Posted Mon Oct 30, 2006, 1:20pm Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
Scott, if you think the Proline is bad, have a boo inside a Cunill El Cafe Tranquilo! I've posted about how lousy this grinder is for grinds retention under the lower burr in the housing chamber, pathetic!! {:-(
I have to go out, but maybe I'll repost that here..
Posted Mon Oct 30, 2006, 6:08pm Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
rasqual Said:
Speculation: I have a rebuilt machine, and it might be one of the old school ones.
What's frustrating is that no one -- NO ONE -- has yet posted any evidence that the burr chamber components are different in the redesign, than in the old. Mark mentions the drop chute and bin cover for that, etc.
Someone care to tell me if the interior of the chamber is finished, or merely left with its casting surface? One of the mods I'm going to be doing is to polish the heck out of the interior.
The physics of why this happens at all is darned transparent to me; when you look at the tab design, the clearances -- it all makes sense. The explanation for why this is happening is easy -- any explanation for why it might not be for others is impossible to understand, and therefore I suspect that the redesign definitely must have changed something in the burr chamber.
Posted Sun Nov 12, 2006, 8:48am Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
I purchased from Williams & Sonoma the KitchenAid Proline Grinder for my well loved espresso addiction. I used it for 30 days and returned it. (BTW, W&S did the exchange without batting and eye, great customer service.) In summary while the machince is "built like a tank" and makes you look like an espresso scientist, it was too cumbersome and messy for me plus lacked range of grind.
PRO's
- Ascetically it's an awesome ornament to crown your personal coffee shrine because it looks sooo big and commercial and of course coffee-geekish! It's the highlight of my kitchen tours, people bow and I have to smack them - it's just a grinder - bow when I serve you crema as this a marshmallow with not black liquid below (and bow to me too when I do that too, this is my goal in life between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM).
- Very powerful grinder, you could grind beans for your entire neighborhood without a waiting line building up at your front door. This machine is really industrial.
- The rotary settings are easy to adjust. Plus when you turn them, you feel totally empowered as if to grind the world if not like a fighter pilot in a F-22 Raptor cockpit ready to deploy your M61 gun. The old-style flip-switch just adds to the feel but don't forget your just a puny espresso factory somewhere in coffee geekland getting ready for your mundane job.
- For the power you get it's really not too loud either, it has a nice competent sound. Some grinders sound like they are going to die at any moment, rice-burners of old. It's very responsive and quick to grind what you need.
CON's
- The seemingly well designed mechanics that suspend ground coffee from falling once you pull away the grounds in the bottom-glass bowl works to a degree. But regardless, grounds fall down every time you pull back the bowl to retrieve the grounds. This is like a leaky faucet to me, always having to summon your barista towel laying on your shoulder to wipe it down.
- The bottom glass bowl for collecting the grounds is huge, it could hold enough coffee for one of those cafeteria drip dinasours. It's lacks any feature, clever or practical, for finesse pouring of the grounds into an espresso basket. But for espresso aficienados, you will have to complicate the transfer of the ground espresso beans by using a spoon of some sort. This will further make a mess as you are shaking for your first "espresso hit" of the morning.
- Also, to arrive at the right espresso grind thru testing several textures, I found that I had it on the max setting for the finest grind to acheive what I wanted. This is a severe limitation as you may need to go deeper if you change your machine or just want to grind some Turkish coffee for that day when you're going totally hardcore.
So.....
If you are an espresso dude, I wouldn't buy one. A brewed coffee whimp, it would do good, a cafeteria you would love it, but you still have to clean-up a small mess every morning when you pull the bowl. And if you have some much disposable income and your kitchen is a museum; buy it just for it's looks - people will be impressed.
Regards.... Angelo
P.S. I exchange the KitchenAid for the new Capresso grinder, stay tuned!
Susanna Senior Member Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 70 Location: california Expertise: Just starting
Grinder: KitchenAid pro line Drip: Technivorm Roaster: Gene Cafe
Posted Sun Nov 12, 2006, 9:41am Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
I have the ProLine also. I agree with the grounds falling when you remove the bowl. I just give the bowl a little shake back and forth before picking it up and that seems to help. Sometimes I even jiggle the whole maching to make sure they fall. Kind of an aggevation to have to do that. Like you said it is very impressive and I love using it. Seems to be built really solid and since I only drink drip or french press I think it will be fine for my purposes.
Posted Sun Nov 12, 2006, 10:51am Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
I wanted a new set of burrs for my grinder, and KitchenAid sent me a new grinder. I wish they had sent me the new burrs. This grinder is not as good as my original. The burrs are better, but it retains more coffee than the previous and I am now racking my brain like Rasqual. I can see NO DIFFERENCE between the original and this one. I may be getting them to send me another.
Posted Tue Nov 14, 2006, 7:08am Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
EddieDove Said:
I wanted a new set of burrs for my grinder, and KitchenAid sent me a new grinder. I wish they had sent me the new burrs. This grinder is not as good as my original. The burrs are better, but it retains more coffee than the previous and I am now racking my brain like Rasqual. I can see NO DIFFERENCE between the original and this one. I may be getting them to send me another.
i called KA and asked to buy some burrs and they sent me new ones for free. yay!
this isnt the BEST grinder and these arent the BEST LOOKING shots. but it is possible to get this grinder to make espresso. i have gotten much better at my technique since these. it is great to learn more by watching your self or someone. anyway here they are.
a bit slow and a bit donut style. but i have since learned to pull a better shot. mainly i use a bit less coffee a bit finer grind. and i got a new basket (the 18g jonr10 group buy ridgeless basket) and tamper (coffee lab convex).
sriccio Senior Member Joined: 5 Dec 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Chicago Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: La Spaz S1 Rossini Grinder: KA Proline Drip: Bodum FP, Cuisinart G&B
Posted Thu Dec 28, 2006, 9:13pm Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
Mark,
I gather you were never able to do the "Full Review" on this, but did you get any more testing in or find any explanations for the apparenty 50/50 dichotomy this grinder creates in the CG community? Your First Look and several other folks' input makes it sounds pretty compelling, particularly given the design, straight vertical path, low heat, and large burrs (and KA's typical 'hearty' build style and warranty coverage) for a great price, but I wonder if it's better suited as a FP grinder or have the solidified the QC enough that most of them will do great espresso grinds too? Thanks.
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