Best Mandoline Slicers in 2026: Buy the Gloves in the Same Order

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Our quick picks

The reasoning, the specifications that actually matter and every drawback are below.

A mandoline is the only tool in a home kitchen that we would put a warning above the recommendations for, so that is what this guide does. Emergency departments see mandoline injuries routinely, they are deep fingertip lacerations rather than nicks, and they happen for a predictable reason: the blade is far sharper than a knife feels, it is fixed, and the injury almost always happens at the end of the vegetable, when there is not much left and the guard feels like a nuisance.

None of that means you should not own one. It means you should own one and use it the way it is designed to be used, which takes no extra time and prevents essentially all of it.

Read this first: how to not cut yourself

• Use the food holder, every single time, including for the last inch. This is the whole rule. The guard exists because the last part of a vegetable is when your fingers are closest to the blade and the resistance is lowest.
• Wear a cut-resistant glove on the hand holding the food. This is what professional kitchens do, it costs very little, and it turns a serious injury into a scratch. If you buy a mandoline, buy a glove in the same order.
• Stop before the end and finish with a knife. The last inch of a potato is worth less than a trip to hospital. Slice it flat on a board.
• Never rush, and never use one while distracted or talking to someone. Every account of a mandoline injury includes one of those.
• Keep the blade sharp. This is counterintuitive and important: a dull mandoline makes you push harder, and pushing harder is when your hand slips and keeps going.
• Set it on a stable, dry surface and make sure the feet or legs are locked. A mandoline that slides mid-stroke is the other common failure.
• Clean it with a brush, never a cloth. Wiping a cloth across a mandoline blade is how people cut themselves washing up, which is a surprisingly large share of the injuries.
• Store it with the blade covered or the guard engaged, and keep spare blades in their case. Reaching into a drawer is a common way to find a loose julienne blade.
• Never let a child use one, and do not leave one assembled on a counter within reach.
• If you do cut yourself: apply firm pressure with a clean cloth and elevate the hand. A cut that will not stop bleeding after ten minutes of firm pressure, or one that is deep, gaping, numb, or involves a fingertip, needs medical attention rather than a plaster.

Read that once, buy a glove, and a mandoline becomes an ordinary kitchen tool.

What a mandoline is actually for

It is worth being honest about this, because people buy one, find it fiddly, and never use it again.

A mandoline is not faster than a knife for three potatoes. Setting it up, using it and washing it takes longer than slicing a small quantity by hand. What it gives you is uniformity at volume, and uniformity is what makes certain dishes work: a potato gratin where every slice cooks at the same rate, crisps that all brown at once, cucumber for pickles, paper-thin fennel or radish for a salad, apples for a tart that sit flat.

So the honest test before buying: do you make things that need a lot of evenly-sliced vegetables? If yes, it is transformative. If you mostly chop onions for a stew, a good knife and a board is the better purchase and a food processor with a slicing disc is the better one after that.

Flat blade or V-blade, and what else matters

• A Japanese flat blade — a single straight blade set across the body, as on a Benriner — gives the cleanest cut, particularly on soft things like tomatoes and mushrooms. It needs more downward pressure, and it is what most professional kitchens use.
• A V-blade meets the food at an angle from both sides, which cuts with much less force. Easier on the arm and on hard vegetables like celeriac and sweet potato; slightly more inclined to tear very soft or delicate items.
• Stability is the specification that matters most. Folding legs, non-slip feet, or a design that sits over a bowl. A mandoline that moves is the dangerous kind, and no amount of blade quality compensates.
• Thickness adjustment that actually holds. A dial or lever that creeps under pressure gives you slices of three different thicknesses, which defeats the purpose. Look for a positive, clicking adjustment.
• How the blades change, and how many you need. Most people use the plain slicer ninety percent of the time and the julienne occasionally. A set with five blades is five things to store safely; a single adjustable blade is often the better design.
• The food holder, and whether it is any good. Some are flimsy afterthoughts with prongs that do not hold a round vegetable. A holder you trust is the difference between using the guard and not, which makes it the most safety-relevant part of the whole tool.
• Whether spare blades are sold separately. Blades dull, and a mandoline you cannot re-blade is a temporary tool. Check before buying.
• Hand wash only, in practice. Many are described as dishwasher safe and the dishwasher dulls blades and is where loose blades cause accidents. Assume hand washing with a brush.

