As a hand maker of pasta, and having very fierce opinions of it, I waited a long time before even considering this machine. I have a LOT of pasta machines and gadgets, some I have held up to the light and have praised, some that I have thrown back into the netherworlds of my kitchen bins to be forgotten. I have always had a bit of a love hate feeling with extruded pasta. It always has a machine-y feel to it and never has that true warm hand feel that is so great. I have owned and nixed the Kitchen Aid extruder for producing machine-y pasta, but I have loved the Kitchen Aid flat roller and hand cut (but not the terrible work). I owned some older rickety 70s pasta maker/extruders that were loud and downright dangerous.
Enter Philips. At frist, the price blew my hair back. All that for PASTA? The price alone just about would ruin the meal, I thought. So I waited. And the price came down some. It arrived and within 15 minutes of unboxing....I kid you not....15 gosh darn minutes......faster than the freaking water could BOIL I had fresh pasta hanging, ready to go. The tips of my fingers really began to tingle when I calculated what this meant: more time for sauce prep, more time for playing with types of pasta. Houston, we have a GO.
I immediately placed a purchase for the other disk sets for two reasons, and this is where the star reductions comes in. I find that Philips has a distictly American feeling for pasta that, IMHO is big, bready and chunky, whereas I prefer my pasta, thin, airy and delicate. The spaghetti disk that comes with the machine would make a cafeteria proud, but not my home. The thin spaghetti in the add on set is heavenly....light, sweet and airy. I need to pick in the disks to find thinner, less chunky disks....thinning the dough (read:add a tiny bit more water) also makes for less chunky pasta. So the good is mixed with the adequate in the sets, but the good is there.
Operation. A toddler could do it a probably faster than you can. We use a scale since we are old school. So, 500g flour into the bin, shut the top, turn on to large batch setting, add liquid from premeasured cup...woah pasta is already coming out so your water should have been boiling! Yup! Boil the water before you start making pasta since it takes longer for water to come to a boil than it does to make a full batch of pasta. Where is the mess, you wonder? Well, there isn't one with this machine. Try as you might, you won't be able to make one no matter how clutzy or distracted you may be. We have tried, and failed, at making a flour mess with the Philips. Oh, and BTW the machine is so quiet a baby could sleep next to it. Seriously.
They don't lie when they say clean up is a breeze. Trust what they say on this. Either immediate washing up liquid on a couple of parts, or better yet, wait till after the meal and the flour dries up and everything falls off for an even easier washing up by hand or DW. Clogged disk? Not likely, but a quick trip to the freezer will take care of that without any strain or sprain on your part. Easy peasy.
But getting back to price? Well, a foodie friend once told be that home made pasta was over rated...and I can not disagree more (as could my family). And if you feel that home made pasta is priceless, then maybe this is great for your arsenal. It will not replace hand kneaded, hand pressed pasta, but it blends in with my collection nicely. If you are a beginner, it is a good way to start and build confidence. It also does something important: I would not, say, make ravioli as often due to the work of making the flat sheets, but since the machine it there, I can be coaxed much more easiy into ravioli night knowing my worn out self is not going to do all the legwork. The compromise makes for more happy family meals, faster, without me collapsing.
Taste, you ask. TASTE. Well, I won't lie. My family tells me they can taste hours put into meals. 15 minute pasta isn't "hours" pasta BUT and I mean BUT they aren't choking on this pasta....they are gobbling in down and groaning with home made pasta happiness. Like, enough for me to say, yeah, this is a weeknight thing, and I can spend more time on a sauce than on the pasta and everyone is really, really happy and I look fresh as a daisy after cooking THIS. Yes, the pasta is darn good.
The machine was obviously slated originally for an Asian audience and I appreciate the Asian turn the recipe booklet takes. I plan to give it a go. I had been working on some of those concepts already and it is neat to see how this machine can more easily replicate Asian noodles (maybe that's why some of them are so thick). Yeah, GO UDON! So don't expect lots of Italian inspired stuff in the recipe booklet. I was charmed not to find them there.
I'm keeping the machine and it won't go to dust here at home. I hope more thin disks are made. I think there is much potential here, and as it stands, great fun and super amazing ease of use for everyone.
I paid full price for this item, so this is a non biased review. If this review did help you, please click "yes" below.
Update: It is 4/2016 and the machine is still a winner. The kids and their friends come over to use it an cook. As ever, it is easy to clean and care for. This remains a great purchase
Update: Christmas time 2016 and we are still loving the machine! Don't hesitate.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | (1119) | (1303) | (479) | (2354) | (1386) | (539) |
| Price | $294.95 | $289.10 | $49.95 | $80.00 | $129.99 | $24.99 |
| Sold By | Fuzzfam | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Just Right! | Amazon.com | JEC Tech |
| Color | Silver | White | White | Black | White | Gray |
| Material | Plastic | Plastic, Steel | Plastic | Plastic | resin, plastic; Metal | Plastic |
| Number of Sets | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
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K. T.
A winner, compared to other methods.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 15, 2015Style: OldVerified Purchase
rienna
I really like this machine
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 13, 2015Style: OldVerified Purchase
TT
I love it. I made fresh paste the first time ...
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 4, 2016Style: OldVerified Purchase
