Average Customer Review: ( 74 customer reviews )
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It's hard to describe how much better the microplane is than any other cheap, old-fashioned, knuckle-scraping box grater, or even most of the competing "modern" graters. The cheese goes where you want it to, you don't break a sweat, and there's nothing awkward or strenuous about the action. You have the handle in one hand, and the cheese (or what have you) in the other, and you just rub smoothly back and forth. No effort required. This is really one of those kitchen gadgets that makes you wonder where it's been all your life --- I never even stopped to think about how much of a chore grating was until I got one of these. I got one for my mother, grandmother, sister, and mother-in-law, and they're all equally amazed. (Well, maybe not quite as effusive about it as I am, but they really like them)

After two years of owning my microplane, I use it as much as ever. I can't tell you how delightful it is to have effortless grated cheese every time I serve pasta. The construction is solid, and it doesn't dull. One of these days, I'm going to get around to buying the rest of the microplane line -- the zester (which I think is their original product and looks just like a rasp), the spice grater, and the different grades of this style. But for now this does the trick in every situation. I love this thing like I've never loved a kitchen gadget.

63 of 63 found the following review helpful:

Far superior to alternatives as a hard cheese graterMay 05, 2000

I primarily use this for grating parmesan cheese, and it's astonishing how much better it is than a conventional cheese grater. The shreds will be a little shorter than you're used to, but it produces wonderful light bits in perhaps 20% of the time it would take with a conventional grater. It's also easy to clean (sharp surfaces face only one direction on each side, so scrub against the grain), and I find myself, despite the warning in the main review, much less likely to scrape my knuckles than with a conventional grater because it takes such a light touch. If you rest the bottom of the grater in a small bowl, and hold it at a slight angle, you'll get a nice stable surface for particularly easy grating. It's not as good for citrus zest, though - zest tends to clog in the holes - for that I prefer the citrus zester and I've heard the spice grater is even better.

The NY Times had a great little article about 2 years ago when it was first discovered that these carpentry planers were wonderful kitchen gadgets -I think a woman in Alberta borrowed some tools from her husband's hardware store and it took off from there. This is not just a fad - these really are far superior to what came before.

23 of 23 found the following review helpful:

My second favorite in the Microplane product line.Nov 30, 2003
By J. Manly "healthychoices"
This Microplane grater has a coarser set of cutting blades, making it ideal for grating somewhat softer cheeses that tend to gum up the finer graters. The grating surface is wider than the all-metal curved version with the black handle that Microplane first introduced, so the grating goes faster as well.

DOWN SIDE: The handle assembly collects water between the black handle and the clear plastic frame if the grater is immersed or cleaned under running water. This would happen if you put this in the dishwasher, too. Fortunately, the black handle is removable. Unless you disassemble this when cleaning it, you may want to check for water in the handle assembly before starting to grate cheese at the table.

WARNING: Like all of the Microplane graters, this one is very sharp. Pay attention while you are using it. Store it out of reach of small hands. If you must store it in a drawer, I recommend keeping it in the protective cardboard sleeve in which it is packed.

18 of 18 found the following review helpful:

Another rave review...Jan 13, 2001

Microplane also makes a fabulous zester (all cooks know that the words fabulous and zester are contradictory but not so in this case!). Same overall shape as this item but narrower, with smaller holes. The company calls it a grater-zester. Many people who reviewed that item use it for grating cheese as well.

But for me, THIS is the cheese grater. It has any type of cheese begging for mercy in mere seconds, as the grater-zester does with the dreaded citrus, nutmeg, ginger, etc. True, the company says its zester will grate hard cheese -- and THIS grater can also make zest (although larger and coarser than the grater-zester creates).

Both items are well-made, sturdy, easy to hold & balance, and *VERY* sharp. My personal opinion and experience: try both.

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