Bron Coucke Stainless Steel Classic Chef's Mandoline Slicer - Professional Kitchen Tool for Perfect Vegetable & Fruit Cuts - Ideal for Salads, Garnishes & Meal Prep (Model #)

I was sold on this device when I decided to do a review, but had to test a couple things: French fries - leave it to the French to build a device that cuts pomme frites perfectly, and cuts carrots into perfect matchsticks. A+. Thin sliced onion - quick and perfectly sliced. This device does apples, too. A+.I got a whetstone to maintain the blade. No edge lasts forever. Sharpening is part of the upkeep. Cleaning is a matter of rinsing off vegetable starches and sugars. Let it dry. Easy.Bottom line is that this device replaces all of the slicing blades of a food processor. Plus - set up and cleaning takes far less time. The food processor will still be useful for hummus, pie dough, bread crumbs and grating cheese, but I'll use my Bron Coucke if not a knife.Sturdy stainless steel design and dishwasher safe. Far superior to mandolins with plastic frames. The cutting thicknesses and types of cuts are easily adjusted without disassembling the mandolin. Important to read the well written instructions before use. i expect to purchase another to give as a present.This monster is the real deal. Make sure you are sober when using it, and you have watched several YouTube videos before operating. Also, you must have a Kevlar glove or two. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll feel oh so professional! It is wonky and cumbersome at first but stuck with it.Nicely made well built mandoline. Just watch out that you don't get the fold out leg reversed, it can cause issues........yeah, happened to me at first. Now that I have it set up properly, it works very well. You need to cut stuff up a little smaller than I am used to to use the hand guard but hey, my fingers are worth the extra little work!!Absolutely the best mandolin made. Quality is 19th century professional kitchen, like Titanic strong. This thing is sharp, sharp, sharp and used respectfully makes slicing delicate veg a breeze. I particularly like it for quickly making rosette carrots, hashed and shingled potatoes, and dicing onions in mass. Cleanse easily because the quality of stainless is very high, construction and design is simple. Set up takes some skill and tweaking, a little man-handling to avoid the blades, while also getting the cuts just right. Buy it knowing it is not a trifle tool.I had an old mandoline that was hard to trust when I used it. It would slip apart or just not work well. Mandolines are dangerous. I bought this professional mandoline and am SO GLAD I did as it has made my food prep so much more safe. It works perfectly! I have recommended it to other chefs!Purchased as a gift for my boyfriend. He’s had several mandolins over years and is very pleased with this one. All stainless steel is a plus. Great versatility.After much research this was my first choice until actually using the de Buyer dicing mandoline form William and Sonoma. I knew I wanted a quality and versatile mandoline that would last for years to come as well as do the job with consistent results. I've used two other mandolines, the OXO mandoline and de Buyer dicing mandoline, this is the only one that will give consistent slicing thickness at 1mm or less thickness between slices as well as from one end to the other end of the slice (where most failed continually)It's not made clear on amazon.com but this particular Bron mandoline come with the 10mm and 3mm julienne blades. 2mm blades would be nice sometimes but cutting 3mm x 1mm yields a similar cut that is nice in its own right. You can always purchase the blade set with the 2mm and (8mm / 4.5mm) blades separately. This brings me to a fantastic attribute to this mandoline. If you somehow break something you can purchase every single part separately!The Good and great: It cuts perfectly at any thickness. The blades are super sharp. The guard a bit odd at first compared to the deBuyer but in the end superior in my opinion as the guard really transmits pushing power and isn't a hindrance at all. Blades are riveted in for strength. Its stainless steel where it counts. It doesn't need a non stick surface for the food to slide down because the polished SS is slicker than anything else. Julienne blades are fixed to the mandoline. All one piece so no cheap plastic blade holders to fall off as in the de Buyer dicing model. Separate blades fro crinkle and straight. Collapsible feet that fold neatly out of sight. It looks beautiful leaned against the wall on your countertop!The slightly less fortunate: The rubber on the feet slide more on some countertops than other models (either hold at the cross bar on the legs or sit on large wood cutting board) The guard doesn't work for the crinkle blade (buy the Microplane Cut-Resistant Glove for $10-15). Only comes with two julienne blades.Nothing is perfect generally but I do with the guard worked for the crinkle blade. I would have paid the extra for the additional SS required but the quality of the product out weights the few negative things.In the end if you are looking to spend more than fifty bucks on a mandoline spend the extra and get this. You will be able to give it to your grand kids some day!Note about Photo. The Amazon photo of this is slightly wrong. Guard is backward and the legs also fold out with the vertical support from the base of the legs to the top as pictured on many other websites.This is intended for a person with VERY STRONG HANDS, not a housewife like myself. The levers used to adjust the slicing thickness and move the blades are very stiff and difficult to move - requiring a strong, large hand. Since the blades are close to the levers that have to be manipulated, it is too easy to slip while attempting to adjust the blades, which presents a real danger (in spite of the fact that there is a plastic blade cover, this very easily falls off and thus doesn't offer adequate protection). The instructions say that the levers are stiff and SHOULD be stiff - the stiffness can't be adjusted either.This is probably the best mandolin on the market and also the most versatile. Great to slice super thin onion or ridged potatoe or French fries. It's advisable to use a safety glove or a carrier for the veg for slicing as it's razor sharp.Easy to clean,requires practice regarding thickness of slices,game chips etc.Requires some effort when using for julienne/fries.Simple but very effective machine.Very solidly built as you would hope from a professional product. I love using it for making coleslaw and many other things. A joy to useTHANK YOU...