Stay far, FAR away from this monstrosity!I suppose the Italians are still mad at us about losing World War 2 and have therefore decided to unleash pretty looking ("They'll buy that!") yet completely dysfunctional stuff.
This burr grinder absolutely falls into this category. One reviewer wrote, "I was intrigued by the concept of 'static reducing' technology. Given that grounds clinging to both the machine parts and the receptical [sic] can create a real mess, I was wondering if this magical technology was really effective. To my surprise, at least with this machine, the answer is 'yes'. I can flip the lid on the grounds receptical [sic] and tip the coffee into my machine with almost nothing left behind as a result of static cling - even if the grinder has just finished its work (which is when the static tends to be most bothersome)."
Don't buy it - it lasts all of three weeks. After that it no longer works and the only way to get it to work again is to send the whole thing in.
The bean container holds far less than half a pound and is way too small.
The On and Time Selection buttons - on the side! Why? The grounds drawer is in the front ...
Speaking of the grounds drawer, it is more or less rectangular and has more nooks, corners and crannies than a labyrinth. Try putting that in a round filter.
Oh! Let's not forget that said drawer has a lid! Why on gawd's green earth does it need a lid - made of the same static-attracting plastic as the rest of the container?
The only saving grace is that one, indeed, does not have to wear protective ear equipment (not included anyway).
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- Espresso grind matches needed grind for Breville Espresso MachineThis is the second burr grinder I've owned-the first one being a small, inexpensive unit that lasted years-and I'm very happy that I purchased this one. Yes, the static causes some mess but I find that the whole process of drawing espresso every morning is messy anyway so that doesn't really bother me. There are two things that I was looking for in the grinder. First, I wanted the beans to continue falling into the grind unit even when very few beans remain (on my first unit I had to constantly take the lid off and push the beans while grinding.) Second, the espresso grind setting needed to be accurate so it wouldn't clog the basket on my Breville espresso machine (a problem that I know many of us have had with too fine espresso grounds.) This unit does both. Also, with the stainless steel and black it matches my espresso machine and looks great. So far, I'm very pleased.
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- Trade-offs!Breville BCG450XL Ikon Conical Burr Grinder
Pro: This grinder grinds impressively well for great tasting coffee. My husband makes it perfect every time.
Con: The receptacle handles awkwardly when pouring grounds into the coffee maker, and the static of the plastic receptacle makes a small mess. How the engineers settled on that design is baffling. My husband complains about the mess every time.
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- Breville BCG450XL Ikon Conical Burr Grinder I am not sure that I can tell the difference in the coffee resulting from using different burr grinders so this review is just one for function. I have owned a couple of other burr grinders over the years and this is the best one yet. It has three things going for it. It is relatively quiet. The receptacle where the ground coffee ends up is very easy to remove and replace and, with its hinged lid, one does not have to remove the lid to shake out the coffee. And, finally, perhaps as important for me as anything, this unit does not seem to suffer from static problems. There were times with other grinders where static would make it difficult to get all the coffee out and then when it did come out it would tend to fly all over the place. Not so here.