Please note that burrs will become dull after some hundreds of kg of coffee. But that's okay, they are made to be replaceable and there are companies selling high quality replacement burrs.
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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find a good hand grinder. nothing really to go wrong on them especially if you get a sturdy metal one. ive had plastic ones break when dropped. still works fine tho.
I love my 1zpresso grinder. Great value for the price.
For espresso or drip?
The only (finely adjustable) espresso grinders < $100 are probably going to be used or maybe Baratza brand. Baratza does sell many of the replacement parts online, but occasionally the designs get updated and older models can be hard to repair without having to change lots of internals. The models share a lot of their internal designs however and they are quite durable. Used baratza is around $60-75. Burrs can run $40.
Hario makes some good simple hand grinders that you can get new burrs for. The skerton model can screw onto a mason / ball wide mouth jar if you break the glass canister. They can usually make an okay espresso grind but definitely a tier below an electric machine for quality and speed. Hand grinders take about 3 minutes a shot if you are grinding finely. For drip grind levels these are fast enough.
There are plenty of good higher end grinders. I had a Rancilio Rocky that I got second hand, made in 1985, used multiple times daily for years and only needed a small repair to the Doser lever spring. I changed the burrs a couple of times and gave it to a friend and it's still running perfectly as a 40 year old workhorse. Not fancy but quite solid. The only real weak point is some plastics on the case, but they sell replacements. The designs have been fairly maintained over the years and parts are available. I'm pretty sure that if I bought a new Rocky it would outlive me today. A used rocky is about $125 USD @ eBay, street price for new is about $275. They are not the most finely adjustable if you want to fully nerd out on espresso but you can make a damn good shot.
Baratza's lower models work ok when they are new but I wouldn't call them durable. Hario Skerton is crap. If I can find mine, you can have it for free. I'll give OP first dibs though, and will say I don't recommend it except as a backup. Rancilio Rocky is a reasonable choice I guess.
What would you recommend that not Baratza for a, sub-$100 grinder that's repairable and maintainable?
Baratza grinders are not the nicest grinders known, but they do sell every part and you can replace the burrs.
Like I recently sold a KitchenAid double burr grinder that runs double the price of a Baratza Encore. New burrs are not available and all the parts of the KA are breakable glass and unobtainable for repairs. That to me seems crazy, but the flip side is that a $60 Encore is a screaming deal at that price level, for the features of being 100% repairable.
I've refurbished about a dozen Baratza grinders (many old and heavily used) but I have only ever seen one with a motor issue (worn brushes). The most common issues are damage to the plastic exterior parts from being dropped. The main mechanism is surprisingly durable.
Is there a better $60 grinder you're aware of?
https://www.baratza.com/en-us/landing/product/parts
Part cost is VERY reasonable and they ship cheap and fast
As far as I can tell, the top line Baratza models use the same gearbox and motor as the base models
Baratza will sell you the main circuit board for under $15 and the gear box rebuild for like $10. In my opinion that's admirable. Talking like BIFL ethics, the company obviously wants you to be able to repair any issues, versus being disposable.
( Silly question: why do you own a Skerton, and why isn't it broken?)
If you've had to refurbish a dozen Encores, that doesn't sound very durable. Bunn G1 = buy once, use forever. It's a commercial grinder like you'd see in a grocery store. No home user will ever cause significant wear on one of those things. I've seen them on craigslist in the 300 range fairly often. I don't have one because it's too big for my tiny kitchen.
I don't know where to get a Baratza Encore for $60 even used. They are $150 new. Hmm I do see one on Craigslist for $75 right now, so that's pretty close. It's a good value in a cheap grinder, but it's not BIFL in any meaningful sense of the word that doesn't include "keep fixing it forever".
Re Skerton: I don't remember exactly how I got it, but I didn't understand at the time what crap they were. I used it a few times and got an Encore which I still have, which has broken twice so far (once replaced under warranty, once I bought a repair part from them). The Encore doesn't suck but it's light duty and semi-disposable IMHO.
Skerton is good for a backup and camping / traveling and the like.
You can't get a buy it for life coffee grinder under $100, or even under $200 unless you buy a manual one.
For a manual one: Burr grinder, steel conical burr instead of ceramic (still will likely last longer than a ceramic one) and because grinding by hand absolutely sucks, get one you can attach a drill into instead of using the manual handle.
If you want a quality bifl electric, you're going to have to find used or spend over $200
We have an older version of this (so take this with a grain of salt, maybe the fixed some of the problems):
https://madebyknock.com/products/aergrind
And I can't reccommend it. Grinding fine coffee is very hard and exhausting and the bottom bit is not screwed on but has some kind of mechanism that makes that part always almost fall of when grinding. Thanks to it being round and metal it would also be very hard to hold tight without slipping when the plastic ring around it at some point breaks. Would not but again but we have it and I'll keep using it.
At that price point, you're probably looking at a Chinese hand grinder. The good news is that these are actually really solid products. I have a hand grinder from Timemore that I'm more than happy with, and have been using for 4+ years without issues.
I picked up a handheld burr grinder maybe 20 years ago. Not even sure what I spent but I'm pretty sure it was under $50, no apparent brand.
Um it's difficult at that price level, but monitor craigslist for a used Bunn G series. $100 is unlikely though. If you're caffeinating multiple people with it, you might grind 100lb of coffee a year at $10+/lb, so $300 up front for a grinder spreads out quickly.
I got a cheap Secura burr grinder that has lasted me years without issue