Types of Fruit and Vegetable Cutters

1. French Fry Cutter

A french fry cutter is a must for any restaurant with fresh-cut fries on the menu. Potatoes can be cut by hand, but it's a frustrating task. They tend to roll around, their firm texture is hard to cut through, and it's difficult to achieve consistent sizes. A fry cutter slices whole potatoes into wedges, straight cuts, or chips with the push of a handle.

There's a fry cutter model for any type of potato you serve. Fresh potato chips, potato wedges, and curly fries can all be processed in bulk with a commercial potato cutter. Choose from wall-mounted or countertop cutters with a range of blade assembly styles.

Recommended Vegetables: Potatoes (some models are rated for tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers)

Straight Cut Options: 1/4", 3/8", 1/2"

Wedge Cut Options: 4, 6, 8 wedges

Special Models: Curly, ribbon, chip

2. Mandoline

When you need to cut ultra-thin slices or ribbons, use a mandoline. Your knife skills may be on point, but using a mandoline is more efficient when you need to work through multiple pounds of fruits and veggies. You can produce julienne cuts, shreds, crinkle cuts, or waffle cuts with a mandoline slicer.

Many mandolines include interchangeable or adjustable blades, so you don't need to purchase extra accessories to get started. You can even use a mandoline to produce thin shavings of chocolate, cheese, or garlic.

Recommended Vegetables: Potatoes, onions, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms

Recommended Fruits: Lemons, limes, bananas

Other Foods: Truffles, garlic, cheese, chocolate

Blade Sizes: 1 mm - 10 mm

3. Tomato Slicer

Tomatoes have delicate skin and soft flesh that can be difficult to cut in a standard food chopper. Enter the tomato slicer - the best solution for slicing large quantities of tomatoes without damaging the fruit. These slicers feature rows of special serrated blades that move cleanly through juicy tomatoes to produce consistent slices as thin as 3/16".

Just like many food cutters, it's possible to swap out the blade assembly on a tomato slicer so you can perform different cuts. As with all food choppers, make sure you pair the blades with a compatible push block.

Recommended Vegetables: Tomatoes (some models are rated for onions, bell peppers, and cucumbers)

Slice Size Options: 3/16", 7/32", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2"

4. Onion Slicer

If you process large quantities of onions, a specialized onion slicer will make your life a lot easier. These cutters are designed with a curved push block that applies pressure evenly across the round surface of an onion. This results in a consistent slice that requires less force by the user. Or try a blooming onion cutter that slices a whole onion into a blooming flower shape for the crowd-pleasing appetizer.

Cutting batches of onions is one of the most undesirable tasks on the prep list because of the eye-stinging fumes that are released. You can speed up your onion prep, produce consistent slices, and avoid a few tears with an onion slicer. Simply change the blade assembly to create slices of different sizes.

Recommended Vegetables: Onions (some models rated for potatoes and tomatoes)

Recommended Fruits: Some models are rated for lemons, limes, and oranges

Slice Size Options: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2"

5. Lettuce Cutter

Lettuce cutters are designed with an extra large surface area for holding heads of lettuce or cabbage. You can cut through an entire (cored) head of lettuce in one motion, much quicker than cutting by hand. These lettuce cutters also feature scalloped blades that won't crush or bruise the lettuce, making them the best choice for your leafy greens.

Other types of cutters have a tendency to crush the lettuce leaves, which leads to browning. For the crispest, most appetizing salad greens, try a chopper that's designed specifically for cutting lettuce.

Recommended Vegetables: Lettuce, red cabbage, cucumbers, bell peppers

Recommended Fruits: Cantaloupes

Square Cut Options: 1/2", 1"

Shred and Slice Options: 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2"

6. Dicers

Diced onions, celery, and tomatoes are common ingredients in any commercial kitchen, but the prep work required is long and tedious. You can work through cases of vegetables in a fraction of the time with a vegetable dicer. These convenient kitchen tools feature blades that cleanly cut produce into the perfect dice size.

Dicers are available in countertop models with ergonomic short-throw handles or standard handles that just require one downward push to cut through produce. Try a wall mounted dicer to save counter space and take advantage of unused wall space. Most vegetable dicers feature interchangeable blade assemblies that can be swapped out for a range of dice sizes.

Recommended Vegetables: Onions, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cucumbers

Dice Size Options: 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 1"

7. Wedgers and Corers

Wedgers are a bartender's best friend. With a wedger, you can expedite prep work by cutting lemon, lime, and orange wedges in minutes. These units are similar to a standard cutter, but they're designed to produce wedges instead of dice cuts or slices. The blade assembly is round, and the push block forces round fruits and vegetables through the blades to produce an even number of wedges.

If you purchase a 6-wedge cutter, it's possible to swap out the blade assembly to produce a different number of wedges. Just make sure you pair the blade with a compatible push block. Or, purchase a blade assembly kit that contains both components to save money. If you want the ability to core and wedge at the same time, look for a wedger/corer combo.

Recommended Vegetables: Some models are rated for tomatoes

Recommended Fruits: Lemons, limes, tomatoes, oranges, apples, pineapples, pears

Wedge Options: 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 sections

8. All-Purpose Cutters

If you own a small operation with limited space, an all-purpose fruit and vegetable cutter is a great investment because it can be used to prep a variety of foods. You can dice, slice, and shred with an all-purpose cutter. The blade assembly on most machines is removable, allowing you to swap it out for different types of cuts and sizes. When using interchangeable blades, you just need to make sure you have a compatible push block in place. The push block is the component attached to the handle that pushes food through the sharp blades.

Recommended Vegetables: Bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, radishes, red cabbage, cucumbers, celery, lettuce, carrots, zucchini, pickles

Recommended Fruits: Strawberries, apples, pears, oranges, bananas, lemons, limes

Slice Size Options: 1/8", 3/16", 7/32", 1/4", 5/16", 1"

Dice Size Options: 1/4", 1/2"

Wedge Options: 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 sections