The mandolines we would actually buy

1. Benriner Japanese Mandoline — best overall

Rated 4.7 stars across roughly 3,300 ratings. A flat plastic body with a single adjustable Japanese steel blade, three interchangeable julienne blades, and a food holder.

This is what professional kitchens use, and the reason is the cut. A single flat Japanese blade, properly sharp, produces the cleanest slice of anything in this guide — it goes through a tomato without crushing it and through a mushroom without tearing it. It is also simple: a body, a blade, a dial, nothing to go wrong.

It is small, it is light, it sits over a bowl, and it costs less than most of the elaborate alternatives. Buy replacement blades with it; they are inexpensive and a sharp blade is the safest blade.

• The cleanest cut here, especially on soft vegetables
• What professional kitchens actually use
• Simple design with very little to fail
• Three julienne blades included for matchsticks
• Sits neatly over a bowl and stores flat
• Replacement blades are cheap and easy to find

The catch: a flat blade needs real downward pressure, which is tiring on hard vegetables like celeriac and which is also when hands slip — the glove matters most with this design. The plastic body is functional and feels inexpensive. The food holder is basic compared with the best of them, and it is essential, so use it anyway. And the thickness dial is fine and not as positive as a clicking adjustment, so check your setting after a few slices.

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2. Börner V1 ClassicLine Starter Set — best V-blade, and the easiest on your arm

Rated 4.6 stars across roughly 2,900 ratings. A V-blade mandoline with a safety food holder, a collecting container and interchangeable insert blades.

The V-blade is the reason to choose this. Because the blade meets the food from both sides at an angle, it needs noticeably less force than a flat blade, which makes hard vegetables — sweet potato, celeriac, beetroot, hard cheese — far less of a wrestle. Less force also means less opportunity for a hand to slip, which is a genuine safety benefit rather than a marketing one.

The set includes a container that the mandoline sits over, so slices collect rather than scattering, and the food holder is one of the better ones in this guide.

• V-blade cuts with much less downward force
• Noticeably better on hard, dense vegetables
• Collecting container included, so nothing scatters
• One of the better food holders here, which is the safety-critical part
• German-made with spare parts available
• Solid review base at a good rating

Where it falls short: a V-blade can tear very soft items — ripe tomatoes and delicate mushrooms come out better on the Benriner. The insert blades are separate pieces that have to be stored somewhere safe, and loose blades in a drawer are their own hazard, so keep the case. It is bulkier to store than a flat Japanese mandoline. And the thickness options are set by inserts rather than a dial, so you are choosing between fixed thicknesses instead of adjusting freely.

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3. OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline — deepest review base, most stable, and a caveat

Rated 4.4 stars across roughly 4,500 ratings, the deepest review base in this guide. A V-blade mandoline with folding legs, a non-slip base, straight and wavy blades, and a dial for thickness.

What it does better than anything else here is stand still. Folding legs and a non-slip base mean it sits on a counter like a piece of equipment rather than sliding around, and stability is the most underrated safety feature in this category. The thickness dial is positive and the hand guard is one of the more usable ones.

We are ranking it third because 4.4 is the bottom of what we recommend, and with four and a half thousand ratings that number means something. Reading the negative reviews, the complaints cluster on blade sharpness fading sooner than people expect and on the julienne function being less effective than the plain slicer. Neither is a safety issue, and both are worth knowing.

• Deepest review base in this guide
• Folding legs and non-slip base — by far the most stable here
• Positive thickness dial that does not creep
• Usable hand guard with a good grip
• Straight and wavy blades for plain and crinkle cuts
• Folds down for storage with the blade covered

What owners complain about: the 4.4 rating reflects real complaints — reviewers report the blade dulling sooner than on the Japanese mandolines, and replacement blades are harder to come by, which is the main strike against it. The julienne is reported as mediocre. It is the bulkiest option here. And a dulling blade is a safety matter, not just a performance one, so retire it rather than pushing harder.

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4. Cut-Resistant Gloves — buy these with whichever mandoline you choose

Rated 4.7 stars across roughly 350 ratings. Food-grade cut-resistant gloves rated at a high cut level, sold as two pairs.

