When you click on a retailer link, we may earn affiliate commission, which helps fund our not-for-profit mission. This tracks your activity using third party cookies. By clicking a link you are consenting to this.
Best salt and pepper grinders
In this article
- Best salt and pepper grinders from our test
- The salt and pepper grinders we tested
- The best salt and pepper grinder sets from our test
- How we tested salt and pepper grinders
- Three things we learned testing salt and pepper grinders
- How to refill a salt and pepper grinder
- How we chose the salt and pepper grinders we tested
Salt and pepper grinders are every cook's staple, but we've tested the most popular from Joseph Joseph, Le Creuset, ProCook, Peugeot, Salter and more, and found a big difference in how easy they are to fill and operate.
We tested salt and pepper grinder sets ranging in price from £10 up to £70, looking at the consistency of the coarse and fine grind settings, how easy they are to use with wet and oily hands, and how straightforward they are to fill.
Our tests found that if you like even grains on both coarse and fine settings and grinders that aren't a fiddle to fill, it's generally worth paying more.
Although you can pick up disposable salt and pepper grinders from the supermarket for only a few pounds, the plastic container will soon end up in landfill, so it's kinder to the environment to opt for a reusable one that you can refill.
They can also be a stylish addition to your dining table, not to mention a great gift for chefs of all abilities.
Accurately measure your spices to the gram with our round up of the best kitchen scales.
Best salt and pepper grinders from our test
Only logged-in Which? members can view the salt and pepper grinder test results below.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.
| Salt and pepper grinder | Cheapest price | Fine grind | Coarse grind | Ease of filling | Pepper capacity (g) | Salt capacity (g) | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Excellent | Easy | |||||
| Good | Excellent | Very easy | |||||
| Excellent | Good | Average | |||||
| Poor | Excellent | Very easy | |||||
| Excellent | Excellent | Very difficult | |||||
| Average | Good | Easy | |||||
| Good | Good | Very easy |
The salt and pepper grinders we tested
All the salt and pepper grinders we tested are listed alphabetically below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best salt and pepper grinders we tested.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.
Cole & Mason Bridgewater Mills
Only available at Cole & Mason. £70
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 13.5cm x 6cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 14g
Salt capacity: 32g
Cole & Mason Clear Acrylic Salt & Pepper Set
Only available at Lakeland: £29.99.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 14cm x 5.7cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 40g
Salt capacity: 65g
Cole & Mason Marlow Contemporary Wood Salt & Pepper Mills
Cheapest price: £32.95 at Amazon, Harts of Stur, also available at John Lewis
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 19cm x 6cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 25g
Salt capacity: 55g
Dunelm Acacia Salt and Pepper Mill Set
Only available at Dunelm: £20.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 20.3cm x 7.2cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 30g
Salt capacity: 55g
H&S salt and pepper grinder mill set
Only available at Amazon: £20.30
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: September 2022
Size: 14.5cm x 7.7cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 100g
Salt capacity: 236g
Joseph Joseph Milltop No Spill Salt & Pepper Mills
Cheapest price: £44.99 available at Amazon, also available at John Lewis.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 17cm x 7cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 70g
Salt capacity: 150g
Colours: Grey, blue
Le Creuset Salt and Pepper Mini Mills
Cheapest price: £45 available at Amazon, John Lewis.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 12.1cm x 5cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 13g
Salt capacity: 31g
Colours: Volcanic, black & white, cerise, Marseille blue, satin black, soleil (yellow)
Menu Bottle Grinder Spice Mill two-pack
Only available at Nordic Nest: £53.55.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: September 2022
Size: 20.5cm x 8cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 170g
Salt capacity: 370g
Colour: Ash-carbon, blues, nudes, hunting green-beige
Olympia Light Wood Salt and Pepper Mill Grinder Set
Cheapest price: £28.99 available at Nisbets, also available at Amazon
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 8cm x 6.3cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 7g
Salt capacity: 20g
Colours: Light wood, dark wood
Oxo Salt & Pepper Grinder Set
Cheapest price: £40.38 available at Harts of Stur (out of stock), also available at Amazon
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 14cm x 5.6cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 61g
Salt capacity: 85g
Peugeot Paris Salt and Pepper Mill set
Cheapest price: £58.95 at Amazon, also available at John Lewis, Peugeot.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: September 2022
Size: 18cm x 6cm
Pepper capacity: 21g
Salt capacity: 50g
Colours: Natural and chocolate
Procook Electric Soft Touch Salt & Pepper Mill Set
Only available at ProCook: £19
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 22cm x 5cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 35g
Salt capacity: 70g
Salter Electronic Salt and Pepper Mill Set
Only available at Lakeland: £21.99.
