12 Types of Graters [and How to Use Them]

Graters are multipurpose utensils that can be a helpful tool in any kitchen. By using a grater, you can change the texture of foods like cheese, spices, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and chocolate into tiny, fragmented granules to be used in your recipes.

Choosing a grater can be tricky because there are so many available options. You can either grate by hand or use an electrical appliance. Some types of graters offer a variety of blades for shredding and slicing too. Others are specifically designed to grate a specific kind of food. You will want to select a grater that fits your cooking style, is easy to maintain, and easy to store in your kitchen.

We’ve put together this list of 12 types of graters for you. Keep reading, to learn about different grater styles, and the uses for each.

1. Hand Grater

Handy because they are durable, lightweight, and dishwasher safe; hand graters are easy to use for grating either vertically or horizontally over any countertop, dish, and bowl. Hand graters have a comfort fit handle, so you will not hesitate to grab this utensil. Since each grater has only one blade, accumulating many can become cumbersome for storage.

Get professional-grade quality from KMEIVOL’s hand grater that features Good Grips for comfort and a convenient hanging loop handle for ease of storage.

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ALLTOP combines their most popular hand grater blades into one set of three, to give you coarse shredding, medium shredding, and grating capabilities.

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2. Rotary Grater

For total protection from sharp blades, the rotary grater is your answer. Barrel-shaped, stainless steel perforated blades are guarded against your hand by a shield. Easy to grip handle lets you spin the blade inside the shield, to grate food quickly, while gentle pressure is applied to food from the outside. Rotary graters require disassembly for cleaning, but most are dishwasher safe. Depending on the manufacturer, choose either one blade or interchanging blades.

To achieve finely grated results, try Zyliss’ rotary grater. Featuring a handle that can swap to either the left side or the right side, this grater is easy to use and disassemble to toss into the dishwasher afterward.

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Geedel’s rotary grater provides interchanging blades to select your thickness for slicing, coarse shredding, and grating. A suctioned base gives you ultimate stability, and easy to disassemble parts make for a quick clean after use.

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3. Box Grater

The sturdy, square-shaped base of a freestanding box grater gives you a stable platform to grate foods. Stainless steel, sharpened perforations differ on each of four sides, to provide several blade options. You can slice, coarse shred, medium shred, and grate your foods. Box graters are durable, dishwasher safe, lightweight, and easy to store as a multipurpose utensil.

This box grater by Spring Chef has removable rubber edging at its base to keep the grater grounded while you work. The extra-wide design captures more grated food inside, to complete the task without ever lifting the grater.

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Spring Chef has added an element of comfort to this box grater with a contoured handle. Get sturdiness from the rubber-lined bottom edge and maximum holding capacity from the widened shape.

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4. Microplane

A type of hand grater, the microplane style is a slim, mini-grater. The razor-sharp, stainless still blade can be used to either grate or zest. A comfort grip handle lets you work with ease, then simply toss in the dishwasher for a quick clean.

The sleek, wooden handle of this utensil from Microplane’s Master series adds style to your kitchenware. An easy to use, non-skid base lets you grate vertically.

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This versatile and durable Microplane lets you grate and zest in a flash. It features a comfortable handle, timeless stainless steel blade, and is dishwasher safe.

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5. Spice Grater

Specially designed to work best for spices, herbs, and nuts, the spice grater is designed with multiple perforated blades and underside catchment area. Choose either an open, hand grater style, or internally twisting, grinder style. Hand spice graters work well for larger, handleable spices, like nutmeg and cinnamon. Grinders, or spice mills, work well for small spices, like pepper and coriander. Most are dishwasher safe and compact for easy storage.

Norpro’s stainless steel spice grinder features a non-skid, rubber base for ease of use. This grinder also has a catchment area beneath the blade and bonus storage area on top for whole spices.

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Using Microplane’s spice mill, grate spices to your desired texture by manually applying pressure and turning the top. It features an internal blade and catchment area. The top storage compartment keeps whole spices readily available.

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6. Mandoline

A mandoline is a simple, yet versatile utensil not only used to grate, but also to slice, julienne, and shred various foods. It is a slanted platform, with a mounted, adjustable steel blade. You can adjust the blade to any thickness, and you can interchange blades for different types of cuts. Slide raw vegetables, raw fruits, or cheeses across the blade, guided by a hand protector, and each will be cut uniformly to your desired thickness.

