Mario Batali Salt Cellar

Comment: I had been looking for a salt cellar for months when I found this one online...not only is it beautiful..it works great!! I had found that it was getting difficult to see how much salt was coming out of a salt shaker but with this I can see exactaly how much salt and pepper I am using. You should use coarse salt and pepper for this as the regular salt and pepper is ground too fine. I would buy this again and it also makes a great gift.

Comment: This a great item to splurge a little on yourself. I don't like many of the Batali items, but this one caught my eye. It's a nice size, not too big, not too small. It's quite substantial and obviously carved out of a solid wood block. The natural wood is a nice touch to warm up the granite and stainless steel. A few reviews pointed out that the lids did not fit well. Mine was just a bit off too, but I adjusted the hinge pin down just a bit with a few light taps with a small hammer, and now it fits perfectly. The magnets are strong and keep the sections aligned, but easily separated. The item arrived in an empty box, no packaging or wrapping and it was just rolling around in the box. Perhaps this is why the unit gets out of alignment? Someone should rethink the packaging. I keep regular Kosher salt in the larger bottom compartment and I think I will get some of the Hawaiian Black Lava Salt (here on Amazon) for the smaller top compartment. It's a fun item to have next to the stove and if your monogram is "M" that makes it just a bit more special for you!

Comment: Works perfectly, and allows you to have two types of salt in the container; doesn't always close tightly, causing a little bit of salt to spill out, but that's just part of cooking, so it's no problem at all. I definitely recommend this item. Some have said that it's too big, (about the size of a 28 oz peanut butter jar), but I find it to be the perfect size for a kitchen counter. Great item for any home cook who wants to control the salt content of a dish. Enjoy!

Comment: Picked this up last year for $12.99 around Christmas time and we loved it, using it almost every day, up until about a month ago.
We returned home from an extended trip to find a huge crack on the side of the top level, where we kept our coarse sea salt, exposing the inside of the top level. My only guess is that the buildup of moisture from the heavy humidity (we live in the tropics) while we were gone, combined with the salt and worked it's way through the wood.
We were upset, but kept using the bottom portion for awhile, until we realized that mold had settled into all of the exposed inner areas.
Into the garbage it goes.

I cant fault the product for this. It arrived in perfect condition, and we didn't run into any of the design flaws that other reviewers have noted. I just wanted to post a warning to others who may live in a humid environment to maybe think twice.


Edit: As I was getting ready to toss it I realized that it easily comes apart into 3 pieces, so I just chucked the top bowl, and will refinish and seal the lid and bottom portion. The peg that holds it together is now too long, but I can easily shorten it or find a substitute. Hopefully I will get another year of use out of it!

On closer inspection of the damage I noticed that the Salt Cellar is made up of chunks of wood glued together. The crack is actually a clean split right through the seam. It makes sense now how this happened just over a period of a few weeks. The salt and humidity made short work of the glue. Once the joint was compromised, the split just kept expanding. I dropped a star from my review for this, as it does look like a design flaw. The seams really should have been sealed. (sigh)

Comment: I am so happy I purchased this salt cellar!! It is just the right size, perfect size for your hand but still cute and decorative. I keep kosher salt in the big well and iodized salt in the smaller well. I use this everyday in cooking and it is so nice and sturdy, I see it lasting the rest of my life.