How to choose a French fry cutter: grid, lever, and mounting
The grid that gives the right fry size, the mechanism suited to your quantities, and the details that prevent a fry cutter from slipping or jamming.
By Mohamed El Manssouri Kebriti · Updated October 23, 2026
To know how to choose a fry cutter, start with the fry you want to get. The grid determines the size: the fewer the holes, the thicker the fries. The mechanism then depends on your quantities: a push box for a few potatoes, a suction cup lever for family meals, a stand-mounted model for large volumes. There are also the size of the housing, the mounting, and cleaning. This guide details each point and the possible cuts, from matchsticks to crinkle-cut fries. Our models are gathered in the fry cutter and spiralizer collection.
The essentials
- The grid: 25 holes for fries around 1.3 cm, 49 holes for around 0.9 cm.
- The lever: the longer it is, the less force you need to apply.
- The mounting: suction cup or feet, so the device does not slip.
- The housing: it must fit your whole potatoes.
Table of contents
- What size for fries?
- What are the different fry cuts?
- Which type of fry cutter to choose?
- What is the best fry cutter?
- Errors to avoid
- To go further
What size for fries?
The size of a fry is measured by its cross-section, that is, the side of the square you see when you cut it crosswise. It is the grid of the fry cutter that determines it.
A 25-hole grid, i.e., 5 rows of 5, gives thick fries with a cross-section of around 1.3 cm. They remain soft at heart and are well suited to the oven.
A 49-hole grid, 7 rows of 7, gives thin fries around 0.9 cm. They brown faster and are suited to the deep fryer.
The rule is simple: fewer holes, thicker fries. On the same potato, the fine grid produces nearly twice as many.
Most fry cutters come with two grids. Check which ones before buying: this is what will determine your fries for years.
These measurements are those of our suction cup fry cutter, which states around 1.3 cm in 25 holes and 0.9 cm in 49 holes. Other models use grids of 36 and 64 holes, for classic fries and thinner fries.
What are the different fry cuts?
Beyond thickness, the shape changes the taste: the more surface area a fry has, the crispier it gets. Here are the most common cuts.
- Matchsticks: very thin, around 5 mm on each side. They cook in a few minutes and get very crispy.
- Thin fries: around 9 mm, the deep fryer format.
- Classic thick fries: from 1 cm to 1.3 cm and more, soft at heart, in the oven or with double cooking.
- Crinkle-cut fries: cut with a serrated blade, they hold sauce better.
- Waffle fries: thin checkered slices, made with a wavy blade by turning the vegetable a quarter turn between two passes.
- Spirals and tornadoes: a potato cut into a continuous ribbon, with a spiralizer.
For crinkle-cut fries without a device, the stainless steel crinkle-cut fry knife has a serrated blade around 29.5 cm: you cut as with an ordinary knife.
For tornado potatoes, the hand-cranked spiralizer cuts a continuous spiral to skewer on a stick.
Which type of fry cutter to choose?
Once the grid is chosen, the mechanism depends on your quantities and the available space.
1. The push fry cutter
A two-part box: a blade grid and a lid that serves as a pusher. You press by hand, the fries come out the other side. Compact and without risk to fingers, it is suitable for one or two medium-sized potatoes. For a firm and large potato, the effort quickly becomes significant.
2. The lever fry cutter
The lever multiplies the force: a whole potato passes with one push. Look at the length of the lever, the material, stainless steel preferably for the body and blades, and especially the mounting. A suction cup base with a lock, or non-slip feet, keeps the device in place and leaves you with both hands to push. Finally, check the size of the housing: it is what limits the size of the potatoes.
3. The stand-mounted fry cutter, large format
Inspired by restaurant devices: a plate on feet, a grid laid flat and a long lever that pushes from top to bottom. It reduces the effort on large volumes and often accepts a dice grid. It takes up more space on the worktop and in the cabinets, however.
Whatever the type, prefer grids that come apart: starch dries quickly between the blades, and a device that is difficult to clean ends up at the bottom of a cabinet.
What is the best fry cutter?
There is no best fry cutter in absolute terms, but a good choice for every kitchen. Here is how to decide.
- Fries occasionally, small kitchen: a push model.
- Fries every week in the family: a lever with a suction cup base and two grids.
- Large tables or small snack bar: a stand-mounted fry cutter with a long lever.
- Fries and varied vegetables: a multifunctional model with a dice or quarter grid.
The push fry cutter measures around 12.5 x 9.5 cm: the stainless steel blades remain enclosed in the box, your hands only press on the plastic.
The stainless steel fry cutter with suction cup base has two blades of 25 and 49 holes and a housing of 8.5 x 6.5 cm, locked on the table by side levers.
The professional stainless steel fry cutter on feet pushes the food with a 40 cm lever, on a base of 24 x 15 cm, with a fry grid and a dice grid.
Errors to avoid
These errors explain most of the fry cutters that jam or give broken fries.
- Choosing without looking at the size of the housing, then having to recut each potato.
- Not cutting the two ends: the potato is presented crooked and the fries break.
- Pushing in jerks instead of a frank and regular gesture.
- Letting the starch dry in the grid: rinse right after use.
- Taking a single grid when you like thin as well as thick fries.
Choose potatoes of a size close to that of the housing: too big, they jam; too small, they give short fries.
To go further
First choose the grid according to your fries, then the mechanism according to your quantities, and check the mounting and the housing. All our models, push, lever or on feet, are in the fry cutter and spiralizer collection.
- For cooking, follow our method of homemade fries: cut, size and cooking.
- For chips or waffle fries, read how to choose a kitchen mandoline.
To discover all our other devices, go to hachoir-cuisine.fr.