Cheese is without a doubt one of the best ways to compliment a meal, and it is quite rare to find someone who doesn’t like it. One of the ideal ways to serve cheese is grated, as this is one of the best means to spread it across a dish. There are a few different types of models to grate cheese, some more convenient than others.
Rotary style graters are quite a popular choice for good reason, as they are small enough to stay on the table, so you can grate cheese over your meal when it is needed. Competition in this market is naturally quite fierce, and there are many different brands to pick from. In this article we are going to look at the Pampered Chef Cheese Grater. Is this the ideal grater for your meals? Lets find out.
Pampered Chef Deluxe Cheese Grater
Pampered Chef has always been a brand that has a more premium feel to it, and it comes as no surprise that this particular model is priced more than the competition at around $20. So what does that get you?
Features & Design
You receive the Pampered Chef rotary grater including the main body and handle, and the grating drums. The grating drums come in two sizes including the fine and medium drums. These two drums are both made out of stainless steel, so should last for quite some time. The drums are inserted into the main chamber, and then you screw the handle directly into the drum.
The main body of the unit is made out of high density plastic. It feels quite sturdy for the most part, although the pivoting handle that pushes the cheese against the drum does have a little flex in it. The actual chamber where the cheese is put is more or less average in size, and you will still need to cut your cheese into cubes in order to get the best grating performance out of the grater. All of this comes in a recycled box, which gives the overall package a lovely upmarket feel.Since this is a rotary grater, this isn’t a whole lot else to discuss about the features, so let’s move onto how well it performs.
Performance
The Pampered Chef rotary grater is a bit of a mixed bag unfortunately in terms of performance, depending on what kind of cheese you use. Hard cheese such as Parmesan tends to be quite easy to grate using either drum, although a little force is needed on the clamping handle to get it working efficiently. As mentioned above, it does have some flex in the handle which means you do need to exert a good amount of pressure on it when you are turning the handle. This problem is also present when using medium kinds of cheese, but it is still tolerable if you have a bit of patience.
Softer cheeses are a problem for the Pampered Chef Cheese Grater, and trying to grate them is a testing experience to say the least. If you follow the old trick of microwaving them for a few seconds to remove the moisture, or even freezing them beforehand, then it becomes a little easier. Once you have finished grating, cleaning the drum is quite straightforward if you have a scrubbing brush to get among the grooves. The body of the unit is also quite easy to clean with a sponge, since the grating chamber is a decent size.
Value For Money
Now the big question is whether or not it is worth paying the extra for a Pampered Chef deluxe cheese grater. And in this case we would say no for two reasons. The first being the flexing handle, and the second being the turning handle. The turning is made out of thin plastic, and feels like it will snap under a bit of strain. Reading some user reviews about this model confirmed our fears that the handle is a weak point in this design, as many users were reporting that their handles had snapped after a bit of use. For this reason it is very hard to recommend this model, because if the handle does snap you will need to throw the whole unit out as you cannot buy a replacement.
Summary
So that is a brief look at the Pampered Chef Cheese Grater. It may have a premium price tag, but the materials do not reflect a premium quality build unfortunately. If you are looking for something similar then the Zyliss Classic Rotary Grater is a better choice, as this has a decent build quality in addition to being more affordable. The Zyliss is certain worth a look, and you can find out more about it over on the Amazon page. As for the Pampered Chef model, it might be best to give this particular product in their lineup a miss.