Wahl James Martin Grind and Chop, Electric Grinders Ideal for Coffee, Nuts and Spices, Safety Lock-In Lid, Brushed Stainless Steel, 200W, Capacity 70g

Cheap enough, so use it like you stole it I say!It is not perfect and it is certainly not a blender so stick to dry ingredients for faultless use I would suggest. It will chop 100g of mixed nuts into dust in 3-4 seconds.Grinding small quantities of herbs and spices? They tend to fly up in the cup and well away from the blades. I tried pumping on and off to allow them to drop back down and repeated, worked but tedious.Tried inserting a plastic pot to fill the space, worked better, but not much.Now I simply hold it like a cocktail shaker and this works a treat as the herbs get forced back into the blades as I shake the device a few times.The cup and blades don't seem to dismantle for cleaning (even after I removed the screws) but a serious dunk and scrub and dry out somewhere warm does the trick - I don't run the dishwasher after I have used it, so not an option for me.

Great product

I have used several times now and it is quite good although doesn't completely grind the nuts particularly Brazils. Not the best for cleaning also, could have done with a suitable brush but all in all I am satisfied.

Life saver

Excellent preformance

Bought this after my previous James Martin/Wahl mini grinder gave up on me after many years of service. Had been very happy with that one, but was intrigued by this one’s chopper and grinder attachments, so was willing to spend a bit more and branch out! It is VERY powerful, you can do dry spices in what feels like a nanosecond (even small quantities) and things like curry pastes barely take a press of the lid.. this is a much better design than my previous one where the button would jam. It’s so powerful that whatever you grind/chop gets propelled up into the lid, so I suggest having a little silicone spatula or something to scrape the contents out so you don’t lose any! It’s much easier to clean due to these separate parts, which is great when you’re working with pungent ingredients and you don’t want smells lingering in the grinder! Having said that, I bought a “Save with used” one as I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with it and thought I’d save money where I could (plus it’s more sustainable, if you’re into that!) It turned up smelling of cinnamon which was a bit off-putting as I believe the description said something like “new - damaged box” when it had obviously been used, but I gave the attachments a good clean and persevered! This did make me wonder if someone tried to grind whole cinnamon sticks and didn’t have any luck so they returned it? I’ve yet to try this, but I imagine breaking these into smaller pieces first would help! My only other gripe is the cord is a bit askew and I struggle to wind this fully into the base of the machine to put away for storage, but this is hardly a deal-breaker! Very happy so far - we’ll see if it lasts as long as my previous one!

My last spice grinder (Krupps) has gone to landfill as the plastic lid started developed large stress fractures making it dangerous to use. This was the replacement unit.Power wise, it makes reasonably short work of grinding cumin and coriander seeds. I wouldn't risk putting really hard spices in it (e.g. nutmeg or cinnamon) as the grind even for these lighter spices is much coarser than the Krupp. It takes a few pulses to get there, but the result is passable.Grinding ginger and garlic into a paste even with oil added and the Wahl struggles to get a smooth blend. Even after a number of pulses, large lumps of ginger and garlic were present. My Kenwood mini chopper makes a much smoother paste, probably due to the sharper blades. Part of the appeal of the Wahl was the dual attachments, I was hoping to save some precious worktop space by having a single unit for blending and grinding, but this disappointing result means I'll probably revert to the Kenwood for garlic ginger paste at least.If you are going to use this device for curries, grind the dry spices first. Even when grinding small amounts of garlic and oil etc. the mixture coats the single use lid. You can the easily clean the lid out with some kitchen roll rather than wash it to prevent any cross contamination between ingredients.The grinding attachments wash up fine under the tap, but drying them is impossible with a tea towel as you can't easily access beneath the blades. Probably best to leave them to air dry.I've been using this for over a month now, and I'm sure the internal gears in the base are getting noisier than when I first used it. I cook maybe two curries a week maximum, but I'm not convinced this product will last very long. If you are a regular curry chef, I'd definitely go for something more robust and powerful, even if you have to pay a bit more. The Wahl may be reasonably low cost, but it is definitely an entry level spice grinder.

I have only used the grinder at the moment, and very happy with that part of it.