Comfortable to use: ergonomic soft-grip handle; non-slip foot; easily maneuverable; no need to apply pressure

Easy to clean: It should be easy to wipe down graters to push out any remaining food bits, as well as to clean any baskets or attachments. Although we looked for dishwasher-safe graters, our experts recommended hand washing to prolong a grater’s sharpness. This also did a good job with our hard and soft cheeses. While it was able to slice both carrots and zucchini, it wasn’t as good as some others we tested, making some rough cuts along the way. Still, if we had the grater out and didn’t want to grab a knife, it would be handy. While the silicone bumper at the base helps keep the grater stable, we noticed that it trapped bits of cheese, which made it more difficult to clean (it's not dishwasher safe). Zwilling Z-Cut Tower/Box Grater: Our tester really liked the included storage compartment built inside the grater, the fact that you could use the grater horizontally, and the two-way blades, which resulted in “consistent and professional” cheese shreds. However, it’s much more expensive than other comparable models. This grater does it all. With it, you can zest or shred finely (great for garlic cloves and cheese to top pasta with); slice fruit and veggies such as apples, cucumbers, potatoes, etc.; and do medium or coarse shreds. Some of this, of course, could also be accomplished with some pro-level knife skills, but if you’d rather have a grater do the work for you, this is an excellent option. It also comes with a rubber handle and rubber base and is technically dishwasher-safe, but hand-washing is recommended if you have the time. In testing, we ran it through the dishwasher multiple times with no ill effects.Getting a grater that is comfortable in your hand is important because grating is a slightly labor-intensive kitchen task that, depending on how much you need to grate, can take a long time. Box graters have such a sturdy base that oftentimes you don’t need to put much pressure on the handle for it to stay in place. Spices start losing their potency and aroma the moment they're ground, meaning ground nutmeg and cinnamon from the grocery store don't have the same wow factor that freshly ground spices do. Take your homemade eggnog and pumpkin spice latte to the next level by zesting these spices at home. Enter the Norpro grater. This small but sturdy grater features a non-slip rubber guard to keep it from slipping.

This worked well for both our hard and soft cheeses, and we liked that we could choose large or small shreds as well as ribbon cuts. This also did a good job zesting. This has two options for slicing, for either straight or wavy cuts. Both worked well for zucchini but not as well for carrots. Next on our list is another food grater from Oxo. They make a huge range of really high-quality culinary tools and the Oxo Good Grips Box Grater is one of their best products. It pretty much looks just like a normal box grater, but it has one added feature that makes it extra useful. On the bottom of the grater, there’s an attachable container to catch whatever you’re grating. This tool will come in handy, especially for health nuts that like to measure their food because it has measurements on both sides. Plus, it has a small lid on top so you can also use the container to store food if you grate too much by accident. Blade types include coarse (largest), medium (between coarse and fine), fine, and a slicer. “A simple general rule of thumb is a coarse blade grater is best for any ingredient, like cheese or a vegetable, that’s going to be cooked—think hash browns, zucchini fritters, mozzarella or cheddar cheese that should melt while cooking,” says Flores. The grater is dishwasher safe, and we ran it though the dishwasher multiple times during testing. The box should be hand washed, but if it’s only used for storage it shouldn’t need a lot of cleaning.People might be averse to this type of grater because it looks like it requires more effort to use than your average box grater. However, our tester found this to not be the case, calling this rasp-style grater very easy to use. They told us that the handle is sturdy enough to hold with just one handle, and that they didn’t have to apply an excess amount of pressure for it to successfully shred and zest the food. If you like versatility, you'll love our popular Square Grater. This kitchen grater is a real all-rounder and can help you finely cut practically all your favorite ingredients. Our Tower grater with Z-Cut two-way grating technology has four grating surfaces that let you grate everything from fruits, vegetables or nuts to chocolate and cheese. As a practical extra, the Square Grater comes with a matching collection tray so you can remove your freshly grated ingredients with no mess.

This grater performed well in our tests, producing even shreds of both hard and soft cheese. The big surface area of the sides and the wider, flared opening at the bottom came especially in handy while grating larger volumes. Since it is lightweight, despite its size, we noted that it might not last as long with heavier use (more than the average home cook). Cleaning was easy—both in the dishwasher and while washing by hand—and the rubber bottom is removable to ensure that no smaller pieces of food are caught underneath. All in all, this grater is a great value for the price.

All four sides of this box grater performed phenomenally during our testing. Our testers were able to produce uniform shreds of hard and soft cheese on both the coarse and fine grater blades with little to no effort. Our tester said there were similarly great zesting results while using the fine blade, so much so that they told us they’d be fine using the grater as an alternative to owning a separate zesting tool. They attributed these results to the quality of the grater’s material as well as the size of the grating holes, which our tester said were larger than holes they had seen in other box graters. The next grater on our list wins the award for the catchiest name. The KitchenAid KN300OSOBA Box Grater might not roll off the tongue, but it knows how to grate! It’s a pretty basic design, with three stainless-steel grating surfaces and one slicing blade. This gives you the option to grate, shred, or slice your food, but unfortunately doesn’t contain a zesting surface. You’ll have to buy a separate tool for that. Who it’s for: People who want a grater that’s effective for grating cheese but isn’t as bulky as a box grater.

Based in Arkansas in the US, Microplane have over 40 years’ experience of photo-etching technology and were the first company to use the process for making culinary tools – which led to them making what they believe to be the sharpest grater blades in the world for effortless, precise grating to maximise aroma and flavour without ripping, tearing or shredding. Made from start to finish from the highest quality stainless steel in their own dedicated factories, Microplane graters have non-slip bases, protective covers for safe storage, and ergonomic soft-grip handles to give you a really secure hold. Each one carries a lifetime guarantee.The most common type of grater is a box grater, which are loved for their versatility because they come with four grating options (though some brands offer more). The next most common grater is the rasp grater, which some people also refer to as a Microplane (Microplane is actually a company that makes rasp graters). Rasp graters with fine blades excel at zesting citrus, so much so that keen home cooks often have these types of rasp graters in addition to a box grater. There are other rasp graters that also have larger grating holes that produce more medium or coarse shreds. Pecorino: We shredded 1 ounce of Pecorino using the fine holes on each box grater, and using each rasp grater or zester. Again, we looked for undesirable crumbling, shearing, and messiness, as well as uniform shred size and shape.