Sturdy, Heavy Duty Vegetable Dicers for Home Use

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Nowadays, you can get a flimsy vegetable dicer or chopper for the price of a restaurant meal. However, chances are your 'bargain' gadget will break after a couple of uses at home – and you wish you had actually spent your money on that restaurant meal instead! Now the good news: there are also a couple of manufacturers that sell heavy duty vegetable dicers and choppers made from sturdy, durable materials such as cast iron or high-quality stainless steel.

These semi-automatic or hand-operated machines are typically targeted at professional chefs who need to chop, dice, slice and wedge vegetables and fruit with great precision in commercial kitchens, but there's absolutely no reason why a home cook couldn't get one to speed up his or her work in the kitchen.

Sturdy, heavy duty vegetable dicers do, of course, carry a higher price tag than the cheap gadgets you find in regular stores, but these robustly built kitchen tools have the potential to save you a lot of money in the long run.

Foods That Require a Robust Dicer with Sharp Cutting Blades

If you're looking for a dicer to cut soft foods such as avocados, kiwi fruits, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, peeled oranges or peeled melons, any dicer will likely do the job. However, if you're planning to also cut or chop raw root vegetables or other hard foods, getting a heavy duty dicer may well turn out to be one of the best kitchen machines you ever bought. Here's a list of vegetables that, in their raw, uncooked state, typically require a sturdy machine with sharp blades to cut them through:

• Beets
• Cabbage
• Celeriac (celery root)
• Carrots
• Daikon radishes
• Fennel
• Hard cheese
• Kohlrabi
• Large onions & shallots
• Parsnips
• Potatoes
• Rutabagas (swedes)
• Sunchokes
• Sweet potatoes
• Turnips

Finding the Best Vegetable Dicer – 4 Brands Worth Considering

In the rest of this article, we take a look at four great dicers/choppers for home use. Note: This article contains "affiliate links", which means that if you purchase a product using those links, the author of this article will receive a small commission (without any extra cost on your part).

Picture / Price	Description
	Vollrath Redco Instacut Countertop Dicer 5.0 (3/8-Inch) With one quick motion, this commercial-quality hand-operated dicer cuts nearly anything, from potatoes, onions, peppers, celery and tomatoes to apples, lemons, limes, oranges and pears. The 5.0 version features a new base design that allows the user to place a container beneath the dicer, while having an equally sturdy construction as its predecessor, Vollrath's Redco Instacut 3.5.    Buy it through Amazon.com
	NEMCO's Original Easy Chopper With 3/8-Inch Cut Grid Made in the USA, this heavy duty tabletop chopper with a razor-sharp cutting grid allows you to chop and dice all sorts of fruits and vegetables with one push. According to the manufacturer, this high-quality kitchen tool is ideal for fast and easing dicing of potatoes, onions, tomatoes, potatoes,celery, peppers and other firm vegetables; for making home-made salsa and pizza toppings; and for wedging citrus and other fruits using the wedging kit (sold separately).    Buy it through Amazon.com    Buy it through Amazon.co.uk
	Thunder Group's French Fry Blade Cutter, 1/2-Inch If you're looking to buy a cutter mainly to cut potatoes into the shape of French fries, then Thunder Group's French Fry Cutter might be the best tool for you. It is not as versatile as multi-purpose dicers or all-ine-one choppers, but it also comes with a lower price tag. And, you can still use it for cutting vegetables other than potatoes – just keep in mind that they will come out in the shape of French fries. With a sturdy cast iron body and handle, this heavy duty vegetable cutter is suitable both for use in commercial kitchens and for home use. It can be mounted on the wall as well – a great extra feature for home cooks with limited kitchen space!    Buy it through Amazon.com
	Vidalia Chop Wizard Vidalia's Chop Wizard is not exactly the sturdiest chopper out there (it's mostly made of plastic as opposed to cast iron or stainless steel), but it's included here because it has received relatively good reviews on Amazon. So, if you're looking for a relatively cheap dicer that will cut softer vegetables and fruit for salads, this one might be worth a try.    Buy it through Amazon.com