To look at it looked just like any other white gadget one would find in the kitchen. Although it must be said that the One Touch isn’t too bulky for the job it's designed to do. The manual was easy to read and setting it up was really easy.

Aesthetically it was a bit white and a bit plasticy for my liking but then so many handy things are. I also had to remind myself that not everything is stainless steel mixed with either red or black. Shame it wasn’t though.

All you need to run this bad boy is 4 AA Batteries, with a lot of vegetables and perhaps an urge to make something with fine slices such as a Lancashire Hot Pot or a Mousakka, or even something such as a douphinois – it certainly makes it a doddle.

You literally put the vegetable of choice in the chute and press a button and it slices it all for you and is much safer than a traditional mandolin which has been proven to sometimes want to slice the tips of fingers off when in pursuit of thin slice perfection.

In terms of it being value for money I think so far, it is. It is very practical for what it does, is far safer than a usual mandolin type piece of apparatus and it really saves a person time if a lot of thin slicing for a meal is required. I could have 3 big potatoes sliced very very thin in under a minute. I know when I have a lot of slicing to do I will be using it to save myself otherwise time consuming preparation.

RRP: £25 and available online & instore at Lakeland.

www.culinare.com