OXO ReviewAlthough small appliances are the most helpful additions you can make to your kitchen, there’s nothing like kitchen gadgets to take your food prep to new levels. I had a lot of fun trying out new kitchen gadgets from the OXO lineup this week, and now that I know how easy they are to use, I’m going to rely on them a lot more often to prepare meals.

I tested out the OXO Good Grips Chef’s Mandolin slicer, the OXO Spiralizer, and the OXO Good Grips 8-piece rectangular glass food container set. Each of these OXO products is unique in its own way, and after using them a few times I think they’d be a great addition to any kitchen.

OXO Spiralizer Review

OXO Spiralizer container for blades

Spiraling your fruit and vegetables isn’t a new thing, but as more and more people opt for a low carb diet that doesn’t include pasta, spiraling your zucchini into ‘spaghetti’ becomes really appealing.

Setting up the OXO Spiralizer

I’ve tried a few spiralizers before I tried the OXO spiralizer, and they were all made from metal with multiple attachments. Because they are fairly heavy, I know they’re also very durable, and most of them automatically force the vegetable into the blade. I’ve only used these types of automatic spiralizers, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from a small, lightweight manual spiralizer.

It turns out that a spiralizer doesn’t need to be heavy or bulky to work well. The OXO spiralizer is a tabletop spiralizer, and it attaches to your countertop with a lever-activated suction cup so you have stability when you’re turning the crank.

When you’re setting it up, you just pop the pieces together, choose one of three different blades, and you’re ready to spiral.

Using the OXO Spiralizer

OXO Spiralizer vegetables

The most useful function of the OXO spiralizer is to make noodles from your vegetables. You can use one of three blades to make large noodles, smaller noodles, and ribbons. The blade just pops into place, and when you’re not using your blades you can put them in the included container.

In my review video I spiraled a zucchini, carrot, and potato. All three spiraled perfectly, although if I had to pick a favourite I’d definitely choose the zucchini. All you have to do once you’ve spiraled a zucchini is boil lightly and add your pasta sauce.

The potatoes would be great curly fries with either the large or small blade. They even work out well when you cut them into thin ribbons, and you’ll find that frying them or laying them out on a cookie sheet and baking them is a great replacement for french fries.

The only issue I encountered with the spiralizer is that it wouldn’t attach properly to my butcher block counter top. It fixed so securely to my kitchen table that I had a hard time prying it off, but the butcher block would only hold temporarily.

Cleaning the OXO Spiralizer

The components of the OXO Spiralizer are dishwasher safe so its easy to clean. I don’t recommend hand washing these blades as they are very sharp.

OXO Chef’s Mandolin

OXO Mandolin

Mandolins and I have a very uneasy history. I bought one a few years ago to slice up vegetables and I used it a few times with no problem at all. One time, when I was vigorously slicing, I managed to take the entire tip of a finger off.
Lesson learned: buying a mandolin with a safety handle, and I was happy to test out the OXO Chef’s Mandolin because it has a handle that’s very versatile when slicing. With the Mandolin you can choose both your thickness level and your cut style. There are 21 different blade settings and different blade settings including julienne, waffle, straight and crinkle cut.

Setting up the OXO Mandolin

There’s no real set up process for the mandolin. You pull it out the box, set up the stand, and you’re ready to go. There is a dial on the side that you can use to adjust your slice settings.

Testing the OXO Chef’s Mandolin

OXO mandolin

Because the soft handle is adjustable and will actually lower itself closer to the mandolin blades, you don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re going to take off your finger when you’re slicing. That’s a great feature, because once you start slicing with this mandolin you won’t want to stop.
I tried a few different slices with the mandolin. I used the straight blade to make thick slices of carrot, and I used the waffle setting to slice zucchini and potatoes. It took a bit to get a rhythm going with the mandolin, but once I did I found it very easy to slice everything I placed on it.

Cleaning the OXO Mandolin

OXO Smart seal storage

Clean up is really easy. The mandolin itself is dishwasher safe, but only on the top rack. You’ll need to hand wash the blade, which you’ll have to be very careful with, but everything else just pops into the dishwasher and you’re ready to start slicing again.

OXO 8-piece rectangular glass food container set

OXO glass container set

When you’re done slicing or spiralizing and you need a convenient way to store your food, the OXO 8-piece glass food container set is a great choice.
Made from thermal borosilicate glass, these containers can go into the oven or microwave and back to the table. They come in four sizes including 1.6L (7 cups), 0.9L (4 cups), 0.4 (2 cups), and 250ml (1 cup).

Using the OXO rectangular glass food container set 

OXO Smart Seal Storage Containers

This set includes BPA-free locking plastic lids, so you can literally turn them upside down and liquids won’t spill out. When you aren’t using the containers they nest to save space in your cupboard, and they are dishwasher, freezer, oven, and microwave safe.
I love storage containers with locking lids, and I find these stack really well on a side shelf in your fridge. Some storage containers are just too big to do that, but these hold a lot of food while still being compact enough to slip inside a full fridge.

Overall thoughts on OXO Kitchen Gadgets

OXO Spiralizer

Appliances help you cook, but kitchen gadgets make cooking fun. With the Spiralizer and Mandolin, I found creative new ways to make vegetables. Given how easy they are to use, I can’t imagine why I’d make regular pasta or just use a knife to slice up fruit or vegetables for salad when I could pull out a mandolin or the spiralizer.

As for the storage containers, they are definitely superior to plastic storage containers I’ve used in the past. Being able to go from oven to table to refrigerator is great for saving on the use of a bowl or two in the kitchen.

You can find all of the kitchen gadgets you’ll need including the OXO Spiralizer, OXO Mandolin, and OXO glass food container set on Best Buy.

Shelly Wutke
Editor TV & Home Theatre
I'm a Vancouver freelancer and tech enthusiast. When I'm not writing you'll find me on my farm with my alpacas, chickens, and honeybees. Visit my website Survivemag