I might be wrong, but there is no clear outstanding softshell textiles that are better than others. They all depend fully on being taken good care of to perform as intended for a longer period.

I like this minimalist look. But hell, it’s like 50€ in Europe for the cheapest models. Anyone knows of similar alternatives?

How it’s going to be used will probably be determining factor on how sturdy it should be. Some people manage to break 4mm cleavers while cutting vegetables… But have a look at the Wüsthof Classic. Their design with a one piece blade-bolster design is probably as sturdy as knives get.

What a steal!

Haven’t only the cast iron stuff from le Crouset been BIFL? Anything of hollow construction like this is per se not BIFL IMO. And furthermore doesn’t even belong in my kitchen by hygienic reasons.

The price differences are not as small as you think. And there are bigger product cycle economies in play than just manufacturing cost. Then most people would in many cases go for whatever is cheaper. The price one can very clearly see - how the product is going to hold up in use one can’t.

The first time you drop it, you’ll break the head off at the thread. That’s how 95% of these shavers die, I suspect. At least the ones with a heavy handle shaft - maybe the ones with a lightweight handle survives a fall better.

Cool. But what happened that you got the Rex now?

Edwin Jagger is a knock-off company after what I know. Just a reseller, trying to imitate being something old and bigger.

For anyone not s#itting money - there’s the German Mühle and Merkur. They have good standards and even the cheapest models starting at 25-30€ have great quality and will in normal use last for a couple of lifetimes.

Looked for a BIFL pepper and salad grinder myself for several years. The most obvious good ones are the Peugeot, which you already have linked to yourself. The models which are in my opinion nice (painted models) are unfortunately not very robust and therefore don’t age very gracefully or take mishaps during use that well. Wooden kitchen products are per se not BIFL IMO. They now also have stainless steel models, but I think that looks silly in the very curvy, classic design of the Paris model, not to mention that it’s not all-metal, but actually has several plastic insert parts. I haven’t looked into their construction too much to evaluate them, but they might be the best to get from a BIFL perspective. But then also the pure stainless steel models, no the ones with the coating like the black or the copper ones - without being able to tell it with full confidence - the coating will most likely be less durable than the pure brushed metal.

I have looked at A LOT of other producers and finally picked this ones for myself: https://www.manufactum.com/salt-pepper-mill-m-acker-a68020/ https://www.manufactum.com/salt-pepper-mill-m-acker-a68021/

I have not even started using them, so can’t say much about how well they work. I expect them to work normally - the mill assembly is actually a pre-built unit from a company specialising on mills, so I don’t expect any surprises there. Material-wise they’re going to hold up for several centuries for sure and they will age well. The mill grinders might need to be replaced after 10-15 years depending on use, but that will be the case with anything else. They definitely can take a beating from most mishaps during use and have very good repair potential. Design wise they’re unfortunately not perfect. The whole upper part is all solid stainless steel billet. An absolut unit, but unfortunately also quite heavy - this makes the mill easier to knock over because of the high center of mass. Then when it falls - it will damage whatever it falls on, rather than taking damage itself. Also the interface of the grinding body parts is just pure metal-on-metal. With clearance of course, but still - this could be improved.

Yah, maybe…

You should clean it. Especially if it’s a thing you appreciate. It’s disgusting.