Best Mandoline Slicers
We sliced, diced, and julienned fruits and vegetables using 11 mandolines to find the best. See which ones made the cut.
From left: The Super Benriner, Börner V5 PowerLine, Dash Safe Slice, Kyocera Ceramic, and Müeller V-Pro 5 Blade mandoline slicers.
By Perry Santanachote
I happen to use my mandoline slicer often—for veggie carpaccios, paper-thin radishes for tacos, and evenly sliced shallots for frying.
But I’ve never shopped for one or spent any money on one because I’ve always known someone who had one collecting dust in their kitchen. They were either too scared to use it or didn’t know how. I was always happy to take it off their hands.
Between thrifting mandolines for my own home and working in restaurant kitchens, I’ve used every type of mandoline slicer there is. But it wasn’t until now, while evaluating them for CR, that I realized these tools can cost over $200. Could those models possibly be worth it when $20 mandolines also exist?
To find out, we bought 11 popular models and used them to slice tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, pears, onions, lemons, and, when applicable, julienne carrots.
What’s a Mandoline and What’s It Used For?
In the book “The Art of Flavor,” the authors Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel explain that a sharp blade can slice cleanly through the cell walls of food, thus preserving the integrity of the ingredient for crisp, clean, and distinct flavors that burst in the mouth and not prematurely on a cutting board. A dull knife or food processor will crush those cell walls instead, creating a more intense and merged flavor.
While a good chef’s knife does the job, a mandoline can do it faster and easier, especially when lots of slicing is involved or consistency in thickness is required. Its sole purpose is to uniformly cut fruits and vegetables, either for presentation or so the pieces cook at the same rate.
Mandolines are sharp blades attached to a platform that thinly slices food. Basic models only slice, while fancier ones also have attachments that julienne, dice, and waffle-cut. Some have a kickstand that props up the mandoline on a counter or cutting board while others are handheld like paddles. The type you get is more a matter of preference—and depends on the storage space you’ve got—and doesn’t indicate quality.
To use a mandoline, slide a piece of produce down the mandoline’s platform and across the stationary blade. The slice will slip under the mandoline platform while the unsliced piece stays on top. Some models let you adjust the height of the platform to control the slice thickness.
A mandoline can be dangerous because the blade is quite large and very sharp. They come with handguards that hold the food and protect your fingers, but with some, it can still be easy to slip and cut yourself. It’s important to pay attention while using a mandoline, and if you forgo the handguard for any reason, wear cut-resistant gloves.
Best Mandoline Slicers
It turns out that price isn’t a reliable indicator of a good mandoline. Some of the priciest models my colleague Angela Lashbrook and I evaluated were headaches to use. A handful of others were able to slice only some vegetables and failed at others. Five models were good enough to earn a spot at the top of our list.
Across the board, we prefer the simpler handheld mandolines over the larger kickstand models because there are no complicated instructions to parse and no attachments to keep track of. If all you need is a handful of thin radish, cucumber, or onion slices to finish off a dish, nothing is more quick and convenient than a trusty handheld mandoline.
For more on our criteria, see how we evaluated mandoline slicers, below.
Editor’s Pick: Börner V5 PowerLine Mandoline
The Börner V5 PowerLine mandoline expertly sliced most foods we threw at it.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $70
Where to buy: Amazon, Sur La Table
Type: Handheld
Out of the box: The intuitive-to-use Börner V5 mandoline measures 15 x 5.75 x 2 inches (the height is 3.75 inches including the blade storage) and the slicing platform measures 12 x 3.75 inches. It’s large enough to slice an onion but not a large Italian eggplant. It has two julienne blades that safely tuck into a storage sheath, and a large, round handguard that holds food securely without mangling it.
Slicing: All of the V-blade models we evaluated, including the Börner, struggled with tomatoes, but this one aced everything else, including zucchini, onions, radishes, pears, and lemons. The platform is adjustable to four thickness settings, producing slices as thin as 1.2 millimeters and as thick as 7 millimeters, but there’s no indication of which width it’s set to on the slicer. The julienne blades are very sharp. “My julienned onions and shallots were pristine,” Angela said. Carrots, cucumbers, and zucchini were also perfect matchsticks using this slicer. It was the best at julienning by far.
Ease of use: The mandoline is easy to adjust, swap out blades, and clean. The handguard managed to not completely smush our foods, unlike many other models in this batch.
Safety: The mandoline has rubberized feet that are meant to hold the tool steady on a countertop or cutting board, but it doesn’t do that. The slicer slowly glides across wood, glass, and marble countertops. But there are four notches on the underside of the mandoline that allow you to nest the slicer over bowls of several sizes. There’s a “safe” setting on the blade that tucks away the blade’s edge, and a case for the attachments that hooks onto the underside of the mandoline for storage.
Durability: The candy-colored plastic feels sturdy but a bit cheaper than some other models we looked at.
