Mario Batali Salt Cellar
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List Price: Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Mario Batali Salt Cellar
Customer Review: Very Nice, But Not So Good in a Humid Evironment.
Summary: 2 Stars
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)
Customer Review: Useful
Summary: 4 Stars
I was looking for a simpler salt cellar, but found this two compartment one and decided to give it a try. It's a great price for a good item. The wood isn't as high quality as I would have liked, but for the price, I can't complain. The wood has a bit of a rough finish to it. It's not perfectly smooth. But it still looks and feels great.
My only complaint would be that it's a bit too heavy and unwieldy to operate by picking it up with one hand. While manuevering a pinch of salt from the cellar to your food isn't something that requires a licensed degree to perform, it is kind of annoying sometimes if I drop a few crystals along the way. A more mobile cellar might help to avoid this very minor problem. Just something to think about depending on your preferences.
The bottom is almost half all wood. I assume it's this way to create more weight and lower it's center of gravity. When you take the top compartment and swing it 180 degrees around so it's hanging out over the edge, the cellar can become minorly unstable. You definitely don't want to keep it in this position and accidentally bump it. Open it, use it, close it.
Looks great out on the counter and is overall very useful.
Customer Review: Nice Warmth For A Stainless Steel Kitchen
Summary: 4 Stars
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!Customer Review: Too heavy, too broken, too soon
Summary: 1 Stars
I have bought the cellar based on the reviews and the reputation of Mario Batali.
First impression was that the cellar was too heavy with no real reason. Please be aware: the prop is huge in size, however the capacity is not. Probably there's a weight inside the bottom of the cellar, because there's a lot of space from the bottom of the salt chamber to the bottom of the cellar.
Then, two weeks after I received the prop, the sliding cover just got broken, without any forcing or droping the cellar.
I use only one type of salt, so the two compartments are of no real service to me.
Bottom line: a BIG Regret.
Now I have to buy another salt cellar. I hope to find one to really does its job: keep the salt dry, and keep itself in one piece.
I won't buy any other Batali's product, unless I have a really good reason for it, which I can't even imagine right now.
Customer Review: Disappointing all around :-(
Summary: 2 Stars
I was excited to find a salt cellar that wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg. My sister bought one from WS and paid $50 for hers and it only has 1 compartment.
Here are my negative issues:
#1 - I found that it was HUGE. Although I would have been happier if it were smaller, the size was something I could live with.
#2 - The layers were separated from each other making a space large enough for bugs to get in. The cover on my sister's cellar sits FLUSH to the base.
#3 - The magnets did not work. One of the magnets was so far into the wood that it didn't even catch the magnet on the cover.
I thought that with Mario Batali's name on it I would be getting a quality product, however I was mistaken. It's being returned in today's mail.