Sheryl - Sounds like I have something to look forward to with the smoke… I haven’t had any yet with the beans I’ve tried, although the aroma has gotten pretty heavy at times. Thanks for the comments!

You don’t mention exhaust in your piece, but depending on the bean, we’ve gone to great lengths to deal with smoke. No fire yet - but the smoke can get pretty thick at times, especially with African and Asian beans.

Also, the roasting chamber does eventually need to be cleaned (although not every time), as the oils build up and can get pretty crusty and gunky. It usually requires lots of elbow grease and steel wool. Our roasting chamber actually cracked from the heat and needed to be replaced - this was a concern with a lot of the Fresh Roast machines, and supposedly has been rectified.