
The workshop
Quiet enough for early mornings
How kiln. makes the Burr Grinder 64, one piece at a time, and why it takes longer than it has to.
Words by Lena Kraus · Photos by Jon Ash
The Burr Grinder 64, at home.
Burr Grinder 64 grinds with two flat 64 mm burrs, so every bean breaks the same way and every cup tastes the way it should. The stepless setting goes from espresso fine to French-press coarse in one smooth turn.
The workshop sits at the end of a gravel road, in a building that used to be a dairy. There is no sign on the door. Inside, it smells of wood oil and coffee, and the radio plays quietly while six people do one thing at a time, carefully.
Slow by design
Every piece is made in small batches. Materials are chosen by hand and left to rest before they are worked; parts are fitted, checked and fitted again. It is not the fastest way to make anything, and that is exactly the point.
We could make it faster. We just don’t want to.
kiln., founder
Look closely and you see the decisions: an edge rounded just enough to feel soft in the hand, a joint you can only find with your fingertips, a finish that will look better in ten years than it does today.

Built to stay
It is quiet enough to use before the house wakes up and small enough to live on the counter. Fresh coffee, ground for one, in under ten seconds.
When a piece leaves the workshop it carries a small card, signed by the person who finished it. It is a promise, really: that it was made to be used every day, and to be repaired rather than replaced.