Think I'm going to turn some mills for the house, first time doing it. Curious as to what wood types would make for a good matching pair. Lighter colored wood for salt, darker for pepper obviously.
Agreed. That's the easiest choice for a very good contrast. Hard maple, not silver maple. Silver maple can have a grayish-purple tinge to it some times and is a bit softer. In the below photos, the figured maple is silver maple, but picked for the lightest color.
Walnut and maple are a classic complimentary combination that would look great together.
If you want more character/figure, you could take a look at these (though they can be pricier than maple & walnut):
Lighter woods:
Flaming Box Elder - pretty dramatic
Spalted Tamarind - lots of character
Olivewood
Darker Woods
Bubinga - more on the reddish/brown side
Bloodwood or Padauk - definitely on the red side.
Rainbow Poplar - basically poplar that has dark mineral coloring
Red Gum
Eastern Red Cedar
Bob's pictures are fantastic for a visual. You could also search Etsy to see what complimentary woods others have used. I often do that when searching for ideas for my turnings.
Let us know how they "turn" out. I've been wanting to make a few as well.
Found photos of this style that I did in 2010. In this batch I used some Honduras Mahogany. It contrasted OK, but I thought that Walnut gave a better contrast. Again, maple was used for the salt mills. For just a single pepper mill, about anything goes.