Apparently a screw came loose in our 1930’s retro-style  burr coffee grinder recently, and has been helping out the process of turning beans into dusty espresso. Yesterday it decided to jam itself in a place it wasn’t supposed to be and, in turn, was chewed up like gum.

Since then, the grinder has been making these, well, grinding noises instead of the regular industrious hum. I dismantled it and actually found a replacement screw in my box of machine screws (various), carefully salvaged over the last 20 years.

However, I think the mechanism is irrepairably damaged, because I really don’t like the noises it makes and it does not produce a consistent grind any more.

It’s been very reliable up until now, and I would just buy another without question, except that it seems that Kitchenaid don’t make it any more. Drat!

So we have a few days before we run out of ground coffee to make a decision and find a replacement.