What Do I Think About My Broken OXO Cheese Grater? I'll Tell You  (Review)

I'm going to share an image with you that'll describe the status of my OXO Good Grips Cheese Grater better than words could:

Broken. Yup. The handle snapped and now it's broke.

On the heels of writing about the Tefal Cheese Cellar (let me spoil it for you by letting you know right off the bat - it's awful, don't get it; no really, don't), I'm here to tell you about another kitchen product I'm about to throw away.

This time because it literally broke and I cannot use it in it's current, dismembered form.

Disappointing? Actually, no.

I fricking love this cheese grater and honestly, if my husband wasn't the tank that he is, putting the amount of pressure he was, trying to get that oh-so-tasty Grana Padano grated as quickly as he could for four people (no, there was no hurry, but for the sake of efficiency, my husband needs to rush anything physically possible to speed up) - this handy dandy kitchen tool would never have broken.

Yes, I only have pictures of it broken. Commiserate with me. I never thought to take pictures of it until it was in pieces... you always take things like this for granted 'til they're gone. Bask in the sadness with me. Alas, it was a good tool and it served us well.

Luckily for us, we literally got our IKEA order the day before and my husband was patiently waiting for me to run the old school style cheese graters (we legit ordered 3) through the dish washer when this broke.

He also had grated enough cheese. Honestly, probably too much, so we absolutely did not suffer.

Oh, we also have about 3 other cheese graters, we test a lot of them. One was from Lidl, one we still have from Wilko way back when we lived in the UK, another I think we bought at Auchan after we moved to Portugal.

We eat a lot of cheese... hard cheese, soft cheese (mostly hard cheese), and we grate a lot of cheese because we have a lot of pasta, and although we used to use cheddar back when we were in the UK and had chilli or pasta bolognese (I know, sacrilege, but the UK has good cheddar, so it's somewhat alright), for a long time now we've literally only been having Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano (the legit stuff, not the knock off "Parmesan"), and that's meant we need good, strong graters with smaller holes unlike the thick ones you can use for cheddar and other softer, hard cheeses.

Okay, now you know what we were using it for, let me tell you we also used this thing for years on end. It was our only cheese grater we'd touch for ages, until we tried the bazillion others, and we'd typically come back to this one, or use it in a rotation alongside one or maybe other cheese graters.

But... this one was easy. It made a little bit of a mess so I preferred to use the ones that have storage containers underneath, also those are convenient, but this is also convenient, and the little grip that keeps it from slipping is awesome, you can use it in the air entirely, which is also awesome. It's just good. It was a good gadget.

It never hurt your hands either, from what I can remember. Was easy to stand against a plate and grate on without the typical slippage. And it withstood a lot of force. Not the amount my husband put on it that fateful day, but a lot nonetheless.

I'd throw it in the dishwasher on the top rack every time we used it and it would get clean as a whistle. I can't count the number of times it's been in the dishwasher, I hate washing cheese graters by hand because I don't think it's hygienic enough and because they destroy sponges, but honestly, it doesn't matter how many times I probably ran it in the dishwasher cause the dishwasher's not what broke it.

Now.. after all this huff and puff, sitting here with a broken OXO cheese grater, you may think to ask, "But will you replace it?"

Yeah probably not. But not because it wasn't good. Just cause these days we're gravitating more toward a different style of grater, the old school stand up ones with four sides, and we got those from IKEA, three of them so they could take turns in the dishwasher.

Will we ever replace it? Yes - with one cavat - if we're looking for this style of cheese grater again.

We could buy the OXO Steel Grater instead, as that would surely take a lot more pressure from the husband. But I don't think we will. This one took a lot of time to kill, and the steel grater doesn't look as comfortable, honestly. So I think if we're ever in the market for another grater like this, we're totally going for a literal duplicate.

There's not much else to say besides, if you're in the market for something like this, I give you the go ahead. I definitely think it's worth it. It served me well, and would still be a part of my arsenal today if mine didn't meet it's fateful demise.

And it may join our kitchen tool family again one day, reincarnated in another, not-yet-dismembered body... until my husband forgets and once again puts too much pressure, only for us to buy another one.

But at least this cycle will be spread out across very, very many years.