There are generally two kinds of grinders. Expensive machines, ceramic cones for hyper demanding amateurs. And the cheap knives mills, which reduce the coffee powder, and only of interest if one only uses machines that employ finely ground coffee. This mill it is one of the few that occupy the middle of the range. It is not expensive, and allows adjusting the grind of coffee (handy when using sometimes a coffee plunger, which means coarsely ground coffee, or sometimes an espresso machine, which does the opposite) the amount of ground coffee. Mine works like new after months. But I do not use it for intensive pace. Cone crushers are metal. The tray that receives the coffee is not completely waterproof (you must tap the sides of the mill before the extract), but at that price, you can not do everything. Reasonable footprint (size halfway between an ordinary grinder and blender).