KitchenAid BCG111OB Blade Coffee Grinder, 4 oz, Onyx Black

Got this grinder yesterday - in use today. THE big improvment for me is the deep cup which holds the beans. Vendor claims it holds from level 4 (min) to 12 (max) of beans that will on average deliver 4-12 cups of coffee. After some use I can vouch for this. For optimal flavor, the experts insist you consume promptly after grinding. But, I like the convenience of grinding 8-12 cups worth early in the day, transfer to a handy jar, and we live off that for the rest of day. Flavor is good the whole time. Everything about this grinder is solid and well made, unlike others I have used. And, it's the quietest blade grinder I have ever used. It has that feel of a machine that will last a long time. I wont say more for now, but intend to return to update my review a month from now when I expect to know more.... Dec 13, 2020 UPDATE. I've been using this coffee grinder for at least a month now, and can confirm that the KitchenAid Grinder (BCG111ER) exceeds all my hopes and expectations, best grinder of the many I've had in the past several decades. Best features = (1) excellent control over the extent of grind (from fine to coarse). At max bean fill (that will make at least 12 cups), if you hold the lid down (i.e., turn the grinder on) for 20-25 seconds you get a fine grind suitable all the way to espresso. [Note - for espresso you may need to go longer than 25 seconds (with a full grinder cup) depending on your espresso machine and the nature of the beans. The vendor cautions that excessive grind time may over heat the grinder. As a test, I went up to 29 seconds without over heating my machine.] Between 15 to 20 seconds will give you a coarser grind suitable for example for a french press (mine works best at 16 seconds). Remember, I determined these grinder times required to get my desired grind (coarse to fine) WITH THE GRINDER CUP FILLED TO MAXIMUM WITH COFFEE BEANS. If you put fewer beans in the grinder cup, required time to get a particular grind will be reduced. (2) Consistency of grind - For a given quantity of beans and a set grind time I get very much the same grind output every time. (3) Small foot print. This KitchenAid grinder takes up very little space on your counter top. (4) Sturdy build that makes below average noise, and feels solid with a pleasing heft to it. To get the performance you want, you should go through a bench-marking process similar to what I did so you can consistently get the extent of grind you prefer (coarse to fine). You really need a timer for this. And, for ease of use, you should carefully familiarize yourself with the outer (clear plastic) cap and the stainess steel inner cup which holds the beans. Notice that the outer cap connects to the grinder body with two small plastic pins that extend down from this cap and fit into two corresponding holes in the grinder body. These pins have to fit into their holes or you can not push the cap down far enough to start the grinder motor. This is a safety feature. God forbid that a child could somehow start the ginder. And, for someone who is sometimes a bit rough with their equipment, this 'pin in the hole' design may also present a slight chance of breaking one of the plastic pins. In that event, you will need another plastic cap and I don't know if KitchenAid sells replacement parts. Another safety feature is having the cutting blade built into the steel cup which holds the beans. If the cup is not inserted into the grinder body, it might be possilbe to start the motor (I didn't try this), but only the driver shaft would spin harmlessly, there being no blade to engage. There are indentations on the cup which must be aligned with an obvious mark on the grinder body. To accomplish this, insert the cup with the indentation aligned. It wont fit in! Good, that's another safety feature. While gently urging the cup to insert downward, rotate the cup counter clockwise. After a half inch or so, the cup will readily drop down to the 'engagement level'. At this lower level, rotate the cup back in a clockwise move until that cup indentation is aligned as desired. The fit is snug, another reflection of the grinder's sturdy build.

I bought this grinder for grinding coffee beans to make cold brew coffee after the cheap Proctor Silex one I had burned up. I knew I wanted one that you could take apart and clean the blade and under it because my old one had gotten where I would have to get a pair of pliers out and loosen the blade up to get it to turn after I would let it sit for a while unused. Right out of the box I ground up a pound of coffee beans , coarse ground in less than 5 minutes. I did put a layer of thin saran wrap over the top of the metal jar with the beans before putting the clear plastic lid on to engage the grinder since other reviewers had complained that some of the debris had leaked out. This solved any mess from escaping and the grinder worked just fine. It was simple to use, simple to clean and the best part is mine came with not one, but 2 spice grinders in the box. Now I can get all those spices in my cabinet that seem to want to harden due to the humidity in my house ground up again without leaving any lingering taste to my coffee grinder! So far I'm loving this thing.

