HexClad HexMill Pepper Grinder, Professional Grade Heavy Duty, Refillable, Aluminum Matte Black, Adjustable Ten Coarse Grind Settings

Love these! Such high quality and worth every penny. They grind beautifully and the adjustment is well marked. I am on the fence about the storage/measure cups because they don’t really allow for subtle pouring. They might need to add a tiny lip on the interior edge to make that easier. But it is nice to have the bottom cup because sometimes you need to have a good measure. Easy to refill & hold, too.

Pepper is a must in my household and milled pepper just doesn't have the same aroma as freshly heat treated and ground pepper.Pros:1. User friendly - pop off the top with a simple press of a button, easily adjustable dial to grind with preset sizes2. Effective and efficient - the grind just rains down pepper regardless of the coarsness setting, even st the finest setting. It accomplishes this with less turns than any others you'll find at the price point of around $1003. Build quality - the mill has a sturdy, well oiled machine feel to it during use. It tapers to become smaller at the top so smaller hands can use this mill as well.4. Value - Can't find better value than this mill for its quality, effectiveness, and brand name.Cons:1. It can be heavy for some to hold for longer periods, BUT you shouldn't need more than one simple turn to get what you need to cook.2. The biggest con is they intentionally made it so it cannot handle salt or other corrosive ingredients, while offering a salt grinder with basically the same exact offerings. That's just a complaint as a consumer trying to nitpick this amazing product.Regardless amateur or pro, if you like using pepper, this is a must have.

Someone asked why I didn't just spend the extra money (not much more considering this one is already a bit spendy) and get the MannKind one (not sure if that is the name). And I thought about it but something about spending over $200 before shipping and taxes on a pepper grinder annoyed me, and I KNOW the HexClad brand. Another reason is because while my favorite professional famous chef touts her Pepper Mate - it is to me a literal piece of junk. And that is where I will start with why I absolutely love this pepper mill.A) It is DUR-A-BLE!!! It is heavy, it is stout, it is the ultimate weapon against peppercorns, and it will not back down. I have used cute, matchy, fun, "professional" and highly regarded peppermills and went back to the old grocery store McCormick. But I got so tired of 20-50 turns of the little beasts just to get enough pepper on my salads, I realized I would save so much more time, energy and yes - money - if I just did real research and found a peppermill I could cherish and work WITH me while I create such amazing dishes as my famous The "TSFGIABWABORSASWYG" - ("Throw some fresh greens in a bowl with a bunch of random stuff and see what you get"). Delicious!! ;)When I tell you I was obsessed with research before making my decision, I am not exaggerating. I watched YouTube videos (at least 30+), I read Food, Kitchen, and Chef articles, I made a File in my file system for various Peppermill reviews and even came up with an excel spreadsheet (no - just kidding, I only started to, but my better half stepped in...LOL) It got to the point to where that when I finally received this peppermill, I wrapped it up and gave to my husband as a gift - a gift of peace and quiet about a S$#@& peppermill.Compared to others I have tried; one problem I found is how many times you have to turn the knob to get a sufficient amount of pepper. This one - depending on how much you like pepper - can give the avg person the perfect amount for a dish with one turn. I LOVE lots of pepper and I am MORE THAN happy with 2 turns.Another is how you plan on applying pepper - directly from the mill or with a pinch or two? The problem with the Pepper Mate is it is a flimsy plastic, hard to detach piece that wastes all your pepper by flying out of the compartment all over your kitchen and with it - it can hardly stay stable on a countertop - all that work you just did to grind your pepper. Annoying. This peppermill is so sturdy. I can either remove the magnetized bowl/compartment from the bottom and grind directly on top of my dish, or I grind the pepper with the compartment on, remove it (PTSD makes me do it still carefully) and use pinches or tsps. as needed. The compartment is deep, only attached by a good magnet system, and the entire thing is made of steel (I think), so the ground pepper doesn't go flying out of the compartment. The coarseness is on point for the lowest setting (Coarse) to highest (Fine) and everywhere in between. Though I use mine somewhere in the bottom third of the way 95% of the time anyway.I wanted to stop wasting time and money on grocery store peppermills, one that wasn't reviewed by paid national reviewers, but I wanted one that I could have for the rest of my life and one that was manual. Simple, durable, and one that actual amateur, unpaid home cooks reviewed, and it had to last. This pepper mill is worthy every single penny.

I picked up both the salt and pepper Hexclad grinders during Prime Days, so the price went from really expensive to very expensive. But the price was only 50% of its primary competitor. The reason I was looking for "heirloom" shakers is my previous grinders were about 4 years old, had cost about 25% of what these grinders cost combined, and were falling apart. Obviously, if I'm buying new grinder, the performance of the old ones had degraded for some time. While there were metal bits on the old grinders, many of the functioning parts were plastic and had see-through acrylic which seemed like a good idea when new but after years of pouring crystals in had become hazy. I wanted grinders I would never have to replace and performance would remain the same, year after year. Hexclad also has a lifetime warranty on all the parts. I could go on about all the high quality features of these excellent performing grinders, but they are well documented on reviews elsewhere. I particularly wanted to point out 2 changed design features vs. what I had seen in reviews. One very positive and one not as positive. A positive change on both grinders was they did away with the rubber gasket that helped the bottom tray grip to the shaker (a number of reports are out there that they were not particularly durable) and in each of the 8 inside hex corners of the tray tiny spring loaded bearing were installed to help the bottom tray grab onto the grinder. This seems like a much more permanent solution and of very high quality. Kudos to Hexclad. The other change is they have done away with the coarseness dots... Other reviews explained their were 12 dot settings on the bottom to select coarseness so you could look and immediately know the coarseness of the output. Now with the dots gone, one must turn the selector all the way clockwise, then turn back to identify how coarse the setting is. This sounds like the same design of the expensive competitor. The pepper mill has 9 clicks from end to end, the salt mill has 7 clicks from end to end. The expensive competitor has 30 clicks from end to end. I personally think fewer is better. Who needs 30 coarseness settings? I'm sure there was a reason the change was made, but now these shakers are just that slightly less intuitive. In summary, they look and feel super high end... and perform amazingly. While very pricey, the quality feels very worthy of the price. Nothing but metal and ceramic bits on the equipment. No regrets at this point.Edit: now after several weeks of use I'll highlight another less-than-optimal experience with these grinders, but not a killer concern... This grinder has a cap on the bottom, which keeps things neat and tidy when not in use. However, when removing the cap there are invariably a few particles of salt or pepper in the cap that fall down when opening. My learning is I have to open each grinder over the food or I'll end up with salt and pepper particles over my counter or table. The grinders do feel like it will last a lifetime. I suppose adding a glass sight to the side to confirm how much salt or pepper remains in the mill could be an improvement on the design. I'm still glad I bought them.