Cuisinart (DBM-8) Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill Reviews

This is an awesome grinder. I will tell you a story to illustrate how good this thing is. Back in 2010 I drove down to Mexico, to Nayarit, close to to the ocean. There I opened a small coffee shop to supplement my savings while I lived there, and for the adventure of doing so. Now I had an older, single group, commercial espresso machine that I bought (very) used, and a (very) small budget. As such I did not want to buy a commercial grinder. I bought this very same model from a brick and mortar store for $50 and took it, fingers crossed. It worked flawlessly, making beautiful ground espresso, and in much greater volume than you will at home. I had seating for 20, and didn't close until after midnight on weekends (packed until closing with young people drinking coffee and having a good time). I did this for 5 months. I did well enough to have money to buy tacos after expenses. When I left to return to the U.S. I sold off my equipment. I have a smaller, non commercial, espresso machine these days, and I make a lot less coffee at home. When I seen this on Amazon, I did not hesitate to buy it.

This is an excellent burr grinder. I tried it on a few grind-size settings and it produced a mostly uniform grind in all cases. Yes, there were a few bigger pieces that got through somehow (see the picture) on the finest setting and some small stuff that got out (probably just got jammed between the wheels and another coffee bean) for the larger, french-press setting, but all-in-all, 95% or better of what came out was exactly the size set on the wheel. You're not going to get that from a bladed chopper...and if you're grinding beans for anything other than a drip coffee maker, having that consistency really matters in the cup.

Yes...it's loud...but it's not that much louder than a bladed chopper, and to get a good, uniform grind, it's well worth it.

I like that there are so many grind-size settings. Some machines can be very finicky about the grind size...just a bit too small or a bit too large and you get something less than it could be giving you. With this burr grinder, you can literally dial in the exact grind size that makes the perfect cup of coffee...the one that tastes best to you.

Sure, you can spend $15 less and get a bladed chopper, and I used one for years...until I got a burr grinder for a Christmas present one year. That one finally wore out (I work from home, so I use the grinder A LOT!) and there was no way I was going to get anything but a burr grinder again.

Go ahead and spend the money...get this grinder. You'll thank yourself within days once you have that perfect setting dialed in and are getting the best-tasting coffee you've ever made.

I have turned into a coffee snob over the past decade or so, and had NO IDEA that a burr grinder would make such a humungo diff in the flavor of my Morning Addiction. OMG. How did I ever live without this??! Also recommend the "Coffee Grinder Cleaning Brush, Heavy Wood Handle & Natural Bristles Wood Dusting Espresso brush Accessories for Bean Grain Coffee Tool Barista Home Kitchen" to help get every bit of the grounds out of the plastic chamber. Cross-reference the brush review, it's awesome too and it helps with the static tendencies of the coffee. You can only do so much by tapping the chamber and it WILL piss you off to have so much coffee stuck in there, so go ahead and order the brush now.......you'll understand when you grind the coffee. You're welcome.

They say if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Well, in this case, it was broke, but it lasted eight years! So, we had to replace it and why not go with the same unit when we had such great success using it to grind our daily coffee?! This is a very nice burr mill that we have gained much use from over the years and now we replace it with a brand new unit that is exactly like the other one and hoping we get another 8-10 years out of it.

Why do we like it?

* It has a nice look with the majority being shiny stainless steel housing.

* The hopper on the top holds a half pound of beans.

* You have a choice of 6 settings for every type of grind you choose.

* It does great on coarse grind for our French Press coffee, very uniform.

* You hit the button and it stops when it is done grinding.

* Once you figure out what grind you like, how much you want and what setting you prefer it is a simple process and then you just have to decide what kind of bean you want in there. It does the rest.

* It is fairly easy to clean up, doesn't take up too much space and best of all it works great and does it all quite fast.

If either of us had anything negative to say about it, we'd have to say it is loud, but then if you aren't hand grinding, what isn't loud when it comes to grinding coffee via electricity?

We're happy with the product or we wouldn't have purchased a second one of the same exact type eight years after the first one. Plus, it must be others feel the same because eight years later the company is still making the same model! Hope if you get one you like it!

Well this is a treat! I got this and a cheap blade grinder to compare both them and how they stack up against my burr hand grinder for espresso grind. I don't care of the other grinds, so this comparison is only on how it works for them. In a nut shell, the grounds for this were EXACTLY the same as the hard earned grounds from the hand crank burr grinder. Perfect for an espresso. In case you were wondering, the cheap blade grinder, no espresso setting came out exactly as course as the brew pre-ground grounds you buy from the store.

