Published on Mar. 10, 2025
Meet the coffee grinder that was named our best space-saving option. The OXO coffee grinder is sleek and sturdy, and packs a caffeinated punch without taking up much room on the counter.
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Whether you’ve been a home barista for a while or are looking to transition to the coffee-at-home life to save some money every morning, one of the most essential tools is a coffee grinder. Trust us: The difference between whole beans and pre-ground is the difference between an average cup of coffee and one you’ll be excited to wake up for every day.
Compact, sleek and powerful, the OXO coffee grinder is a slim burr grinder that helps you make the most of your coffee, transforming beans into a flavorful cup. Here’s why the OXO coffee grinder was ranked the best space-saving option among our list of best coffee grinders.
Slim and sleek, this OXO coffee grinder is ideal for those short on space.
As its name suggests, the OXO conical burr coffee grinder grinds whole bean coffee. Compared to the average grinder, the OXO is very slim and compact, perfect for smaller kitchens or those who prefer to keep countertops free of clutter. It’s also lightweight and easy to move around if you want to store it elsewhere.
The OXO coffee grinder has a sleek, stainless steel finish with black accents, resulting in an overall unobtrusive and attractive appearance.
Most importantly, it’s fairly easy to use and does what it sets out to do. It includes a timer dial, a hopper adjustment and one push button, making it pretty user-friendly. However, it’s not possible to set your grinds based on the number of cups you’re making (more on that later), so it requires a bit of practice or previous knowledge. Grinder novices should be fine once they get the hang of it.
The coffee grinder can hold up to 12 ounces of coffee beans in the hopper, which blocks out UV light to keep the beans fresher for longer.
Like we did with the other coffee grinders we tested, we started out by seeing how well the OXO coffee grinder could, well, grind. To grind, you have to set a timer manually or use “manual” mode. The default is 10 seconds, which is how long it took for fine, medium and coarse grinds. It didn’t grind as finely as we would have hoped, but overall, it performed well.
One thing to call out is that unlike some other options—like the Breville or Cuisinart coffee grinders—this one doesn’t have a knob that’s specific to how many cups of coffee you want. It has a grind adjustment setting and a knob for a 30-second timer. If you leave it at zero, it basically works as a manual mode that lets you choose when the machine stops grinding. This makes the OXO coffee grinder a little unintuitive for coffee novices. However, we think that coffee connoisseurs might not mind this feature.
We took those grinds and made a cup of coffee using the Hario pour-over coffee maker. The result? A good, classic cup of coffee. Exactly what you would hope.
While the coffee grinder’s description states that it’s mess-free, we experienced some spillage when removing the grounds container. However, it wasn’t anything that noteworthy.
In general, cleaning up was simple and standard. You can remove the hopper and the grounds container to wash them by hand, although the burrs and interior will require cleaning with a small bristle brush (which comes with the grinder). We also hand-wiped the exterior.
While you’re picking out your next grinder, don’t forget to stock up on the best coffee brands, organic coffee or our favorite flavored coffee.
There’s a lot to love about this mini-yet-mighty machine. While other coffee grinders take up as much space as your actual coffee maker, the OXO conical burr grinder yields a small footprint. We found it ground beans to a suitable size, especially on coarse or medium settings, yielding a tasty cup of coffee.
No counter space? No problem. This OXO grinder packs a lot of power into a compact machine.
The OXO coffee grinder is available for around $100 on OXO, Amazon, Williams Sonoma and Crate & Barrel.
Hand-wash the hopper and grounds container, and then clean the burrs and interior with a small bristle brush. The exterior can be wiped clean.
To use an OXO coffee grinder, you fill the hopper with beans. Then, set the hopper adjustment and timer dial for the type of grind you’re seeking and the amount of time you want it to grind. After that, all it takes is a push of a button to grind, and you empty the ground beans into your coffee maker of choice.
This will depend on the brewing method you want to use. For drip coffee, use a medium grind (setting 5–10). For espresso, choose a fine grind (1–3), and for French press or cold brew, go with a coarse grind (12–15). You can then adjust this based on taste preference.
To help find the best coffee grinders for different needs and budgets, our Product Testing Team put a wide variety to the test. We measured physical details, like the length of their cords and their potential kitchen footprint. Then, we evaluated performance, including how well they ground the beans at different settings, how long grinding took and how loud the machine was.
We made cups of coffee from all of the beans to evaluate the bitterness and strength, and we made espresso shots using beans from the top performers. Craving espresso now? These are some of the best coffee grinders for espresso, as well as our favorite espresso beans.
Our team also evaluated the cleaning process (since the experience of using a coffee grinder doesn’t end when you’re sipping your coffee.)
I’ve been writing product reviews and gift guides, often featuring coffee and coffee equipment, for years, evaluating the wide variety of offerings on the market to find what’s best for different budgets and lifestyles. I also drink a lot of coffee and am a big home-brewer (and, thus, very picky about coffee beans and tools.)
