I bought this mandoline slicer sort of on a whim, because I won a $35 Wayfair gift certificate that paid for most of it. I'd never used one before, so I didn't know what to expect, but it has been great!
I've used it to slice carrots, onions, and cucumbers so far. It was much easier to get thin, uniform slices with the mandoline, as compared to using a knife. With onions, I figured out I could actually dice them, by using the julienne blade attachment. (Except the pieces on each side still came out whole, of course. The onion's problem, not the slicer's.)
Cleanup is easy, once you figure out how the pieces are all attached. The manual book explains everything, of course. You really have to understand the setup if you want to be able to put it back together again, haha.
Storage is easy, too. It all folds up flat and locks in place, with accessory attachments snapped into the bottom. It is MUCH smaller than the box it comes in, thank goodness!
If I had small children, though, I would definitely keep this out of reach. The V-blade is very sharp, exposed, and oh-so-shiny. I imagine the attachments also look tempting.
I haven't tried it out on potatoes or tomatoes yet, so I'm not sure how well it will handle very hard and very soft produce. I also haven't had opportunity to use the wavy blade. That's the main reason I didn't give it a 5-star rating--because I can't claim to know its full capacity.
To sum up:
Pros: it's fast and easy to use, and you can get beautiful, uniform, thin slices or julienne strips. The more things you need to slice, the more time it saves you.
Cons: may be confusing to assemble/disassemble, may not accommodate the thickness of slices that you want. Does require more cleanup than a knife. (So if you're only cutting one thing, or only in larger pieces, don't bother to use the mandoline.) Blade is still exposed when it's folded for storage."..." Read more
- Average Cook in Dayton, OH