Love the red. It matches my other kitchenaid countertop appliances. It grinds coffee very fast and does a great job of it. Easy to use. Would buy again.

I've used this grinder several times a week for a month or so and have been very impressed. For several years, I had used a blade grinder from another prestige brand, but when the last one failed shortly after the warranty, it was time to try something different. Thus far, the KitchenAid BCG111ER has proven to be an excellent choice and an excellent value. The grind consistency is by far the best I have ever gotten from a blade grinder. I'm aware of all the hype regarding burr grinders, but my experience with them says they are too much of a PIA to clean, and I have never found the finished coffee to be better when burr ground. Maybe my taste buds are just not sufficiently sophisticated. The KitchenAid instructions provide recommended grind times for various brewing methods, and I have found them to be worthwhile guidance. I religiously follow their times when I grind and recommend doing so. The top of the grinding bowl is sharp and could have been finished better. The lid also rattles when sitting idly in place, but when it is pushed down to grind, all the pieces fit snugly and works effortlessly. Both of those issues are minor and I am happy to overlook them. Finally, it cleans up easily and stores nicely out of the way. In a nutshell, it's everything I want from a coffee grinder at a great price. I highly recommend it.

PROs: clean and attractive design, separate attachment for grinds from the base, simple to use, low noise CONs: accumulates dust in the base, attachments can be tricky to remove from the base KitchenAid does design very well, and that's where this particular grinder excels most. Most coffee grinders I'd rather hide away in a cabinet, but this one is a nice addition to the counter. The sharp red color is sleek (I prefer the Empire Red over the Onyx) and the design is mostly intuitive. One nice feature is you can purchase additional spice grinder attachments to keep them free of your coffee. I like that the coffee container is a separate cup/attachment rather than a solid piece built into the base. Grind the coffee, twist the cup a quarter rotation to unlock it from the base, and remove it to dump into your coffee filter. The removable cups also allow you to swap them out, and also makes clean up much easier than something like the Krups grinder. The one drawback here is that the coffee dust can get into the base of the unit and that is fairly annoying to clean. I don't know how waterproof the base is, but usually a damp cloth can help clean out that dust when it accumulates. One minor annoyance is that the attachments can sort of become "stuck" and if you turn them too hard trying to get it unstuck, it can cause your coffee grinds to spill over the edges once it frees up. If I have a hard time getting the cup removed, I will usually just dump the grinds by picking up the entire grinder and pouring it in, and then freeing the cup once it has been emptied. This doesn't happen very often, and I suspect it has to do with the oils from the coffee beans getting stuck in the base locking mechanism. That said, overall this is a great coffee grinder and I've purchased several of them for friends and family.

Great price, fantastic product one of the best purchases I made in 2025 nothing like fresh ground Rosemary, Thyme! The power cord could be longer

Does a decent job considering I only use it once in a while

So for the main purpose of grinding things, this really does work fantastic. I use it for Coffee, as well as spices like whole cinnamon sticks, and event for things like activate charcoal. This can grind things so fine that when you open it, there is a cloud of dust that comes out. But beyond that there are two issues. The major issue for me is the extreme amount of leaking this thing has. When I put in something to grind I want it to remain in the grinding cup, but whatever you are grinding inside of this spews everywhere inside of the thing, and makes a complete mess. Even when you are using one of the smaller grinders AND have the lid on it, stuff still manages to get out and get all over the place inside the thing. Its extremely annoying, and makes what should be a super simple task into a big clean up every single time if you want the device to be actually clean. The only way I can grind stuff without it getting all over is to cover the grinder with saran wrap and a rubber band so there is no way for anything to get out. But even that is not a good option because of what is my minor flaw number one. The first minor flaw is you cant just grind and be good to go if you want things finely ground. You have to open the grinder back up, get a chopstick or something and scrape whatever you are grinding out of the corners and bottom and manually mix things up and start grinding again. Stuff gets stuck below the blade and does not grind properly. This makes my fix for the major flaw so much more annoying, since I cant just grind, remove saran wrap and be done. I have to put on saran wrap, and remove it 4 or 5 times when I am grinding spices, due to this. The second minor flaw is that I should be able to use lids on both the short AND tall grinders, but the cover does not actually give enough room to run with the lid on top of the tall grinding cup.