We are including gloves as a numbered pick because they are the most important thing on this page. A cut-resistant glove on the hand holding the food turns the characteristic mandoline injury — a deep slice through a fingertip — into a scuff on a glove. Professional kitchens require them. They cost a small fraction of what a mandoline costs.

They are also useful well beyond the mandoline: shucking oysters, using a sharp peeler at speed, grating on a box grater, and any job where your guiding hand is close to an edge.

• Turns the standard mandoline injury into nothing at all
• Food grade, and washable
• High cut rating rather than a token level
• Two pairs, so one is always clean
• Also useful for graters, peelers and oysters
• Costs very little next to the tool it protects you from

The downside: the review base is modest, which is why this is a pick on the strength of the category rather than the specific product — any food-grade glove with a high stated cut level does this job, and the important thing is owning a pair rather than which pair. Cut-resistant is not puncture-resistant: these protect against a slicing blade, not against a knife point. Get the size right, because a loose glove is worse than none. They need washing, since they are fabric and they handle food. And they are not heatproof, so they are not oven gloves.

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5. OXO Complete Grate & Slice Set — the safer alternative if you mostly grate

Rated 4.6 stars across roughly 1,900 ratings. A box-style grater and slicer with four surfaces, a lidded container, non-slip feet and a hand guard.

We are including this because for a lot of people it is the honest answer. If what you actually want is grated cheese, coarse-grated carrot, a bit of zest and the occasional slice, a box grater with a slicing face does all of that with much less exposed blade, it stores as one object with a lid, and it slices into its own container.

It will not produce paper-thin uniform slices for a gratin, and it is a far less demanding tool to live with.

• Four surfaces, so it replaces several tools
• Much less exposed blade than a mandoline
• Slices and grates into a lidded container
• Non-slip feet and a hand guard included
• Stores as one object rather than a body plus loose blades
• Good rating on a solid review base

What you give up: it does not do what a mandoline does — the slicing face is thicker and less adjustable, so gratins and crisps are out. A box grater is still sharp and a grazed knuckle is the most common kitchen injury there is, so the hand guard is worth using here too. The container is a fixed size, which is limiting for large quantities. And it is bulkier in a cupboard than a flat mandoline.

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What we left out, and why

• Multi-function “vegetable chopper” boxes with a dozen inserts. These sell in enormous numbers and they are a different tool — a push-through dicer rather than a mandoline. They dice and chop competently, they do not produce thin uniform slices, and a drawer of a dozen loose blades is its own hazard. If dicing onions quickly is your actual problem, buy one knowingly; do not buy one expecting a mandoline.
• Mandolines without a food holder, at any price. The holder is the safety device. A tool sold without one is a tool that assumes you will use your fingers.
• Very cheap unbranded mandolines. The problems are consistent: blades that dull quickly, bodies that flex under pressure, and holders that do not grip. All three push you toward using your hand instead, which is exactly the wrong incentive.
• Mandolines with no replacement blades available. A dull blade makes you press harder, and pressing harder is how the injuries happen. If you cannot re-blade it, it has a short safe life.
• Anything you would put in a dishwasher. It dulls the blade and it puts a loose blade in a machine you reach into. Hand wash with a brush, always.
• Electric slicers, for home use. Deli-style rotary slicers are excellent at what they do, take up serious space, are harder to clean, and have far more exposed blade. For a home kitchen a mandoline and a glove is the better answer.
• Ceramic-blade mandolines. Very sharp initially, and ceramic chips rather than dulling gradually, so the failure is sudden and the blade cannot be sharpened. Steel is the more sensible choice for a tool this sharp.

How to choose, fast

• Buy gloves. Whatever else you decide. This is the one non-negotiable line in this guide.
• Do you slice soft things — tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini? The Japanese flat blade. Cleanest cut by a distance.
• Do you slice hard things — celeriac, sweet potato, beetroot? A V-blade. Much less force, which is easier and safer.
• Does the thought of a sliding blade worry you? The OXO, for the folding legs and the non-slip base — accepting that the blade dulls sooner.
• Do you actually just want grated cheese and carrot? A box grater set. Less blade, less to go wrong, and the honest answer for many kitchens.
• Small kitchen? The flat Japanese mandoline. It stores like a large spatula.
• Do you make gratins, crisps or pickles? A real mandoline earns its place. For three potatoes once a month, a knife is faster.
• Do you have children in the kitchen? Think hard about storage before you buy, and choose one that stores with the blade covered.

