The best pasta makers for fresh Italian cuisine at home, tried and tested with advice from a chef

There is nothing like fresh pasta, but it’s a rare treat. Unless you’re enjoying a meal in an Italian restaurant or on holiday, most of us rely on dried pasta for whipping up rushed weekday dinners. But with one of the best pasta machines of your own, there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying restaurant quality spaghetti, linguine or ravioli fresh from your own kitchen on a regular Tuesday evening, should you fancy.

The question is, what is the best pasta maker machine and which option suits your budget? And should you go for an electric pasta maker or a manual, or plump for one that comes with a pasta shape maker over one that looks like a work of art?

The key thing is to look for quality in the manufacture, advises Theo Randall, chef patron of Theo Randall at the InterContinental: “With a manual pasta machine it’s really important that the machine feels sturdy as it will have to take a lot of force from rolling the pasta through the rollers,” he says. “The things to look for are a good clamp that fits on most kitchen surfaces, that the dial has a lockable ratchet that is not drawn by a wire, if it comes with cutters and has a good solid handle.”

With that in mind I tested some of the biggest names on the market to bring you the answers, but before we get into the detail, here is a quick look at the top five:

Which are the best pasta makers in 2024? At a glance

• Best pasta maker overall: Marcato Atlas 150 Pasta Maker Machine
• Best value pasta maker: Kitchencraft World of Flavours Pasta Machine
• Best electric pasta maker: SMART Stainless Steel Pasta Maker
• Best pasta shape maker: VonShef Manual Pasta Maker Machine
• Best pasta attachments for stand mixers: KitchenAid Pasta Cutters and Roller 3-Piece Set

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How we tested the pasta makers

Over a period of a week I tested each machine, unboxing and putting it together before making a pasta dough and making a sample of each type of pasta the machines offer. I used the same dough each time – see Theo Randall’s recipe in the FAQ, below – and cooked the resulting pasta in lightly salted water before serving it fairly plain, with just a little olive oil, parmesan and pepper.

I also spoke to other owners of the same machines to get their views as a longer-term users, and kept a log rating the pasta makers out of ten on design, size and appearance; ease of operation; variety of attachments, ease of cleaning and quality of the resulting pasta. Read on for the results.

Best pasta makers

1. Marcato Atlas 150 Pasta Maker Machine

£74.99, Lakeland

Best pasta making machine overall, 10/10

We like: Very attractive, with a great build quality and warranty

We don’t like: The clamp could be better designed

• Manual machine – can add a motor, purchased separately
• 10 thickness settings, 3 pasta types
• Made of chrome steel with anodised aluminium rollers

Of all the manual pasta makers, the Marcato stands out: it is sturdy and handsome, made of a chrome steel body with anodised aluminium rollers. These patented rollers are slightly textured, giving a roughness to the resulting pasta which they say helps sauce bind to it for a better flavour.

It comes in the greatest range of colours and finishes – nine, including red, green, black and pink – and has the greatest range of pasta attachments to buy separately. In the box you have the equipment to make three kinds, including lasagne, fettuccine and tagliolini.

It’s a weighty bit of kit at nearly two kilos (you won’t want something flimsy, as a fair bit of force is put through the machine to roll the pasta nice and thin) and it’s straightforward to use. All the manual pasta machines operate in a similar way.

First, attach the clamp to the side of your work surface to secure it, then insert the crank into the slot in the side of the sheet rolling mechanism. Start on thickness setting zero (pull the dial out to turn it) and feed the pasta through five to six times. Then fold the sheet in half and pass through once more. 

Turn the knob to one and pass through once, then once at each setting until you reach the desired thickness – in this case six, the recommended thickness for fettuccine. Next, slot on your pasta cutting attachment, put the crank into the slot of the cutting attachment, and turn. Out come your (hopefully perfect) strands of pasta.

The crank slots securely into the body of the Marcato, and the pasta passes through the rollers smoothly and seamlessly with fairly little effort. When it comes to cutting, the strands come out uniformly and look professional. The resulting pasta is perfectly cut and cooks beautifully, in just two minutes.

The only downside to this machine is the clamp. You need a decent overhang on your worktop for it to work properly, and mine barely suffices at one centimetre. This means it is not entirely secure, but the rubberised bottom is very effective and helps to make up for it, keeping the machine still and the worktop protected.

Cleaning is easy enough. Use a brush to dust off flour and flick out any little bits of pasta. The instructions warn strictly not to wash the machine or get it wet in any way, for fear of rusting, but from an aesthetic perspective you’ll want to keep a polishing cloth handy to keep it looking its best, as the chrome finish gets covered in pasta-finger prints. But made in Italy, with a minimum two year warranty, you can’t go wrong.

2. Kitchencraft World of Flavours Pasta Machine

£35, Dunelm

Best value pasta maker, 9/10

We like: The range of colours at a great price

We don’t like: Slightly flimsy production

• Manual machine
• 9 thickness settings, 3 pasta types
• Stainless steel

Although if you put the Marcato and the Kitchencraft side-by-side you’d be able to identify the more expensive machine, this bargain model looks great and is available in a range of colours to brighten up any kitchen counter – yellow, blue, red or stainless steel.