Mini but Mighty: Kyocera Ceramic Mandoline
The Kyocera mandoline features a ceramic blade and compact size.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $20
Where to buy: Amazon, Walmart
Type: Handheld
Out of the box: Kyocera calls this the “no set-up” mandoline slicer. It’s the most basic model we assessed, with only one slicing blade, a handguard, and no julienne attachments. It doesn’t get any easier than this to use. The mandoline measures about 11 x 0.6 inches and the slicing platform is 7 x 3 inches.
Slicing: This mandoline slices hard and medium foods evenly and beautifully. But it struggles with softer foods, such as pears. It’s too narrow to slice an onion unless you cut it in half first, and it doesn’t do thicker slices, so no potato gratin or eggplant parm using this one.
Ease of use: This mandoline is very easy to use. It has four thickness settings and can be adjusted by spinning a spindle on the underside of the slicer. The thickness settings are 0.5 millimeters, 1.3 millimeters, 2 millimeters, and 3 millimeters, but they’re labeled as 1, 2, 3, and 4. It’s a little challenging to adjust, especially if your hands are wet or you have trouble gripping or pinching small things. Cleaning it was a dream compared with some of the more complicated mandolines with multiple parts.
Safety: The handguard works surprisingly well for holding food without mangling it. There’s no grippy material on the end of the mandoline, so the safest way to use this model is to nest it in a bowl using the notches on the underside to secure it. Kyocera also makes food containers that perfectly fit the mandoline slicer, so you can slice your veggies directly into them during food prep.
Durability: The plastic is light and feels a bit flimsy but should last as long as the ceramic blade remains sharp.
Safety First: Dash Safe Slice Mandoline
The Dash Safe Slice mandoline has many safety features that protect your fingers from sharp blades.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $50
Where to buy: Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond
Type: Standing
Out of the box: The Dash doesn’t look like any other mandoline slicer we’ve ever encountered. Unlike other mandolines where the blade is stationary, this mandoline operates like a ruthless guillotine. Ruthless for your food, not your fingers, because your hands don’t need to go anywhere near the action. The stand-up mandoline measures 8 x 4.75 x 14.25 inches and has a spring-loaded pump lever that operates the blade. There’s a food hopper where you would usually be holding food with your hand and a bin to catch everything that comes out. The two julienne blades are integrated within the slicer so there’s no need to manually swap out any attachments.
Slicing: The hopper is tiny, about 3 cubic inches, so you have to cut larger and longer foods into smaller pieces to fit it inside—no carrot ribbons or eggplant rounds possible—and it doesn’t cut as consistently, perfectly, or paper-thin as many of the others. The Dash works well with harder foods such as potatoes, carrots, and zucchini once you master the slightly awkward way you need to feed them into the hopper. The manual says to avoid slicing softer foods and indeed, it didn’t do well with lemons and pears. But it was one of the best mandolines for slicing tomatoes.
Ease of use: The Dash was fairly easy to set up, and because your hands don’t go near the blades, you can slice quickly and waste no food. I expected to have slices flying all over the kitchen, but every single piece that came out of the slicer landed nicely in the bin. There’s a dial to easily adjust the thickness setting between 0.5 and 8 millimeters. Switching to other cuts (julienne, matchstick, and dice) required us to refer back to the manual because these blades must correspond to specific thickness settings. For instance, the julienne blade works only when the thickness is set between 1 and 3, while for matchsticks, it should be set to 7. Cleaning the mandoline might be the most difficult aspect of this model, but it does come with a brush, which helps a lot.
Safety: This mandoline is as safe as advertised. Finally, an option for people with hand mobility issues! It might even be safe enough for older children to use (with adult supervision). There are eight suction cups on the base to keep the system stable. It never budged no matter how carried away we got chopping up onions. The handle that controls the blade can also be locked when not in use, keeping the blade securely tucked away.
Durability: The plastic is light but feels durable and sturdy.
The One With Replaceable Blades: Super Benriner Mandoline
The Super Benriner mandoline features replaceable blades, so you’ll never have a dull moment, even after years of use.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $75
Where to buy: Sur La Table
Type: Handheld
Out of the box: The Benriner is pretty intuitive to use straight out of the box. The mandoline measures 14.5 x 5 x 1.75 inches and the slicing platform measures 12 x 3.75 inches. It’s large enough to slice an onion but not an Italian eggplant. It comes with three blades that shred, julienne, or thread-cut vegetables. A couple of them are loose, however, so good luck managing to not misplace them.
Slicing: The platform is adjustable, producing slices as thin as 0.5 millimeters and as thick as 8 millimeters, but there’s no measured indication of which width it’s set to. On the same setting, some slices were thicker than others and some were thin on one side and thicker on the other side. The blade also isn’t sharp enough to immediately slice through soft foods. Our pear slid along the blade’s edge until it smooshed along the side of the platform, which forced the pear through.
