Average Customer Review: ( 24 customer reviews )
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* AN ALL-METAL FRAME--makes it awesomely durable for heavy duty use. For grating lots of carrots as additions to ground meat or to soups, this grater is tops.
* A RUBBER REST OPPOSITE THE HANDLE--makes it ergonomically more efficient, since you can rest the end on a cutting board or in a bowl, allowing you to use more pressure.
* A PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR THE GRATING SURFACE--makes it easier to store safely.
* TWO-WAY GRATING--makes it faster, since cutting edges face both ways.

DOWNSIDE: Two way grating means that this grater is inherently less safe. Now you can cut yourself both ways! Also, unless you're "grating" something that melts under hot water, such as butter or chocolate, this two way cutting feature makes this model harder to clean: Bits of carrot or apple stuck between the "blades" cannot be removed by running your fingers the opposite direction from the cutting edge. A wooden toothpick or an old toothbrush (brush from side to side, not top to bottom) will do the trick.

BOTTOM LINE: This may well have a valued place in your kitchen, but it isn't the first one to buy.

32 of 33 found the following review helpful:

We'd give it 10 stars if you had 'em, lolJul 27, 2003

We're definitely ordering this RIGHT NOW after trying one at a friend's house [unfortunately she paid A LOT more for it than the price I paid fabulous price].
Beats us how a company can make a perfect product even better, but Microplane managed it :::
[1] We already have 3 different 'original' design flat graters (purchased here & all still available, I believe). The 'originals' -- basically one-way grating -- still seem best to us for unusually hard things (e.g. nutmeg) or otherwise fairly difficult ones (e.g. fresh ginger).
[2] For THIS newer two-way design, we'd say the description given in the product entry here is right on. It's ideal for somewhat softer foods, especially those you normally wouldn't even consider grating -- yikes, like a stick of butter?! This thing is so fast & efficient that butter-chocolate-soft cheese-etc barely has time enough to go all icky-gooey on ya. SUPER for obtaining taste with *serious* portion control if you're on one of those hideous physician-mandated restricted-everything diets, as we are.
[3] The nicest feature of this newer design is that little extension opposite the handle. Makes it easier to rest the grater flat on the edge of a bowl or a vertical-rimmed plate when using it.
[4] Bottom line: in our opinion & experience, any or ALL of the Microplane flat graters are just plain NECESSITIES, not luxuries, for every kitchen.

16 of 16 found the following review helpful:

You can't go wrong with this grater.Feb 08, 2006
By monkeywrench
I love these microplane graters (I have three in different sizes) because you're able to grate food with very little pressure. They're extremely sharp and mine haven't dulled after three years of frequent use. Actually, that's the only negative; you must be very careful of your fingers when grating small items (I've added more flavoring to my meal than intended on a few occasions!). Food particles rinse off pretty easily with running water or you can throw them in the dishwasher and they'll come out spotless. This is the best one to buy as your first microplane grater since the size is pretty versatile for cheese, veggies, chocolate, or wax or soap for candle and soap-making.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Versatile but the result is not quite "ribbon"Dec 14, 2007
By Ryuji Suzuki
The Microplane graters come in different series and there are so many kinds of blades, so you may find it hard to choose one that you need.

About the size, shape, grip and other overall design of the 38000 series, these graters are very well thought out and executed. They are very convenient to use on a bowl, a pan, and a cutting board. They are also very easy to use on the serving dishes in the last steps of presentation.

At the time of this writing, I have used 3 products in 38000 series, plus the slider attachment. I bought different graters so that I can experiment with all sorts of ingredients to make novel garnishes, or something interesting that people wouldn't think of. The manufacturer says this shaver is good for chocolate, soft cheese, and butter, but I was hoping that it would work with vegetables and other things to make pretty flakes. Does it work just as well with other ingredients? Well, sort of. This grater says "ribbon grater" but the actual shape of shaved stuff is not quite "ribbon" with most things I tried: not thick enough and not long enough. But it works with more things than the large shaver, and in this sense I can say this product is more versatile. However, the resulting shape I get from this grater is not as interesting as those I get from large shaver. I don't see as much creative potential in this product as in the large shaver, but it may be just me. It is certainly more interesting than fine zester/grater, since the latter is very predictable in what it does and what you get.

I may try more graters in this series if I get some idea of how I can make use of other blades.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Buy this Pofessional version!Sep 06, 2008
By Gail Volkert "Gail"
These Microplane graters are wonderful, and I only recommend the Professional versions. If you use your graters a lot, the plastic edges of the cheaper versions will eventually break, so spend the extra few dollars and get this steel edged Professional version to start with. I just replaced two plastic edged graters myself because they broke within nine months.

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