Benriner’s traditional mandoline gives you four slicing options (fine, medium, coarse, or straight). Easy to use with hand protection, and easy to clean; this mandoline will last a lifetime.

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Get professional quality, and optimize your blade options within one utensil when you use Mueller’s mandoline in your kitchen.

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7. Cheese Grater

Handheld cheese graters are a perfect size and unique shape for a block of cheese. Using one gentle swipe, you can add freshly grated cheese to any dish. Quickly rinse clean the stainless steel blade, or add to the dishwasher.

Boska gives you a 10-year guarantee for their quality products. This cheese grater will prove a long-lasting, handy addition to your kitchen.

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Serve cheeses from the right dish, check out our blog, “20 Types of Serving Dishes,” to learn more.

8. Electric Grater

Options for electric graters include rotary-style graters, food processors, and attachment pieces for KitchenAid stand mixers. Electric graters let you grate quickly, without becoming fatigued because the machine does the work for you. Either internal or rotary style blades protect your hands from sharp edges. Depending on the manufacturer, you will probably receive several interchangeable blades with an electric grater. These graters require disassembly for cleaning.

The Salad Shooter, by Presto, gives you interchanging rotary blades to use for slicing, chopping, grating, and shredding. Compact design can easily be stored.

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Shred, slice, or chop with the 8-cup food processor by Hamilton Beach. Wide chute lets you efficiently process food. Bowl, chute, and blades are dishwasher safe.

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Quick prep means time to try more recipes. Check out, “What Can You Cook on a Griddle,” for inspiration.

9. Citrus Zester

The zester is designed to delicately, yet efficiently remove the outer peel of citrus fruits. The colorful exterior of the peel contains the most flavor. But cutting too deep into the bitter pith of the peel can alter the flavor of your recipe. Zesters are easy-to-use hand graters, with durable blades and grip-able handles that are dishwasher safe. Use a zester either vertically or horizontally, by applying gentle pressure to foods as you grate.

Deiss has equipped this zester with a contour, comfort grip handle for ease of zesting. The stainless steel blade is the perfect depth for zesting citrus without removing the pith and is capable of grating a variety of spices, fruits, and vegetables.

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Get the option to either grate or finely shred citrus and other foods by using the interchangeable blade on Mueller’s zester. A cinch to snap either blade into place and start prepping, this zester is both easy to clean and store.

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10. Ginger Grater

A ginger grater can be designed either as a handheld utensil, or a raised plane atop a reservoir dish. Sharp, raised edges shred peeled ginger or garlic into a fine pulp. Juice can be caught in the reservoir style graters, to pour into your food or beverage for additional flavor. Ginger graters are made from either stainless steel or ceramic. Most are dishwasher safe, and ceramic graters have a reputation for better overall performance.

The reservoir on this Kyoscera ginger grater is helpful, to capture excess juice to pour after you grate. Made from dishwasher-safe ceramic.

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This shovel-like ginger grater by Newness is made from stainless steel. It has trough-shaped edges to hold excess pulp as you grate.

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11. Flat Grater

A flat grater can be used in a variety of positions, laid horizontally over a countertop or dish, held vertically with one end of the frame stabilized on the countertop, or positioned over your mixing bowl. Flat graters are dishwasher safe and easy to store. Typically, flat graters provide only one blade, but some types can be found with interchanging blades.

Browne’s flat grater has a non-skid frame to stay put while you grate vertically.

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Grate with ease using ChefCRAFT’s flat grater with an easy grab handle and non-skid frame. This grater provides three blade options; coarse shred, slice, and grate.

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12. Tower Grater

Freestanding tower graters come in a variety of shapes like triangular, square, and octagonal. Tower graters give you a stable platform to work and often feature an integrated storage compartment to easily gather food as you grate. Typically, these graters are dishwasher safe and easy to store. Depending on the shape and design, a tower grater can provide a multitude of blades in one utensil. A box grater, for example, has a different blade on each of four sides. Other designs feature interchangeable blades.

Progressive International’s triangular tower grater features a comfort grip handle and non-skid base.

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Get ultimate versatility with one utensil by Utopian Kitchen. Comfort grip handle and non-skid base make easy work of slicing, coarse shredding, medium shredding, fine shredding, grating, and star (fine) grating.

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Now you know about different types of graters so that you can choose the best one for your kitchen.