Pros: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Cons: Log in or join Which? to instantly reveal.
Date tested: August 2021
Size: 22cm x 5cm (HxW)
Pepper capacity: 35g
Salt capacity: 70g
Keen to hear about the latest kitchen gadgets on test? sign up to our Buy Smart Newsletter.
How we tested salt and pepper grinders
The perfect salt and pepper grinder set would be able to produce both fine ground and coarse ground spices, be easy to fill, durable and easy to use.
We designed a test to sort the best from the worst and to discover how each compares in features and design.
Ease of filling
We rated each grinder on how easy it is to fill up with salt and peppercorns. With some it's possible to fill them up with no mess, but others left peppercorns scattered all over the work surface.
Ease of adjusting the coarseness setting
We assessed each grinder on how easy it is to adjust the size of the grains. It's a lot trickier with some than others and we found that the coarseness setting would even change midway through grinding on some of the poorer mill sets.
Consistency of grind
We set each mill to its finest and coarsest setting, then assessed the size and consistency of the grains on each. The best mill sets are brilliant at both, but most favour one size of grain over the other.
Accuracy
Sometimes seasoning requires accuracy. You might want to pepper your steak, but not the chips to the side of it.
We assessed the accuracy of each mill when seasoning food.
Oily hands
We rated each mill on how easy it is to use with oily hands and dry hands. It tend to be the pricier grinders that are easy to use if you have oily hands.
Time to grind a teaspoon
A good grinder will produce a lot of grains quickly. We timed how long it took each grinder to produce a teaspoon of spice. The best took 15 seconds and the worst more than a minute of constant grinding.
Durability
We knocked each set off a kitchen worktop 10 times. Some didn't survive.
Three things we learned testing salt and pepper grinders
1. Electric mills aren't necessarily easier to use
While the thought of freshly ground salt or pepper with a simple press of a button might sound appealing, based on our testing the reality can be different.
We tested two electric grinders and were surprised at how many batteries were needed (eight for each set) and how difficult the batteries were to fit.
It was also harder to fill each of the electric grinders with salt or pepper and trickier to adjust the coarseness setting than with most manual grinders we tested.
While one of the electric grinders did produce both fine and coarse grains consistently, we felt the ease of use benefits of the button press were spoiled by poor test results on other ease of use factors.
2. Most grinders can't do both coarse and fine grinds very well
If you buy a quality mill set you'd expect it to be able to produce super fine grains for delicate seasoning and chunkier grains for marinading.
We were surprised to find that many of the grinder sets we tested could only do one or the other well.
But our recommendations above did produce consistent fine spices or coarse grains, and it's easy to adjust the settings to the desired level.
3. Traditional style grinders are hard to use with wet and oily hands
We found that the traditional shape of mill set has some drawbacks when using them with wet and oily hands.
Some of the more modern designs proved easier to use if you have oily hands from cooking.
There was also a big difference with how easy it is to adjust the coarseness setting.
How to refill a salt and pepper grinder
We were quite surprised during testing to find out just how difficult it is to refill some of the mill sets we bought. After we'd finished, we had a big job clearing up all the salt and peppercorns that had spread everywhere.
If you already have a salt and pepper grinder that's difficult to fill, one simple technique that might prevent a mess is to fold a piece of paper to create a spout and pour the spices in that way.
How we chose the salt and pepper grinders we tested
We chose salt and pepper grinder sets that are popular and sold at major retailers.
Which? bought and paid for every mill set we tested.