One range, built properly, sold direct

Pexalori makes salt and pepper mills. Not cookware, not gadgets, not a catalogue of eighty things — one range called Column, in three heights and four finishes, which we designed ourselves and keep in production rather than replacing every season.

Woodshop bench top seen from above with three unfinished ash cylinders, a tray of knurled steel collars, vernier calipers and a pencil dimension drawing
Bodies at three lengths, collars waiting, and the drawing everything is measured against.
A Column mill disassembled and laid out in assembly order: cap, driveshaft, steel burr, ceramic burr, knurled collar, glass ring and hollow ash body

Seven parts, and no clever ones

A mill that lasts is a short list of parts that each do one job. A turned ash body, a steel driveshaft, a burr, a knurled collar that holds the neck true, a cap that doubles as the grind adjuster, and on the salt mills a glass ring so you can see the level.

There is no spring-loaded ratchet, no plastic gear train, nothing that can only be replaced by us. The reason is selfish as much as anything: we would rather not spend our week posting spare mechanisms.

01

The burr decides everything

Hardened steel for pepper, because a spiral steel burr cracks a peppercorn and then cuts it. Ceramic for salt, because salt corrodes steel and ceramic is inert. Getting this pairing wrong is the single most common fault in a cheap mill.

02

Ash, for stiffness

A mill body is a tube under torque. Soft wood flexes and the grind wanders. European ash is stiff, takes a knurled collar without splitting, and shows enough grain that a clear lacquer is worth doing.

03

Supplied empty

Filling a mill at the factory means you get whatever was cheap in bulk months ago, and it adds shipping weight for something you would tip out. Buy the peppercorns you actually want.

Two pale ash mills on a pine green surface, one with its cap removed beside it showing the steel grinding mechanism in the neck

Six settings, and they are real

Turn the cap to its stop for the finest grind, then count clicks outward. Six positions, each noticeably coarser than the last, from near-powder to a cracked finish for the top of a dish.

Plenty of mills advertise a range and deliver two usable settings with mush in between. We set the detent spacing against the burr geometry rather than the other way round, which is why there are six and not sixteen.

What we deliberately do not do

  • We do not license another maker’s name, trade dress or patent names.
  • We do not claim a lifetime guarantee. Two years on the mechanism, honestly stated.
  • We do not run a permanent sale with a struck-through price that was never charged.
  • We do not sell through marketplaces, so there is no reseller markup to cover.
  • We do not add a shipping surcharge for the 28cm mills. One rate, any order.
  • We do not retire a finish and leave you with an odd pair.

Where to start

If you are buying one mill, buy the 21cm pepper in pale ash. It is the size that gets used and the finish that suits most kitchens. If you are buying a pair, take the matching salt — the glass ring earns itself within a month.

If you want something specific, or you are not sure which height suits your worktop, write to info@pexalori.com. It is one inbox and we answer it within a business day.