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Make quick work of cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and more.

A cheese grater we recommend displayed on a wooden cutting board with an orange

Photo:Real Simple

It’s recommended that you buy cut-resistant gloves to protect your fingers from the exposed blades.

All four sides of this box grater performed phenomenally during our testing.

We also tried this out on smoked mozzarella and found it to work quite well.

Microplane Specialty Series 4-Sided Box Grater

PHOTO: Amazon

It helps that it’s very easy to clean, too (yes, it’s dishwasher-safe!).

Both of our experts, like many home chefs, love the Microplane.

It also did an amazing job on hard cheese.

Microplane Specialty Series 4-Sided Box Grater sitting on a kitchen towel

Real Simple

It took practically no effort at all to grate Parmesan.

Fluffy flakes of cheese that almost curved on themselves.

The soft cheese, however, was a different story.

Microplane Classic Series Zester

PHOTO: Crate & Barrel

you’re free to’t rest it on the counter when grating.

Soft cheese was not as easy to grate, as it required a lot more pressure to obtain shreds.

Granted, it wasn’t designed for soft cheeses, so this wasnt surprising.

Vivaant Cheese Grater

PHOTO: Amazon

This rotary grater comes with two blades and convenient storage tubes that you might attach while grating.

It didn’t do a good job zesting an orange.

People who meal prep will really appreciate this convenient box grater from KitchenAid.

Vivant Rotary Grater sitting on a counter with its accessories

Real Simple

For rotary-style graters, we performed the same tests with just the cheeses.

We also noted whether there were any special features or additional accessories that made the grating experience better.

We used all this information to come up with the best graters.

KitchenAid Gourmet 4-Sided Stainless Steel Box Grater With Detachable Storage Container

PHOTO: Amazon

There are other rasp graters that also have larger grating holes that produce more medium or coarse shreds.

Other types of graters include rotary graters, which have no exposed blades.

Coarse and fine should do the trick!

Person grating cheese on the KitchenAid Gourmet Box Grater

Real Simple

During our testing, we found that rasp graters often did a better job at zesting than box graters.

For Flores, having a separate rasp grater is essential.

I am of the belief that everyone should own aMicroplane, she says.

Person using Vivant Rotary Grater to grate cheese into a bowl

Real Simple

Its a top five item used in my kitchen.

Utopia Kitchen Stainless Steel grater sitting on a cutting board next to grated cheese

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