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An efficient cheese grater will help you grate cheese easily and quickly without giving you a sore arm. But with a variety of different designs to choose from, it can be hard to know what to go for.
In December 2021, we tested nine cheese graters ranging in price from £2 up to £30 purchased from retailers such as Lakeland, Argos, Dunelm and Tesco.
Find out which cheese grater impressed in our tests, whether it's worth investing in a pricey rotary cheese grater and for how long grated cheese can be kept in your fridge.
Pricing and availability last checked 7 March 2022.
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Key features: Three sizes of grater, compact folding design, rubber feet
Pros: Great build quality, very compact, easy to use, non-slip rubber feet
Cons: Bits of grated food can get stuck in the joins, doesn’t have a zester
Our verdict: This lightweight and foldable cheese grater is extremely efficient at shredding cheese and it's a worthy Best Buy.
It has three sections to grate from chunky pieces to fine, They're razor-sharp and made quick work of cheddar, carrot and hard cheese in our test. There's no zester though.
It's easy to use, even if you have restricted hand movement. See our ‘How we tested’ section below for more details on how we considered restricted hand movement in our tests.
We love how this cheese grater folds down so it's easy to store in a kitchen drawer.
For the most part it's easy to clean, but food can get stuck in the folding joints at the top, and this can be tricky to remove.
All in all, though, this is a brilliant cheese grater, especially for those who want something that takes up less space than your average grater.
Here are our verdicts on the other cheese graters, in alphabetical order.
Key features: Slicer, zester, two sizes of grater, storage box with lid (can be stored inside grater)
Pros: Easy to use, simple to clean, useful storage box
Cons: Not well made, difficult to store
Our verdict: Large, bulky and surprisingly delicate, this box grater from the Argos Home range isn't one that impressed.
We found it easy to use, as the metal construction is sturdy, but the handle is made from cheap plastic and the one we bought had uncomfortable edges.
It has a slicer, zester and two sizes of grater. Plus it comes with a storage box that can attach to the bottom of the grater when in use to catch the grated food and prevent mess.
The box can also be used to store cheese in the fridge.
It's easy to clean, but be careful when handling it, as during testing one of our researchers dropped the storage box and it shattered.
Key features: One grater, two zesters, one slicer
Pros: Easy to clean, compact
Cons: Not well made, not the easiest to use, easily bent
Our verdict: This cheese grater from Dunelm is the cheapest in our selection, and you can really tell.
While it can do the job, we found that the metal bent easily and the handle was uncomfortable to hold and very small, especially compared with the others.
It doesn't have a fine grater, and the other sides are all dedicated to either slicing or zesting.
Similar to most of the cheese graters in our selection, this grater was easy to clean.
Dishwasher safe: Yes (grating drums only)
Key features: Slicer, two sizes of grater, suction cup for holding in place on kitchen counter, pressure block to push cheese through, handle lock
Pros: Easy to use, has a suction cup for holding the grater in place
Cons: Not very well made, not the quickest to clean, difficult to store
Our verdict: The Favia rotary cheese grater is difficult to store and clean, and it's a bit of a faff compared with a standard grater.
The rotary action is easy, quick and smooth, and it comes with a few attachments that enable you to grate in different sizes. However, this also means it takes up more room and needs more effort to clean.
The handle felt cheap, especially compared with others in the selection, and the one we bought had moulding lines across it that were slightly uncomfortable to grip.
It has a suction cup on the base so it can lock in place on your worktop. This worked well at first, but we found it could easily become dislodged if you applied more than moderate force.
Due to the design, this grater had several parts to take apart for cleaning, which was time consuming but not overly difficult. It needs to be stored in a cupboard or on a worktop due to its size.
Key features: Slicer, serrated slicer, zester, three sizes of grater
Pros: Easy to use, simple to clean, rubberised feet, lots of grating options
Cons: Low-quality plastic on handle, bulky
Our verdict: This six-sided box grater from Lakeland is affordable and offers practically every type of grater you could need, but it is very large.
The strong frame, rubberised feet and sharp grating holes make it easy to use, and despite the cheap plastic, the handle is reasonably comfortable.
We also found it was easy to wash, with a large enough space for you to scrub away at both the inside and outside.
But due to the size, you’d need to store it on the worktop or in a cupboard.
Cheapest price: £16.79 available from Amazon , also available from Lakeland .
Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)
Key features: Slicer, zester, two sizes of grater, collection box with lid (can be stored inside grater)
Pros: Great build quality, easy to use, comes with a container with a lid for the gratings, rubber feet, comfortable handle
Cons: Not the most compact cheese grater
Our verdict: A well-designed kitchen tool from Oxo Good Grips that has everything you need to grate some cheddar or parmesan, shred a carrot or zest a lime. It's very large though.
We found the sharpness of this grater made most tasks easy, even if you have restricted hand movement. However, it wasn’t quite as easy to grate cheddar as it was with the ProCook grater.
It comes with a storage box that fits onto the bottom of the grater. The box has handy measurements, so it's useful if you need a specific amount for a recipe.
The box reduces mess and allows you to capture any grated food and store it in the fridge for later.
Only available at Sainsbury's : £3.75.Sainsbury's
Key features: Slicer, zester, two sizes of grater
Pros: Easy to use, simple to clean, compact, great value
Cons: Poor build quality, wobbles in use
Our verdict: This cheese grater from Sainsbury's was impressive in our tests, but it has some build quality issues that prevent it being a Best Buy.
It's one of the cheapest in our selection and it's pretty compact. This grater is really sharp and it shreds cheese and carrot with ease.
It's also easy to clean, but it doesn't have non-slip feet, it feels a bit cheap, and the one we bought had some flaws in the plastic handle.
Cheapest price: £18.50 available from Amazon , also available from Lakeland .
Key features: Two grater sizes, rotating handle, pressure block on top to push cheese through
Pros: Easy to use, comfortable handle
Cons: Not very compact, tricky to clean, not ideal if you have restricted hand movement
Our verdict: This Zyliss cheese grater has a unique design, but it's a pain to clean and not ideal if you have dexterity problems.
This cheese grater has a circular drum in the middle of it and a handle that you spin to create the grating action. It comes with two grater drums: a chunky and a fine option.
While this cheese grater was pretty easy to use, it seems like it would be more difficult and tiring for someone with restricted hand movement as it requires precise dexterity and a little bit of strength to push down the cheese. See our ‘How we tested’ section for more details on how we considered people with restricted hand movement in our tests.
The design means that mess is dragged through the inside of the grater and this made this cheese grater one of the hardest to clean.
It's worth noting the drum and handle can be configured to be used in your left or right hand.
However, we have some concerns about the hinges that attach the folding handle to the inner drum, as these look thin enough to break easily. That being said, they didn’t break during our testing.
During our testing we found that using a rotary cheese grater felt somewhat easier, but it puts a slightly different strain on your wrist and hand.
In general, the rotary graters we tested gave us piles of delicious shredded cheese faster than the traditional box graters.
But we also found that rotary graters took more effort to clean.
After all of our tests, our researchers unanimously expressed a preference for box graters, but your preference may still be for a rotary model.
We've all grated some cheese for a spaghetti bolognese and found we've accidentally grated far too much.
The smart, economical and healthy option is to store it for another meal. But for how long can you safely keep grated cheese in the fridge?
According to our research, if properly stored in a sealed airtight container it can be kept in the fridge for about five to seven days and still be safe to eat.
For eco-friendly options to store opened food, check out our advice on beeswax wraps vs eco cling film .
To find the best cheese grater, our team of researchers completed the following tests:
We examined the cheese graters and looked to see if there were any faults or issues. We examined their features and considered how well each one was made.
The best cheese graters had sturdy structures and showed signs of good-quality manufacturing. The worst felt cheap, bent easily and were considered to be unlikely to last long.
For this test, two researchers used each of the cheese graters to grate 250g of cheddar, 250g of parmesan and a whole carrot.
The first researcher used their dominant hand unencumbered, while the second wore a pair of Cambridge simulation gloves . These gloves enabled our researchers to empathise with users who have restricted hand movement.
We recorded how easy and comfortable each cheese grater was to use.
The sharpness of the graters and the smooth movement of any mechanisms really made a difference in these tests.
The best cheese graters were comfortable and a breeze to use, while the worst made the task take ages and left us with sore hands.
We measured of each of the cheese graters and considered how easy each cheese grater would be to store. Bulkier graters received lower ratings for this aspect,
For our final test, we cleaned each of the cheese graters and considered how their design, shape and parts made the cleaning process easier or more of a challenge.
Each of the cheese graters had to be manual (non-electric) and sold by at least one of the leading UK retailers.
We purchased all the products we tested to ensure our advice and recommendations remain unbiased and objective.