Salton Intelligent Coffee & Spice Grinder

This item is best used for spice I would not recommend for coffee beans. I purchased this specifically for spices only. This is one great product. I initially saw this grinder on the Breville web site in Australia. I don't understand it but when I went to look for it in the US on the breville site it wasn't available for the US. I went on Amazon and came accross this by Delfino. I am not sure how this works but this is the exact same spice grinder as the one on the Breville site in Australia. Check out the link (http://www.breville.com.au/barvista-coffee-and-spice-grinder.html) . I have over 12 Breville products and wanted to a stick with Breville. Since this is exactly the same product as the Breville, which may be under another name but still a Breville product, I decided to take the chance with this spice grinder since all the other Breville products were successful. This one has been working great so far with no prolems and does a great and fast grind on spices. The lever on the front for adjusting the amount by cups comes in handy. The knob adjust the coarse setting and has a built it timer. Hit the start the button and it runs and shuts off on its own depending on the amount and course setting. The item is solidly built with a little weight to it Easy to take apart and clean. Safety: Will not work unless the lid in locked into place Power cord is retractable. There is sort of a knob on the bottom that winds the power cord back into the housing. I like that feature Yes it is a nice product that is sold by Breville and Tostess (Delfino) I would recommend. UPdate 12/10/15 The grinder is still doing a great job with spices. We made an excellent rub for thanksgiving.

I have used an inexpensive ($20) Mr. Coffee grinder for a number of years. It has minor annoyances as others have noticed such as, the difficult cleaning, having to hold down the lid for grinding, the cord storage, etc. So, when I saw this, I thought it would make my life a little easier (I am a retired male, who wants to make my life as comfortable as possible). Now that you have the background, here is what I have found. First the mechanism that you wind the cord back into the unit is stuck and won't unwind or rewind. I am fearful of forcing it, as I am I may break it. This means the cord length isn't adjustable. Luckily, it is stuck at just the right length for my use. My next issue is that it has grinding settings for 2,4, 8 or 12 cups. Yep, you got it; I brew 6 cups for my self every morning. That simply means I will have to play with the grinding settings for me to get the correct grind fineness. On the plus side, it cleans easily and I like that once you push the button it grinds and stops automatically. In addressing other reviewers comments regarding the use of the unit, it states in the directions do not use for more than a minute at a time and let it cool down for 4-5 minutes after each use. This would mean that if you were grinding a fair amount of coffee,let's say for a week or so, (I grind only one pot at a time) you would have to stop and wait for the motor to cool or risk burning out the motor. The directions also state not to grind any spices that have moisture as the machine is not designed for this use (including things like cinnamon sticks). Finally, the directions state that you can freeze coffee beans for up to two months and the unit will grind frozen beans. I have a distrust of any coffee grinder manufacturer that states you can or should freeze coffee beans. There are plenty of websites that will tell you why this is not a good idea. Overall, I will keep the unit and play around with the settings. However, my trusty, old, cheap Mr. Coffee will be kept in reserve.

This is a rewrite; I first wrote about the power cord being to short. I have just discovered it extends much further but I was hesitant about pulling any further for fear of damaging the appliance. Yes it does extend much further to a full 26" Cons: The markings on the inside fill lines for the amount of beans is really small and faint. Had to look it over twice to find it. Second it is really noisy and emits a smell while grinding and forth, the shape, to large to pick up with one hand; and the sides are to slick that you cant get a grip on it. But the removable SS hopper compensates for that. BTW the unit itself is not stainless steel On the positive side. The vertical slide for the cup amounts "clicks" in the 4 and 8 cup setting; but my coffee mug is equal to 3 cups or 6 cups if I want to drink 2 mugs; so I just slide the lever between 2 and 4 or 4 and 8. The stainless steel hopper is removable which makes the filling of the whole beans much easier; especially on those hard to see fill lines. But this machine is much better than the old blade guess the amount and guess how long to run the grinder than the other manual models; which, when have a uniform grind, it was to fine. Grinding is fairly uniform but there have been times when a bean or two were almost left in tact . If you can look past the short cord and small fill markings and the difficulty in getting a grip on the thing than this would get a 5 star rating Update: I tried my Eight O'Clock coffee on the 3 level and found it to strong so will try at the 2 level. I prefer the lighter roast Another update: I have ground (Do a very short grind and AVOID breathing the dust) charcoal granules in my grinder; then empty out the coffee which holds a filter or and a gold tone filter remover the coffee carafe below and dump the ground charcoal into the empty grinds of the coffee maker. fill with water to the fullest extent and stir slowly to circulate. Let soak for a few minutes and then empty and rinse thoroughly of bits of charcoal. NO MORE SMELL OF STALE COFFEE BASKET

Update 3/3/16. Like the first one so much we bought another Delfino. This one sounds loud and rough like the motor is working hard. The old one is smooth and quieter (it still works). I don't have a good feeling about this new one, maybe the manufacturer changed or changed something about it, or its a lemon. I changed it to 2 stars (4 stars prior) We have owned this Delfino coffee grinder for over 4 years now. Used every day at least once. It has held up well and we are all happy with the grind and though it's very slightly messy, we don't mind it a few little grounds. I am having to replace it soon, not because it died, but because it doesn't work properly now, it doesn't start right away sometimes when the button is pressed. I have to take off the outer lid and twist the inner container. Then it works. I may have to do this 2 or 3 times because it will not stay put as grinder vibrates so it stops grinding. I had 2 small Hamilton Beach grinders similar to this in the past and they only lasted about a year each.

