The $15 Coffee Gadget I’m Still in Love With, Nearly 10 Years Later
Sometimes there are kitchen gadgets that fly under the radar, but are actually super useful multitaskers. You buy them for one particular function, only to discover that they can tackle quite a few kitchen tasks. In my apartment, the most underrated yet useful gadget is definitely my Krups Electric Coffee grinder. I have had mine for over a decade and use it almost every single day to grind coffee of course, but also to blend spices and even tackle small food processor jobs. In fact, I love it so much that I recently added a second one to my arsenal. And lucky for me, it happens to be just $15.44 (normally $18.94) at Walmart right now!
When it comes to grinding coffee beans, there’s no question that Krups delivers. In fact, it’s so good at its job, it even made it to our Best List! The stainless steel blades are super strong, pulverizing up to three ounces of beans to a fine ground in less than ten seconds. (That’s about a 12-cup coffee pot’s capacity, FYI!) Like a simple food processor, it only has one button to worry about, just press and pulse. Want a larger grind size? Simply use shorter pulses or a longer pulse for a few seconds less. Nothing could be easier. It also keeps safety super simple with a lid-activated switch. The blades will not spin unless the lid is locked in place, ensuring your fingers don’t end up as part of your dark roast.
Besides my morning coffee ritual, I’m most often in my kitchen to bake and cook. And while I use spices a lot, I’m still wondering why it took me so long to commit to grinding them myself more often. Like coffee, they are best freshly ground, and the Krups can tackle anything from cinnamon sticks to cardamom pods and more. Anyone who has ever failed to crush coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle will appreciate how quickly this Krups gets the job done. No need to worry about residue cross-contaminating your recipe either. I wipe mine out with a damp paper towel, no funkiness left behind even after so many years with my old model. And though the blades are strong, I’ve never cut myself cleaning it out. (Trust me, I cut myself all the time doing other stuff!)
Other things it is useful for? Those tasks I hate lugging my big food processor out for like grinding nuts and chopping herbs. I even blitzed some chocolate in it for a recipe, though the motor is super strong so I kept the pulses super short to avoid melting. Both the coffee grinders are permanent residents on my counter, but at only four inches wide, they’re never in the way. And since my old one has lasted over ten years, I look forward to another decade of durability from this one too!
Krups has been around for over 150 years, which is about the same amount of time it took me to appreciate the years of useful service a grinder can give. And since it’s super affordable, even if you only use it for coffee or the occasional spice blend, it is a worthy purchase. Trust me, don’t waste a decade to find that out. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s some cardamom buns with my grinder’s name on them.
Buy: Krups Electric Coffee and Spice Grinder, $15.44 (normally $18.94)