KitchenAid KSMVSA Fresh Prep Slicer and Shredder Attachment

Why it's worth it

A slicer and shredder that clips onto the hub and drops food straight into whatever bowl you put underneath. Three blades cover thin slices, medium shred, and coarse shred, which handles most weeknight prep without dragging out a processor.

A block of cheese is the honest test here. Shredding a pound of cheddar by hand takes about four minutes and skinned knuckles. Through this attachment it takes under one, and the shreds land directly in the bowl you're already cooking with. Consumer Reports notes the range of slicing thickness plus interchangeable fine and coarse cones, and that combination is what makes it a genuine food processor substitute for prep work.

The bowl-agnostic design is the quietly smart part. A food processor forces you to fill its work bowl, then dump it. This slices straight into a mixing bowl, a sheet pan, or a storage container, so you make exactly as much as the recipe wants. For meal-prep Sundays where you're filling six containers, that saves a real amount of washing up.

From our review of 8 stand mixer attachments

What we like

• +A block of cheese is the honest test here
• +The bowl-agnostic design is the quietly smart part
• +The three included blades are a 3mm slicer, a 4mm medium shredder, and a 6mm coarse shredder
• +It's light, about a pound and a third, so it doesn't have the tank-like feel of the grinder or the mill

What to know

• –It's hand-wash only, per KitchenAid's care instructions, and the shredding cones have a lot of small holes to work through
• –Soft foods don't do well