This grinder worked for a short while. It unfortunately overheated or something and seems to have no reset button. I usually love products I order through Amazon. This is not one of them-- Don't buy unless you need a very lightweight product.

Upon opening the box I'm surprised by how big the unit is. Overall it's about twice as big as your average coffee grinder. I really like that the grinding bowl is removable and it's necessary with it's size. Big problem, it's very loud! I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the one I received. When it's running empty it has a loud metallic rattle, which does not happen when the metal grinding bowl is removed so it's not the motor. I'll update later. Update: We've been using this grinder for spices, flax seeds, and coffee for a while now. I also wrote to the company, Toastess, regarding the noise it was making. To start, here is the reply I received: "I have tested a few units from stock and this metallic grinding noise seems to be normal. You shouldn't hear the metallic rattling when grinding coffee or spices. Regards, (R)" I was impressed that the response was prompt and personal. I wrote back saying that when grinding something I don't think the noise is gone, just muffled/hidden by grinding and that it's a loud grinder. I didn't receive another reply, but then again I didn't really ask a question in my second email. Strangely, I tested it empty recently and it seems the sound is not as bad... Pros: -Solid feel -Removable grinding bowl (this was a big one for me, it means easy cleaning and taking the contents to other places in the kitchen) -Timed grinds: this makes it easy to get exactly the grind you want every time and allows you to walk away while it's grinding and do something else -Good price for the features -Fast: 5-10 seconds for most anything -Powerful: I turned peppercorns into a pretty fine powder in about 10 seconds (finer than I was able to get with our old grinder even after a very long time) -Cord winder: tidier counters Cons: -Loud! Way louder than our old grinder, but maybe that's the price you pay for fast and powerful -Big: You can't tell from the pictures because it's significantly longer than it is wide, it's taller than a lot of simple grinder too -The two setting for coarseness and quantity feel gimmicky,especially the slider, a simple knob with 'time' on it would be smoother and more simple -Missed beans: a few times when grinding a larger amount (not totally full) of coffee it strangely made most of the coffee pretty evenly ground while leaving a few beans untouched Overall I'm totally happy with this grinder and would pick it again. I wish I had known it would be so loud, but it's speed balances this out.

** UPDATE: 3/11/2013 -- still holding up strong; still easy to clean and I grind EVERYTHING with it. ** I've been looking for a good coffee/spice grinder for a while now and I've finally found it! (I had almost given up!) First off, one of the major requirements I have is that it be easily washable removing all traces of whatever I just ground in it. The Mr. Coffee grinder I had--my first coffee/spice grinder--had a removable bowl and cover and allowed you to wash it by hand or in the dishwasher, although it wasn't very easy to clean and the way it was designed it could trap bacteria in certain places. The Krups grinder I had last month--which I returned out of dissatisfaction--did not even have a removable bowl, making it really impossible to clean properly without wasting towels. I am pleased to say that this grinder has a wonderful removable stainless steel bowl and a removable thick plastic lid/cover. They are so very easy to clean and are designed to not trap bacteria unlike the Mr. Coffee grinder. I clean them both in under 20 seconds with soap and a sponge, rinse and air dry. Also I needed a grinder that ground things with ease. I am pleased to say that this grinder chops up even the largest of items like it was nothing. I put large dried out new mexico peppers in the grinder, just broken into 4 pieces, and it ground them up into a fine powder like nothing. I've had two Mr. Coffee grinders break on me chopping up dehydrated chiles, mainly due to that black scraper thing they have on them breaking. The Mr. Coffee also struggled to grind up the chiles compared to this grinder. The Krups I briefly had last month did better than the mr. coffee grinding, but not nearly as easily as this grinder. Another nice thing about this grinder is it has a retractable cord. So when I am done with it I just wind up the cord and throw it in the cupboard. I highly recommend this grinder. We'll see how long it lasts. I have it for a week now. I have a feeling it will last me a long time.

3 years of use and I am still happier then ever with this Delfino Intelligent Coffee & Spice grinder, (after using the KRUPS F203 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder for some years and the Cuisinart DCG-12BC Grind Central Coffee Grinder for some other ones). Stainless steel cup is easy to put into the dishwasher. The motor is very powerful and grinding thickness easy adjustable. Cleaner handling then any other grinder I ever used. I would buy it again - don't have too: it works just perfect.