The julienne blades are easy and intuitive to put in and remove. But we found that they don’t work, like, at all when we tried them with carrots and potatoes. Later, we saw this caveat on a retailer’s website: “Please be aware that not all vegetables can be sliced easily with the julienne attachments. You may want to avoid vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots.” However, this was not in the manual and the photos accompanying the instructions feature carrots.
Ease of use: The mandoline comes apart for easy cleaning.
Safety: The mandoline has a rubberized end opposite the handle that’s meant to hold the tool still and steady on countertops, but it doesn’t do that. The slicer slowly glides across wood, glass, and marble countertops, and works only slightly better on solid surfacing. There’s a notch in the underside of the mandoline that allows you to nest the slicer in a bowl, which we recommend. The handguard managed to not completely smush our foods, but it wasn’t especially grippy, either.
Durability: The plastic feels sturdy and strong, unlike many of the other models we tried. And the blades are replaceable—either if you lose them or they become dull with use—and sold separately for about $10 each.
The Most Extra: Müeller V-Pro 5 Blade Adjustable Mandoline
The Müeller V-Pro 5 Blade comes with five blade attachments and two julienne slicers.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $30
Where to buy: Amazon, Walmart
Type: Kickstand
Out of the box: The Müeller V-Pro comes with five blades: a standard slicer, a wavy slicer, two shredders, and a grater that comes in a storage case. Two julienne blades are attached to the mandoline and tucked underneath the platform when not in use. The mandoline measures 13.25 x 5.75 x 2.75 inches and the slicing platform measures 13 x 3.75 inches. It’s large enough to slice an onion but not an Italian eggplant.
Slicing: The platform is adjustable, producing slices as thin as 1 millimeter and as thick as 9 millimeters (the thickest of the models we recommend), but there’s no measured indication of which width it’s set to. You have to turn a knob to adjust, which is a bit tough if you’ve got weak grip strength. And then you have to eyeball the thickness and guess how thick your slices will turn out. On the thinnest setting, it produced paper-thin, beautiful zucchini slices, but as I increased the thickness it struggled to cut evenly. The slices came out imprinted with the blade’s V-shape and couldn’t lay completely flat. Tomatoes and cucumbers took a little wiggling to get past the not-very-sharp blade, which ended up juicing them a little, too.
The julienne blades are easy to use. With a turn of a knob, they pop right up through slits in the platform. The wavy blade worked well enough to make fun ruffled potatoes, but the shredders are so short (less than 1.5 inches wide) that it takes too much time and energy to shred carrots or cheese. You’re better off using a box grater or food processor.
Ease of use: The attachments are easy to put on and remove. They’re gray while the mandoline body is white to help differentiate the blade from the body. There’s also a notch underneath the blade attachment to make it safe to pop off and remove the blade. This model was easy to clean.
Safety: The mandoline has rubberized feet that hold the tool steady on countertops and cutting boards. The kickstand can also be folded in and the slicer can be nested over bowls of many sizes. The handguard completely mangled softer foods and at one point slid right into the blade, getting its teeth stuck there. You’re better off using cut-resistant gloves.
Durability: The plastic feels sturdy but a little cheap.
Other Mandoline Slicers We Evaluated
Oneida Mandoline Slicing Set
We didn't like the flimsiness of the Oneida Mandoline Slicing Set.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $35
Where to buy: Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair
Type: Kickstand
The Oneida mandoline is made of cheap, flimsy plastic that jiggled when we slid food on it—not exactly inspiring confidence. “When julienning a shallot or slicing a potato, the runway would flip up when I slid the food up the mandoline,” Angela said. The thickness is adjustable, but it was just as easy to accidentally move the dial as it was difficult to adjust it on purpose. It slices and juliennes harder foods pretty well but the blade isn’t super-sharp, so it smashed up the pulp in the lemon slices and totally smashed the pear into pulp.
Oxo Good Grips Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer
The Oxo Good Grips Hand-Held Mandoline can slice harder foods but clips and mangles softer ones.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $19
Where to buy: Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target
Type: Handheld
The Oxo Good Grips Hand-Held mandoline has a few things going for it. There’s a safe setting that shields the blade for storage, it’s easy and intuitive to adjust thickness settings, and the handguard actually holds food without destroying it. It also attaches to the mandoline so there’s less of a chance that it gets lost. This slicer does okay with harder foods (more so on thicker settings than the thinnest setting) but clips or snags the edges on medium food, such as zucchini, and can’t handle soft foods at all. The lemons, tomatoes, and pears turned out awful.
Oxo Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer
The Oxo Good Grips V-Blade was bad at slicing foods and difficult to clean.
