Microplane Elite Five Blade Box Grater with Measuring Cup Base, Five Grating Surfaces Including Fine, Coarse, Double-Sided Ribbon, Ultra-Coarse, and Slicer - Black

This is a high quality grater with numerous grating surfaces to chose fromd. Very sharp, stable and easy to use. The best grater I've ever used.

Definitely an improvement over the previous version.Anyone who really gets into their cheese grating with parmesan, cheddar, etc. and cares about the quality of their cooked dinners knows that Microplane makes the best cheese graters. I do own a bunch of the flat rectangular Microplane graters, which I probably use more than the box grater, but for those dishes with a big pile of cheese the box grater is just the thing, so it gets a lot of use.I had TWO of the old version for a few years. About halfway in to the lifespan of one of them, the blade popped out. At that time this new version hadn't come out yet, so I ordered a second of the old version. Then, on that one, after a while, the same thing happened - the blade popped out. Fortunately, it was a different blade, so between the two of them I could still use any blade I needed. When the second blade finally popped out of one of them (and worse, there was a super sharp and dangerous metal/plastic line at the top where it had cracked), I found that Microplane had released this new version.This new version seems to clearly resolve all of the above issues. It's just solid as a rock. We'll see what happens as a year or two passes, but it seems unlikely to have the same problem.Regarding the removable base - at first I thought this might be a gimmick, but it's actually useful. Instead of the cheese pouring all over the counter (or needing a plate to catch it) it is simple enough to just leave the plastic base in place. It is a very hard plastic base so it does not seem to be chincy. It's also easy enough to leave it out and just forget about it and have a regular box grater, which is what I did at first (thinking it was a gimmick until one day I realized it would be convenient, and I've been using it most of the time since then).I will say that when your fingers are greasy from cooking, you can't get a grip on the removable plastic base, which is frustrating. But definitely a minor issue.Also, the old version was easy to grab when not being used by two long feet that stuck down, as well as the handle. I actually used the feet of the old one as a handle when the thing was clean and not being used, as it was easier to lift it around that way. Also, I would hang the thing on an overhead hook by its real handle, so I couldn't use the real handle to lift it. This one is missing the "handle-shaped feet" (presumably so that the removable plastic base has a place to go). And, the handle on the top of this one is kind of small and a nuisance to get your hand in. So for all these reasons I find myself grabbing this one by the body to lift it, and there's very little free space on the body, so my fingers press against the sharp blades. Some day I might cut myself a bit doing that. But this, too, is a minor complaint. People with a bit more patience than I have, and who don't hang the thing on a hook overhead to store it, might be fine just using the handle that comes with it.

Most of the faces are very useful given its competition. The blades are very sharp and work on soft and hard cheeses as well as all veggies I've used. The largest holes are what I use the most. For the smaller cuts, I use a dedicated Microplane grater. It's difficult to clean as are all box graters. It will definitely cut any sponges and brushes you use even on the inside. Most of the cleaning is perpendicular to the cutting face. Some soft cheese can stick to the inside so you have to be extra careful to clean.One fix would be to make the sides detachable so you can get into all the cracks while cleaning

Given the existing reviews, I feel like the grater I got must have been defective. It's essentially unusable, for two main reasons:1. The largest surface with the largest grating holes simply doesn't work--it's like the blades are not angled the right way or something, because when I try to grate something it just slides over the surface of the blades, essentially unharmed. I was trying to grate some Parmesan today (the primary reason I wanted this grater) and had to resort to using the finer surfaces because I got NOTHING out of trying this surface. The other surfaces weren't great, and required quite a bit of pressure for the blades to engage, but the largest grate was useless.2. The piece of plastic that keeps the cheese in the grater is impossible to remove using my hands. For some reason they made the tab that sticks out small enough that I cannot get a decent enough grip on it to pull the piece out, and had to resort to getting pliers out of the toolbox.Needless to say, this is being returned, but I'm really bummed. I wanted it to work.I had the previous version of this grater, and though it worked well it had the flaw that all of those reviews will point out--the plastic housing was cheap and quickly cracked and disintegrated, depositing tiny hard chunks of plastic into your food--not good. I was really hopeful this version would solve it--and it seems to have done that but at the expense of some other usability factors.

Perfect like always

Too much “give” in the cutting blades. Not terribly good for grating hard cheese.

I like the grating, but cleaning is difficult. I had a different Microplane grater where one of the four sides of the box slides off for cleaning. Much better design.Also, the little tray that slides into the bottom, keeping cheese in the grater is finicky, annoying, and gimmicky. Just toss it.Otherwise, I love it.

I am rather astounded that I paid this much for a box grater. That said, it is a FANTASTIC product worth every penny.