Mandolines : Ratings of Sources

Our AssessmentEditors at Fine Cooking magazine put 12 mandolines through their paces, rating them on ease of use, construction, performance and safety, as they slice through pounds of vegetables such as fennel, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. They slice potatoes as thinly and as thickly as possible. Their top choice is an expensive mandoline, the De Buyer La Mandoline V Professionnelle, but the Oxo Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer is named a best buy. We would give this article a higher rating if reviewer Maryellen Driscoll named the mandolines that didn't make the grade.

Our AssessmentReviewer Scott Liebfried, a professional chef, appears to base his picks for the best mandolines on personal use, but it's difficult to know for sure. Some of the mandolines are described in very general terms, and Liebfried doesn't identify the mandolines that don't make the grade. He also doesn't explain his testing criteria. His top pick is the Bron Super Pro Mandoline with Pusher, which can make virtually any type of cut without a change of blade; rather, you simply change the direction of the blade. He calls the Bron Super Pro Mandoline with Pusher the "ultimate professional kitchen tool." His choice for best value is the De Buyer La Mandoline V Professionnelle, which has five blades and a grooved surface.

Our AssessmentDenise Landis ventures to New York City's Chinatown to find "the cheapest of the cheap" mandolines and selects four models. She likes the Japanese-made Vegetable Cooking Ware, although it comes with a "useless" blade for peeling vegetables, as well as the Korean-made Mandolene Shred Knife, which only juliennes. The Benriner and the Mandolene Shred Knife are similar, and the Jumbo Benriner is "worth keeping on a kitchen hook" if you need to slice a lot of vegetables at a time. It's hard to tell which mandoline is her favorite.

Our AssessmentChefsCatalog.com, a cookware retailer, allows users to sort mandoline reviews by price, brand and rating, but you can't see at a glance how many reviews of a particular product have been posted. The De Buyer La Mandoline V Professionnelle is highly rated by more than 25 reviewers. The Oxo Good Grips Mandoline Slicer earns high ratings in about 15 reviews.

Our AssessmentEditor Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan offers a rave review of the Benriner mandoline. Unfortunately, the review is brief and focuses more on general uses for mandolines than on the Benriner's attributes.

Our AssessmentAmong mandolines that have accumulated more than 10 reviews, the MIU Stainless Steel Mandoline, MIU France Special Edition Professional Mandoline, and Stafford Ceramic Blade Mandoline Slicer are top-rated. The Oneida Mandoline Slicer and Cuisinart Mandoline Slicer are among the lowest-rated slicers here.

Our AssessmentContributors to this culinary forum name most of the usual suspects -- Oxo, Zyliss, Borner -- when asked to name the best mandoline. One owner who has both an Oxo and Borner V-Slicer says that the latter mandoline is the better choice.