Photo: Perry Santanachote/Consumer Reports
Price paid: $45
Where to buy: Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s
Type: Kickstand
The Oxo Good Grips V-Blade is sturdy and intuitive to use, with thickness settings clearly labeled, and we love the safety lock that covers the blade when it’s not in use. The handguard held the food nicely, too. But it’s pretty bad at slicing, leaving a V-blade imprint on our harder foods, destroying our softer foods, and snagging onions. If that wasn’t reason enough to pass on this model, the blade attachments are very difficult to switch out and our fingers had to come very close to the blades to do so. Plus, it’s a nightmare to clean. “It flips around in your hands, things fall out, and it’s hard to handle and clean the individual blades,” Angela said. Oxo makes several kitchen gadgets I love, including my coffee maker and burr grinder, plus the cutting board I have in every size, but we were not impressed with either of its mandolines.
Models We Would Skip
A few mandolines posed challenges for us and were difficult to use. It’s a shame, because two of them were the only models we bought that were stainless steel, not plastic.
De Buyer Revolution Mandoline
Price paid: $220
Type: Kickstand
When I opened the package and pulled out the mandoline, the attached container that holds the three julienne blade attachments popped open and rained blades onto my feet—not exactly the appendage I was concerned with accidentally cutting. Adding insult to injury, I found that the mandoline isn’t at all intuitive to use. Reading the instructions somehow added to the confusion. I gave up trying to attach the blade after several attempts. Angela was able to figure it out after watching a video on YouTube, but says the blade fit awkwardly and it fell while she was slicing a potato. This one happened to be the best tomato slicer out of the bunch—thanks to its micro-serrated blade—but it didn’t matter much when the thing managed to cut my feet before I even fully unpacked it.
A representative from de Buyer said that this isn’t something they’ve heard of happening before but that they’re taking it seriously: “This product was developed for the professional audience, and while the product has been rigorously tested for performance and safety with proper application and assembly in mind, this has addressed an important need for better packaging to provide clear assembly and use instructions, alongside better packaging of the various pieces.” For instance, they told us the mandoline shouldn’t be used with the storage compartment attached, and Angela did indeed leave it on.
Louis Tellier Bron Coucke Stainless Steel Chef Mandoline
Price paid: $155
Type: Kickstand
Unless you have a PhD in mandolining, pass on this one. It was the least intuitive mandoline of the bunch. “This mandoline makes me feel stupid,” Angela said. “It’s actually easy to set it up the wrong way so that it’s at a less steep angle and the feet are not flush with the cutting board or countertop.” Even when we set it up correctly, we weren’t able to get a single slice out of this mandoline, despite multiple attempts and a call to a lovely and patient Louis Tellier customer service representative, who gently reminded me that these high-end stainless steel French mandolines are generally used by professional chefs and might be too much mandoline for the average home cook. “They need to be adjusted correctly to work, and the arms and levers can be very stiff, “ she said. “Home cooks might be more comfortable with a Japanese-style mandoline.”
Microplane Adjustable V-Blade Mandoline Food Slicer
Price paid: $30
Type: Handheld
How could the brand that makes my all-time favorite zester get a mandoline so wrong? It failed to slice any food. Potatoes and zucchini got stuck in the blade no matter the thickness setting. Lemons, pears, and tomatoes were totally mangled. Adjusting the thickness is easy but it’s just as easy to accidentally move it while slicing. The grippy end of the mandoline slides on the countertop and there are no notches to allow you to nest it on a bowl. Finally, the handguard—its teeth got stuck in the blade. This thing is basically useless on all levels.
How We Evaluated Mandoline Slicers
A good mandoline needs to be above all else safe. That means it should stand stable and steady—no wobbling or sliding on the counter. No yielding under the pressure of firm vegetables, either. And the blade should slice cleanly without catching the food, which could cause your hand to fly right into the blade. Attachments should be easy and safe to swap out and store.
It also needs to slice food thin and consistently, ideally both harder foods and softer foods. We used a mix of produce to evaluate the mandolines.
Harder foods: Carrots, potatoes, and radishes.
Medium foods: Cucumbers, onions, and zucchinis.
Softer foods: Citrus, pears, and tomatoes.
We also assessed whether the handguard was able to hold onto foods without mangling them, how easy it was to adjust thickness settings, and how easy it was to hand-wash.
This product evaluation is part of Consumer Reports’ Outside the Labs reviews program, which is separate from our laboratory testing and ratings. Our Outside the Labs reviews are performed at home and in other native settings by individuals, including our journalists, with specialized subject matter experience or familiarity and are designed to offer another important perspective for consumers as they shop. While the products or services mentioned in this article might not currently be in CR’s ratings, they could eventually be tested in our laboratories and rated according to an objective, scientific protocol.
Like all CR evaluations of products and services, our Outside the Labs reviews are independent and free from advertising. If you’d like to learn more about the criteria for our lab testing, please go to CR’s Research & Testing page.
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