I come from France, where we use pennies and live in the Netherlands where we don't.
It's always a great deal of fun seeing the family come over and try to hand over / or wait for their pennies after doing the groceries; struggling to really understand each other because of the language barrier.
You should be able to pay with 1 and 2 cent coins in The Netherlands. You just won't get them as change and the amount charged will be rounded to the nearest 5 cents in most, but not all, shops. But I wouldn't be surprised if many cashiers don't know they should accept those coins.
It's always a great deal of fun seeing the family come over and try to hand over / or wait for their pennies after doing the groceries; struggling to really understand each other because of the language barrier.
There is something very charming about it .