The KitchenAid A - 9 Coffee Mill
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In the late 1930s KitchenAid brought out the A - 9 coffee mill. About 15 years ago a friend found one at a flea market and sent it to me. What a stylish dsign the A - 9 has! KitchenAid made it until the fifties when it was redesigned using plastics. Eventually KitchenAid discontinued making coffee mills altogether. Recently they reintroduced the A - 9 -- same shape, size, and made of painted cast aluminum (in many colors and chrome), and the hopper is glass. It grinds the coffee much faster than the original A - 9. The new model comes with a glass measuring container for the ground coffee and a small brush used for cleaning. You will need to use the brush occasionally inside the glass hopper where the beans meet the burr grinders. This grinder does not work well on flavored coffee beans. It is not quiet; in fact, two of my sons, to whom I have given refurbished A - 9 grinders, always grind the coffee the night before for morning coffee. Personally, I find the hum of that coffee grinder comforting to me while I am still in bed. It means someone is making me coffee!
Before KitchenAid reintroduced the A - 9, the original model became quite popular on eBay.com -- sometimes commanding more than a hundred dollars. Refurbishers emerged who completely redid the older models -- new cord, feet, gaskets, switch, motor brushes, and the body was powder coated in any color you wanted (I had one done in jadeite for my daughter-in-law by www.decodan.com). KitchenAid must have noticed that this was happening. Now, you can get a brand new KitchenAid A - 9 for about $100.00.
I find the design particularly pleasing, but then design appreciation is a personal thing. KitchenAid also offers now a Proline Coffee mill that cost more than $200.00. Its selling point is that it grinds the coffee at a low rpm, thus not heating the ground beans. This large, heavy unit also takes up a lot of counter space. All in all, I think the A 9 is a great choice, and one that will last you for years.
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KITCHENAID COFFEE GRINDER MILL GLASS HOPPER A-9 & NEW
Current Bid: $26.95
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Kitchenaid Model A-9 Coffee Mill
Current Bid: $70.00
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KITCHENAID A-9 COFFEE GRINDER MILL JAR LID NIB
Current Bid: $9.99
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Hobart Kitchen Aid A-9 Coffee Mill
Current Bid: $30.00
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I Love To Read Your Comments!
I knew you would like it. Yours I bought at a junque store in Eureka and then had Decodan redo it.
I went through a batch (4) of the new ones. They have a no hastle return policy, and they were great sports about it, but the thing is not built strong enough for grinding at espresso fineness. Seemed to me that it was shearing the pin that goes through the shaft and drives the burrs. I'm sure that happened to #3 of the 4 and the others had identical symptoms. Design flaw.
Can I purchase a glass measuring container for the A-9 model coffee mill?
I did. In fact, I wanted six of them, but if I had wanted just one, Kitchenaid said that they would send it to me for free! By the way, other sources charged much more than Kitchenaid did!
I'm thinking of purchasing the new or vintage (on eBay) version of the A-9 and am wondering
what kind of job either of them does on espresso bean. This is important to me.
Thanks for your comments.
Joyce
Although I haven't ground expresso beans in the A-9, I think it should do a fine job at this.
I bought this A 9 model at an antiques store because I loved the vintage style of it. I cost me 60 bucks and i get it home and it does not work. It grinds but does not shoot the coffee thru at all. I had a very irate hubby and i was disappointed because i wanted fresh ground coffee. The antique store says i am out of luck, wondering if Kitchen Aid would be able to help me in trouble-shooting the problem. Has anyone had this problem before?
Marita, you may just need to clean it. Unscrew the jar and remove it from the base. I use tooth picks to clean out the spout. Make sure that place where the beans travel to get to the grinding is clean. While it is upside down, turn it on (hold your hand over the spout to keep ground coffee from shooting everywhere). Some types of flavored coffee beans will gum up these machines. If you use regular coffee beans and clean it out occasionally, I think iit will work for you. By the way, I have both the old version and the new version (which has been discontinued), and the old version, like yours, is better, although slower. The new version requires much more cleaning, at least in my experience. Let me know if this works for you!
I have 3 of these. One older one that was my mother's and 2 newer ones. True the older one works slower but does the job. The newer one seems to have a more powerful motor and works faster. One problem, one of mine works fine and the other one shoots coffee all over the place. I clean them out and make sure the shoot is free from built up coffe but it still shoots coffee all over the place. Does anyone have a solution for this?
My new one also did that after a few months, but I did find a thorough cleaning cured the problem.
anywhere that sells the new parts for the OLD machine?
I picked one up in excellent cosmetic condition at a yard sale ($5!!) but it does not spin. The motor is trying to turn but seems to be jammed. I'm thinking since it is otherwise in such great condition that it may need a thorough cleaning. However, I would like to refurbish it as much as possible (especially as my total investment will not be very much).
Can you turn the burr grinder by hand? Try this when it is unplugged.
a bit, but it is hard.
I'm no expert, but I'd keep trying to turn it to loosen it.
gred, I just found your page again.
I managed to get the whole unit apart and now I am looking for parts to refurbish this unit. any ideas?
thanks.
Go to decodan.com, and there may some details on how he refurbishes the old A-9 mills. he used to sell them, but I did not see any for sale on his site.
Robin says:
3 years ago
This is one of my favorite appliances. We use it every day of the week! Thanks George!