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The only problem I have with this is maybe cross contamination when cooking with poultry. I'll Alton or Michael Chiarello manhandling chicken then pinch-pinch into the grey or kosher salt. It's fine for a show where they can dump the salt after, but for the rest of us? Maybe I will crack some pepper and salt into ramekins during prep so that it's easy to use for that one dish

i have a bamboo container that has a section for salt and one for pepper. it's great to use when cooking. i never use my fingers because i can't stand getting salt or pepper under my nails, so i use a tiny spoon instead. the spoon is also good for not contaminating!

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Salt kills germs and nothing can grow in it. I wouldn't worry too much about contaminated salt. Worry more about touching the outside of your salt or pepper container with poultry covered hands.

I really love the salt pigs that are more like a round cubby than a bowl. They have a roof that keeps out dust and other floating things.

i used to have a little cup for both salt and pepper, but it was a hassel to grind enough pepper to put in it without it running out every time I cooked.

So instead we settle for a salt and pepper grinder beside the stove. It's essentially the same thing.

I have my salt in a favorite coffee cup I don't want broken; pepper in the grinder. So handy.

I keep both my sea salt and coarse pepper in a ramekin on my stove, since that's what I cook with. For dinner parties I place some in clean sea shells on the table.

I second the comment about contamination. As long as you keep your salt close to the stove, the heat will keep the salt dry and kill off any lingering germs. My salt and pepper are in little stone bowls that I got from Ikea.

I don't use much pepper in cooking so it stays in the cupboard with the other spices and herbs. Salt on the other hand I keep a small lidded jar of kosher salt on the counter right next to the stove. The lid is not because I worry about cross contamination but because I'm clumsy and knock it over from time to time.

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i keep salt on the counter in a small sugar bowl with a lid and a spoon. i just don't like the idea of an open bowl of it, collecting dust.

A shot glass is just about the right size for kosher salt. I keep it near the stove, too.

those are just crying for my daughter to grab them and throw them all over the floor :) maybe when she's older!

I keep my salt in the dispenser it came in and our pepper is in a pepper grinder. There is no way we could keep it open in a bowl as the humidity in the kitchen would make it go yucky. Doesn't your salt clump when it's left out in the open? Ours clumps when we forget to turn the dispenser round to "closed".

I keep kosher salt in a little tea cup that I "borrowed" from a Chinese restaurant back in my college days. It sits on my microwave next to the stove and is so handy! I don't cook meat too often but if I am worried about contamination I portion a small amount into another bowl.

Personally, I think the bowl idea is silly. Whats wrong with a good old fashioned dispenser? I keep my kosher salt in one of those things restaurants use to pour sugar. I may not look cool and trendy but I dont have to worry about knocking it over, or something falling in it.

I first saw it watching Martha Stewart.

If I kept them in open bowls like that they would end up with some cat hair that mysteriously ends up floating into everything. I keep my salt in a lovely old 1.5-cup pyrex refrigerator dish with a lid, and my pepper in a pepper mill.

I don't see much of a downside to having salt out in the open, perhaps it will get slightly dusty.

Pepper, however, has volatile aromatic essential oils that carry the flavor and these will evaporate into room air if left in a open bowl and so never deliver their ummmph to your cooking. That seems wasteful.

No, mostly because I would spill it but wouldn't it also get dusty?

I keep my salt and pepper mills next to my stove. I just grab the one I need, twist it a few times, and get on with cooking. The mills themselves are attractive enough that they can easily go to the table if I'm serving guests.

I also keep a cylinder of sea salt near the stove for times when I need a coarse salt. I actually like the look of the La Baleine packaging more than any dish.