I included some pictures with measurements of this machine, and a comparison of the results. On the upper left are the cheap blade grinder grounds, lower left pre-ground bag grounds, and on the upper right this machine and lower right the hand crank burr.

Also, I only did two scoops (scoop included) which is enough for one shot of espresso. I just put it on the espresso setting at the lowest 4 cups. No problems with the very small amount. The catch cup has a lid, so be careful when you take it off to pour the grounds out (use a corner, not a flat side) straight into the deal to pack for espresso. There is static, so some grounds do stick in the bucket, but actually less than in the cheap blade grinder. This is easy to rinse out.

I don't know of course how long this will last, like any modern appliance it is mostly plastic. But it looks like it's fairly well made and treated well shouldn't have a problem. Until this breaks (and I'll update if it does soon) I would HIGHLY recommend this as a great grinder for the price point. If this review helped you, please click below and let others know!

Products like this are tough to review because it's all about getting what you pay for. You can't give a Ford Escort one star because it doesn't ride like a Cadillac. :)

In this case, we have one of the lowest price mill grinders you can get. My prior coffee grinding has been with blade grinders. I had been shaking them gently while grinding just to get better uniformity. I've been through 3 blade grinders in 3 years due to broken blades, or warn out lid switches, etc.

This time I decided to try a mill grinder and found this one. I wasn't ready to spend $150+ to grind my coffee (as much as I love my coffee a certain way). After using this product a few times, here are my observations:

NEATNESS. It is true that it is messier than using the blade grinders I used before. It is a bit dusty. However, I have been able to minimize this issue after grinding using the following steps: (a) leaning the grinder forward and tapping the back, (b) gently pulling out the filled grind bin, (c) covering the opening with my hand (leaving the lid on), tilting the bin at an angle, and tapping again on the counter to make a nice pile for pouring, then (d) removing the lid and pouring directly into the coffee grind basket of the coffee pot, lightly tapping the bin. Even doing this, it's a little dusty, but not horrible.

GRIND UNIFORMITY. Grind uniformity isn't amazing, but it's way better than a blade grinder.

CONTROLS. The number-of-cups switch, which is really just a way of setting the automatic grinding time, is way off. At least the way I like my coffee (which is about a tablespoon of whole beans per 6oz coffee pot cup). For me, I have to take the number of tablespoons of beans I'm using, multiply by 3, and that's the approximate timer setting. So for 6 "cups" that's max setting on the timer of 18. For more cups, I have to run it twice. I think there's much room for inexpensive improvement for the product in this area. The timer should be much more generous. Also, to turn it off manually, you have to slide the switch to the off position. It would be more convenient if pressing the START button was really a START/STOP, but not a huge deal...

MAINTENANCE. I could imagine that if I ground a variety of flavored coffees in this machine, it would be a bit of a hassle to clean it between each change-over. It does leave some grind and chunks behind. But for me, I'm pretty much consistent in the type of coffee I use, so no biggy for me. I do clean it out anyone once in awhile. The nice thing about the unit is that the removable pieces are dishwasher safe.

MORE MAINTENANCE: There are several negative reviews that have said that their Cuisinart DBM-8 just stopped working after some time. Mine did exactly that after approximately 2-1/2 years of use. I decided to take the unit apart and found that, over the course of 2-1/2 years of grinding coffee a couple of times per day, there were a lot grounds into the cavity of the grinder workings compartment (see[...]). This comes from "blow back" of grounds when grinding beans back through the exit shute of the grinder. A little bit blows back on each grind, and how much probably depends upon how finely you grind your coffee. (We grind ours at about 30% of way around the indicator, from the finest position). In the 2-1/2 years, the unit accumulated at least 8-12 dry ounces of coffee grounds. It resulted in the slider switch being insulated and never allowing the unit to turn on. After cleaning out all the grounds and using a Q-tip to gently wipe the slider switch with 91% isopropyl, the unit works fine again.

My recommendation is, if you are mechanically inclined, take the unit apart every 6 months or so and clean out all the coffee grounds. That would include both the bottom cavity and the top cavity (they are accessed separately). The bottom cavity is accessible by pulling off the replaceable rubber feet and removing 4 screws. To get to the top cavity, you need to remove 4 screws that you can see recessed deep in the bottom cavity (you'll need a long stem, small or medium Phillips head screwdriver). There's another screw near the top where the grounds container goes. So that's 5 screws to get to the top cavity. You'll need to take out 4 more screws to remove the slider and push-button circuit card so you can clean it up before re-attaching it.

A possible design improvement for the unit would be a better seal or some kind of gasket around the small, square connection between the grinder and the grounds bin.