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4.5
Kitchenaid French Press ReviewFor those to whom this matters, I bought this from Amazon, no free test article.I have been using French Press coffee makers almost exclusively for the last 10 years. I have been using the Bodum unit. I love those things, but I’ve lost count of the number of glass carafes I’ve cracked or broken. Recently, however, my wife and I were on a tour of the Kitchenaid factory in Greenville, Ohio. They make the mixers and now mini mixers there. However, at the showroom, they had some new products, including their new French Press. I held it and was impressed with build quality and some interesting features (like built in scale and timer). I thought the next time I broke a glass carafe, I would buy the new Kitchenaid.A few months later, I cracked a carafe, and then bought the Kitchenaid through Amazon. It was essentially the full list price, probably because it was a new product. Rather than write a review after the first use, I decided to use it daily for two months. I think enough time for the honeymoon to pass and give a more objective review.Pros:The quality is absolutely great. It is stainless steel, so no carafe to crack or break. Further, the vessel itself is double wall stainless (like some thermal traveling coffee mugs). This offered two advantages. First, the outer shell would only get slightly warm, but never hot to the touch. At the same time, that level of effective insulation assured the contents stayed warm longer.Inside the vessel, there was one raised market showing the “Max Level” line for water. That was useful, I suppose, but I never had a need to fill any French press that high. What would have been more useful would be a set of lines at perhaps one once intervals. I wouldn’t use them for accurate weight, but as I used a Bodum for years, I liked using visual ques from the carafe and chrome plated frame to measure my coffee and water to a taste I liked. With the new and different maker (especially one I couldn’t see through), I had to learn the right weight measurements for the new unit. But worth the time to learn the ratios that gave me the coffee I like.The vessel itself is slightly larger in diameter than the Bodum. No big deal, except in my case where I have l moderately large hands. On the Bodum, I could not get my hand into the carafe to wash or dry it. Close, but too tight. On the kitchenaid, the inside diameter was a bit larger and my hand fit comfortably to wash and dry it. For most people, this won’t be a big deal.The built in scale is really a great feature. I had to learn my coffee/water ratios all over in terms of weight, and that took me about ten days to nail it. But the result is I weigh my dry coffee, zero the scale, and add the right weight of hot water. The result is absolutely consistent coffee every pot. I noted the measurements and my wife, who did not know my visual ques from the Bodum, could brew exactly the same coffee every time. It has taken me a little while at recognize and value that level of consistency. High marks for that.The press mechanism itself: Also stainless, but like the Bodum, it readily disassembles for quick cleaning. But one of the best features is how they built the mesh filter assembly. On the Bodem, it is as wire wound outer rim. It functions well, but allows some grounds to sift past the outside. (it doesn’t matter how coarse you grind the coffer – and I use a burr grinder – some smaller particulates will slip by. But the Kitchenaid replaces the wound coil with a silicone seal, much like a piston ring. It is smooth and seals the plunger completely through the press. This is a fine improvement. I am really happy with this design feature. It works great. Some super fine coffee dust still gets through the mesh, but it is noticeably less than the Bodum.Quirks (neither a pro nor a con)The built in scale. You can use grams or ounces, and it resolves ounces to a tenth of an ounce. As noted, this is a great feature. However, the quirk is in the weight change response time. It’s a bit slow. As I add my coffee, I have to slow down and even stop as it gets near my desired weight. I think their sampling time is slow compare to other scales (notably my little kitchen digital scale). It takes a while for the scale to “count up” to the final weight. It can take over 2-3 seconds for it work it’s way up to, and settle on, a final weight. My kitchen scale keeps up with my pouring much quicker, and allows me to stop “on weight”. I have learned to stop pouring and then add a bit more and stop again. I don’t list this as a “con” as the scale does work. It’s just a delay I don’t get with my kitchen scale. No big deal. I simply got used to it, so it’s a “quirk”. I still love the feature.The handle design. It seems odd to be a quirk, but the as I grab most handles, my fingers go through the grip and my thumb rests on top. No problem. But on this press, the on/off switch, the timer, and scale buttons are all on top under my thumb. It starts and stops functions when all I wanted to do was lift the pot. Again, a few days of learning the hard way, and I’ve learned to keep my thumb off the top. No big deal, just a quirk.Cons:OK, I’ve only got one. The timer. When I time my brew, I want a count down timer to call me when the time is up. The timer here is simply a count-up timer. It only tells me elapsed time. I want a time that I can set, and then it calls me when the time is up. My work around here goes like this: “(Siri, Google, Alexa), set timer for four minutes”. For me, this timer feature is useless. I don’t sit around and watch the pot. I’m busy with other things. Tempted to knock off half a star for this, but this is minor enough to forgive the half star.Jury Still Out:Durability of the electronics. This has the digital scale and timer. I’m carefull not to get water on the display area on the handle, but I don’t have enough time on the unit to pass judgement on the long term reliability. Further, when it does fail, I don’t know about getting a repair or replacement electronic module. We will see. If it does fail, I can put the whole pot on my kitchen scale and continue to weigh my coffee and water. But for now, I like the simple integration of features this unit offers.OverallI’m really happy with this pot. It is very well designed and built, assures highly consistent coffee every time, no glass to break (repeatedly), easier to clean, etc. Not that I would need to, but if I manage to destroy it somehow, I would buy it again.
