Dana's Pepper Mill: The OXO Good Grips Pepper Grinder

I've owned my OXO pepper grinder for about a year now and I like it well enough. It does a decent job of grinding pepper and has many convenient design features that make it a good, practical choice. It's solid and dependable but, truth be told, its nothing to get excited about. If the OXO Good Grips Pepper Grinder were a location, it would be the suburbs. If it were a movie star, it would be Anne Hathaway. If it were a car, it would be a Prius.

The OXO grinds: on the left is the fine grind and on the right, the coarse.

I've owned several pepper mills over the years and have yet to be completely satisfied. The OXO Good Grips Pepper Grinder is my most recent choice and a good one at that. I have very little to complain about with the OXO.

The strong points:
• Easy to fill.
• Easy to select the grind of which there are five choices.
• The clear acrylic pepper storage area lets you know when you're running low.
• Sits with the blade side up, so pepper doesn't fall out.
• Good price point.

My quibbles are minor:
• The fine grind could be a little finer and the coarse could be a little coarser.
• I don't see much difference between the three grades of medium grind. OXO could have stayed with just fine - medium - coarse, instead of the five offered.

So why don't I love it?
This a very personal preference, but I'm not crazy about how it looks. Some people have described it as sleek and modern but it looks clunky to me. I feel the same way about stainless steel appliances, which the OXO kind of reminds me of, so there you go.

This mill performs well and has enough going for it that I'm fine with having it in the kitchen. But it doesn't make me smile when I reach for it, it doesn't somehow fit my life. Sigh. I know I'm asking too much of a mere pepper mill but this is a tool I use everyday, sometimes several times a day. This is something I grab and put on my dining room table when I have friends over for dinner. I suspect the OXO won't be my last pepper mill. My search continues.

• Find it: OXO Good Grips Pepper Grinder, $17.38 at Amazon

(Image: Amazon)

Comments (7)

Love, love, love this pepper grinder. Started out with one, now I have two; one for black pepper, one for white. And I might even get one for grains of paradise...

Love it too! I have the pair, w/salt grinder, and it's very sturdy so far. And it goes great with my stainless steel range. ;-)

I've had a couple of different pepper grinders over the last several years, including the one you have to squeeze like some sort of hand exercise (ouch) and a battery-operated one, but the Oxo grinder I recently bought is by far the best--it's quick, it's versatile, and it doesn't leave a mess of leftover pepper on my counter, since it sits upside-down when not in use. And it was cheap, compared to other models with similar features. What's not to love?

We have this as our "kitchen" pepper grinder, not sexy in anyway shape or form, but really functional. Now our dining table one is much more pretty.

I have this too, and love it. I also have the salt grinder and use it daily as well.

I'm with you on the aesthetics. I love the functionality of OXO products, but I don't love the look. Where's the functional line for people who's kitchens are filled with wood and formica, not stainless and marble?

It's not the prettiest pepper mill going, but I couldn't be happier with my OXO. Totally agree with you on both the strong points and the quibbles and I still love it.