Salt & Pepper Mills

[daveeaton]

Ok, so this may not be the right message board to ask but hey ho...

I have bought a couple of salt and pepper mills recently and they have either broken or been rubbish, throwing out whole pepper corns!

So, I thought I would see if anybody has any preferences? I don't want to spend silly money but am willing to spend enough to get a decent set. What is a good manufacturer? Are the motorized type reliable?

Cheers!!!

[thew]

i use a mortar and pestle

[josephnl]

If you review the threads re this issue on this and other boards, you will find that most people favor Peugeut mills. I did too, until I bought a peppermill with a ceramic grinder in Europe. Now, my Peugeut is in storage; the ceramic mills are vastly superior. They are made by either Kuhn Rikon in Switzerland, or WMF in Germany and are now widely available on the internet. I use the Kuhn Rikon vase mills for salt, pepper, and the new spice mills are also great. You can find them at:
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/kuhn...

If you want ceramic mills that look nicer for the table, search for those made by WMF.

Once you use ceramic peppermills, you will never go back to the more traditional metal mills.

[BobB]

What is it that ceramic mills do better? I have a Peugeot that's been in daily use for over 20 years and works as well today as the day I bought it. Does fine grind, coarse grind, you name it.

[josephnl]

It grinds evenly and absolutely dependably, not something that newer Peugeut's do! I too have an old Peugeut that works pretty well, but have had bad luck with a newer one. Additionally, Kuhn Rikon makes a neat spice grinder that has interchangeable containers for various spices. I think if you tried a ceramic mill you would be very impressed. They have pretty much taken over the market in Germany, and other parts of Europe.

[BobB]

I have to agree that the newer Peugeots don't seem to be made like the old ones. So I guess I'll hang on to mine until it dies, and meanwhile keep ceramics in mind for gifts.

[josephnl]

The Kuhn Rikon vase mill makes a great gift. I've given several as gifts in the past few years and they are always appreciated!

[LNG212]

There have been several discussions of pepper mills on the Cookware board.

Here's links to two recent ones, maybe they'll have some info for you:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/470916
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/358096

[daveeaton]

thank you - i was on the wrong board obviously!!
the links were very useful!