Good pepper grinder ?

[All that jazz]

Yes, yes, I know this probably belongs in the 1st World Problems thread or similar but it's been pissing me off for some time now. I have been through 3 pepper grinder thingies for black peppercorns and they are all pants. They seem to grind OK for a few months making proper manly grinding noises and then just basically give up and don't do grinding duties anymore, to the point where after turning them 100 times you get little more than a light dust coming out and my food has nearly gone cold.

I've had a Schwarz plastic grinder, a supermarket own brand plastic grinder and also bought some wooden grinders with a brass knob off Amazon which received rave reviews and they're all st. Any recommendations please fellas?

edit: of course the term I'm looking for is pepper mill.

[deadslow]

this is not helpful, but the daddy of all pepper grinders was one I got from friends 20 years ago from Turkey. Made of brass. Died of old age recently and cannot find anything to replace.

[motco]

We have one of these and its companion salt grinder Joseph Joseph

Pepper mills and salt grinders are bloody annoying things. The pepper ones wear out quickly and the salt grinders corrode. So far these seem okay. We did have a thing from JJ called a 'Y' grinder but it was rubbish and they replaced it with these.

Y Grinder



Milly

[All that jazz]

@motco, thanks! How long have you had the Milly? I read it has a ceramic grinder - is this the key to long life with them or do they wear down as well?

[Ace-T]

We have an Ikea one with a ceramic grinder but they don't do this style any more. Shame as it has a rubber collar you flip up to stop the pepper/salt going everywhere when you refill. It seems to be holding up pretty well.

I think this one has the same grinder mechanism though.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/2023129...

[NorthDave]

Peugeot - they get better with age as they loosen up. The whole of france can't be wrong!

I've got a couple and they work well as long as the pepper corns are dry.

[All that jazz]

NorthDave said:

Peugeot - they get better with age as they loosen up. The whole of france can't be wrong!

I've got a couple and they work well as long as the pepper corns are dry.

That's the same design as I've recently binned because they stopped grinding after 3 months!

[Bill]

I've had some Cole and Mason ones for years (if I was to guess, I'd say 10+). The pepper grinder is going fine but nut on the salt one seized and then sheared when I applied too much force. I gave up on it but SWMBO emailed them a picture and they just sent out a new one.

[All that jazz]

Bill said:

I've had some Cole and Mason ones for years (if I was to guess, I'd say 10+). The pepper grinder is going fine but nut on the salt one seized and then sheared when I applied too much force. I gave up on it but SWMBO emailed them a picture and they just sent out a new one.

Which set, Bill?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=sear...

[Bill]

This one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001AT3URU/ref=mp...

[tog]

Zassenhaus. They have separate fittings for securing the top and adjusting the grind, so you don't find it always loosening with use.

[HTP99]

I nicked a small Cole & Mason pepper grinder from an Italian restaurant a few years ago, it's still going strong; just had a look and it looks as though the grinder is metal?

I was bought a Le Creuset salt and pepper mill set a couple of months ago; ceramic grinders, so far they are both doing well.

I feel the OP's pain though; I just seem to go through them.

[All that jazz]

I do like a coarse grind for my black pepper and have it on pretty much everything; if peppercorns weren't so hard I'd probably eat them whole . Used to like a lot of salt on stuff perhaps 10+ years ago but I find that most food seems to have so much in it already that I rarely need to add any extra - chips being the exception where one can never have enough to dip them in!

I will check out all your recommendations.

[21TonyK]

HTP99 said:

I was bought a Le Creuset salt and pepper mill set a couple of months ago; ceramic grinders, so far they are both doing well.

Le Creuset get my vote as well. Just make sure they are ceramic, I'm sure there are others as well but mines been going 15 years.

[motco]

All that jazz said:

@motco, thanks! How long have you had the Milly? I read it has a ceramic grinder - is this the key to long life with them or do they wear down as well?

Almost exactly twelve months and still working well.

[eatontrifles]

Anything with a T&G Crushgrind mechanism. Faultless, come with a lifetime warranty and the best I've used.
http://tg-woodware.com/products/categories/mills

[Johnnytheboy]

My Mrs came home with an electric pepper grinder recently, and I instantly thought "gimmick", but actually it's great. Several guests have said they want one now. Dunno which one but it came from Harts, which we live near.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?RAN...

[Cpt Stirling]

Oxo good grips pepper grinder. It's brilliant.

[Jer_1974]

I have been through loads. A few years ago bought a clear plastic one that sits upside down so you don't get pepper on your surface and its great. It was from TK Max in a set of two and not dear.

[CAPP0]

eatontrifles said:

Anything with a T&G Crushgrind mechanism. Faultless, come with a lifetime warranty and the best I've used.
http://tg-woodware.com/products/categories/mills

Yep, we have a pair of "upside down" TG mills, after seeing them in a restaurant and being impressed. Not sure how long we've had them, probably a couple of years but still working perfectly, probably the longest-lasting set we've had to date.

This type of thing