Product Review: Black and Decker SmartGrind Coffee Grinder

As I have become a coffee hobbyist, I have learned that there are essential products a coffee drinker must have. Coffee drinkers must have a good coffee maker with lots of options for brewing. They must also have a stainless steel travel cup that is spill-proof and doesn't affect the taste of their coffee.
But most importantly, a coffee hobbyist must have a good coffee grinder. And unfortunately I don't have a good one.
My Black And Decker SmartGrind Coffee Grinder purchase seemed like the right idea at the time. It was a gift given to me by someone who knew I wanted to get a grinder and would probably by one from a trusted brand. She bought me the Black And Decker SmartGrind Coffee Grinder because Black And Decker is exactly that: a trusted brand who is known for making innovative household tools and appliances. However, this is one where they failed.

First of all, the SmartGrind Coffee Grinder does what it essentially is supposed to do: it chops up coffee beans into grinds so that you can brew the freshest coffee you could possibly have without picking the beans yourself. However, the SmartGrind is also poorly manufactured with all the little bits and pieces that go on to keep the integrity of the appliance. On the first day, a small piece of plastic that was supposed to lock the lid in place while it was grinding coffee snapped off. I didn't mishandle it or throw it because I am very careful with presents people buy me and I am too cheap to want to buy something else over simply because I didn't take care of it. It wasn't a very big piece, but the lid could no longer be counted as fully attached. This meant that extra work would have to be done to make sure it didn't come off while the grinder chopped up my beans. I grind them at least three times a week, so it was a fair amount of use but not excessive.

A few weeks later I started to use the SmartGrind and saw that the trigger mechanism was no longer locking in place, either. By the end of the week, that piece had come off of the SmartGrind. So now not only could I not lock the lid in place, I had to hold the trigger AND the lid down while I ground up coffee beans.

The Black And Decker SmartGrind Coffee Grinder is a disappointment to say the least. Although it still grinds beans and is not too hard to keep clean, the manufacturing of the product was very shoddy. I have appliances ten years older that my kids have dropped, tossed, and manhandled I have never had an issue with. Yet this one had a broken piece on the first day.