Getting good results and keeping your fingers

• Glove on the guiding hand, holder on the food, every time. Both, not either.
• Cut a flat face on the vegetable first, on a board with a knife. A round vegetable on a mandoline rolls, and rolling is when the holder loses grip.
• Let the blade do the work with a steady, even stroke. Sawing and forcing both end badly.
• Stop at the last inch and finish on a board. Every time. The end is where the injuries are.
• Set the thickness with a test slice, then check it again after a few, because dials creep.
• Slice onto a damp cloth or into a bowl, not onto a dry board where thin slices stick and fly.
• Salt sliced vegetables for a gratin and let them stand, then pat dry. Uniform slices plus less water is the whole reason to own the tool.
• Wash immediately with a brush under running water, before anything dries onto the blade. Never a cloth across the blade, never a sponge you hold in your hand.
• Dry it fully before storing, because steel blades pit.
• Store it assembled with the guard engaged, or in its case, and keep spare blades in the holder they came in. A loose julienne blade in a drawer is the classic second injury.
• Replace the blade when you notice yourself pressing harder. That is the signal, and it arrives before you consciously register it.

Frequently asked questions

Are mandoline slicers dangerous?

They are the sharpest fixed blade in most kitchens and they cause serious cuts every year, almost always in the same circumstances: not using the food holder, working on the last inch of a vegetable, rushing, or wiping the blade with a cloth while washing up. Used with the holder and a cut-resistant glove, and cleaned with a brush, a mandoline is an ordinary tool. The equipment that makes it safe costs very little and takes no extra time.

Do I really need cut-resistant gloves?

We would not use a mandoline without one, and professional kitchens require them. A glove on the guiding hand turns the characteristic injury — a deep slice through a fingertip — into a mark on a glove. Note that cut-resistant is not puncture-resistant, so they protect against a slicing edge and not against a knife point.

Flat blade or V-blade?

A flat Japanese blade gives the cleanest cut, particularly on soft things like tomatoes and mushrooms, and needs more downward force. A V-blade cuts with much less force, which makes hard vegetables easier and reduces the chance of a slip, and it can tear very delicate items. If you mostly slice hard vegetables, choose the V.

Is a mandoline faster than a knife?

Not for small quantities — setting it up and washing it takes longer than slicing three potatoes. It wins on volume and on uniformity, which is what makes gratins cook evenly and crisps brown at the same time. If your cooking does not involve a lot of evenly sliced vegetables, a good knife is the better purchase.

Why does my mandoline crush or tear the vegetable?

Usually a dull blade, and the fix is a new blade rather than more force — pressing harder is both the cause of poor cuts and the cause of accidents. On a V-blade, tearing on very soft items is partly inherent to the design. Also check the thickness setting: an extremely thin setting on a soft vegetable will tear whatever the blade.

Can I put a mandoline in the dishwasher?

Many are described as dishwasher safe and we would not. It dulls the blade faster, and it means reaching into a machine that contains an exposed blade. Wash it immediately under running water with a brush, dry it fully and store it with the blade covered.

What about the multi-blade vegetable chopper boxes?

They are a different tool — push-through dicers and choppers rather than slicers. They handle onions and peppers quickly and do not produce thin uniform slices, and a set of a dozen loose blades needs careful storage. Buy one if dicing is your problem; do not buy one instead of a mandoline.

How do I clean it safely?

Rinse it under running water immediately after use and clean it with a long-handled brush, never a cloth or a sponge held in your hand. A surprising share of mandoline injuries happen at the sink rather than during cooking. Dry it completely, then store it with the guard engaged.

So what should you buy?

Buy the Benriner if you want the cleanest cut and the tool professional kitchens use, or the Börner V1 if you mostly slice hard vegetables and would rather not push so hard. If stability is what worries you, the OXO stands still better than anything here, with the blade-life caveat noted.

And buy the cut-resistant gloves in the same order. They cost a small fraction of the tool, they are what professional kitchens insist on, and they are the difference between a mandoline being a useful piece of equipment and being the thing in your kitchen most likely to send you to hospital.