We had been limping along with disposable pepper grinders from Aldi for a few years, but after the plastic mechanisms kept getting ground up and dumped into our food, I thought it was time for a grown-up one. Whenever I need to buy something practical and/or boring like this, I ask myself if there is a classic version of it. Then I consider whether I like that classic version. It works a bit better than the process of going to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond, thinking everything looks like junk, and then buying something anyway out of desperation.