It can create three types of pasta – lasagne sheets, fettuccine and tagliatelle according to the manual, although in fact I think they meant tagliolini rather than tagliatelle – tagliolini strands are much thinner, just like the strands this machine cut.

The brand does not appear to sell additional pasta cutting attachments, and although it’s possible that other brands’ attachments would fit on the machine, I wouldn’t want to promise. The pasta looked and tasted great, as confirmed by my husband, a big fan of Italian cuisine.

It was a little difficult to slot the pasta cutter onto the main body of the machine as the metal hook was not calibrated quite right – but with a shove it went on in the end. Not an issue once on, but it is things like this that show why this budget pasta maker is less than half the price of such a seamless bit of kit as the Marcato. You really can hear the cogs turning as you pass the pasta through the rollers, but the results are uniform and tasty.

Ideally the crank attachment would click in a bit further to give more purchase when turning it, but overall this is a very effective product for the price. It looks lovely in the kitchen and your house guests will not be able to tell the pasta apart from some that went through a machine costing twice the price or more.

3. SMART Stainless Steel Pasta Maker

£199, Dunelm

Best electric pasta maker, 9/10

We like: The fact that it also dries the pasta as it makes it

We don’t like: It takes up a lot of counter space

• Electric pasta maker
• 6 pasta types
• Stainless steel finish, some plastic elements

The SMART pasta maker really couldn’t be much simpler and quicker to use. Pop the dough ingredients straight into the pasta maker (interestingly, the recipe it recommends is eggless – but I used Theo’s recipe, as with all the other machines tested) and it will knead it together for you.

Then remove the partition between the mixer and the extruder area and it draws the dough in and pushes it out through one of the six pasta attachments that come included. I didn’t have to do anything except cut the strands off at the desired length, and the machine even does a little drying of the pasta as it extrudes.

It’s not traditional in the slightest, but it works. The pasta is uniform and cooks well. The only downside is that it’s a big, bulky piece of equipment for an activity most people won’t undertake all that often, so it will either take up a chunk of cupboard space or gather dust on the counter when not in use.

But if you are a regular pasta or noodle eater and simply must have it fresh, this electric pasta maker may be worth the investment (and as the attachments are plastic, it’s much easier to clean than any of the other machines reviewed here, with soapy water, just like the rest of your dishes).

4. Imperia Italian Double Cutter Pasta Machine

£90.50, Amazon

Best for professional chefs, 8/10

We like: It’s top chef Theo Randall’s pasta maker of choice

We don’t like: The clamp is not secure, and for the price we’d hope for more pasta settings

• Manual machine (motor available separately)
• 6 thickness settings, 3 pasta types
• Chrome plated steel

Imperia is the most popular brand in Italy, and beloved of many professional chefs, including Theo Randall: “My favourite pasta machine is Imperia brand,” he says. “We use the professional machine in the restaurant daily. I love the machine so much that I have a small one I use at home. Both machines are very well made and very reliable.”

However, it is one for more experienced users, as many home chefs complain that the clamp is somewhat flimsy (a common problem for most of the home manual machines on the market) and that it’s not very easy to clean.

Overall, it is a satisfying piece of kit, but I preferred the Marcato, which has the upper hand on price, appearance and slightly on usability, although this is a very similar offering. You can buy a motor separately – the ‘Pasta Facile’ – to use instead of the hand crank if you want to speed up your pasta creation, and more pasta attachments are available, too, including for ravioli.

As with all manual pasta makers, invest in a brush to dust it off and don’t use cleaning products on it, unless you like your pasta al dente with a hint of Dettol.

5. KitchenAid Pasta Cutters and Roller 3-Piece Set

£189, Lakeland

Best for loyal KitchenAid owners, 9/10

We like: Engravings on the attachments so you know which is which at a glance

We don’t like: The price

• Motorised attachments for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer
• 8 thickness settings, 3 pasta types
• Stainless steel

If you already have a KitchenAid stand mixer, the pasta cutter attachments will be a very appealing purchase. They are weighty and well-made, with lovely italic engraving stating which is ‘Spaghetti’ and which makes ‘Fettucine’. The set includes a cleaning brush which is very helpful indeed as the attachments are not dishwasher safe and should not get wet.

Using a stand mixer to make your dough certainly makes the process much easier – kneading by hand is labour intensive whereas popping your ingredients into the mixer bowl and letting its paddle attachment knead for you is a breeze. Feeding them through the roller and cutters by hand is made simpler too, as you’re not using one hand to manually crank the rollers, you have two hands free to do the job.

The pasta that emerges is consistent in appearance and tastes great, but the price of these attachments is the only thing that makes me think twice. If you have a stand mixer, you can get all the ease of making your pasta dough in it, then use one of the top-end Italian manual machines to roll and cut just as effectively (although just a bit more fiddly) for half the price, or add a motor to your manual machine and still come in under £189 total.

6. VonShef Manual Pasta Maker Machine

£34.99, Vonhaus

Best for pasta shape makers and added attachments, 8/10

We like: The addition of a dough cutter, pasta measurement tool, pasta shape maker and other attachments

We don’t like: The appearance of the plastic rollers on the pasta shape maker

• Manual machine
• 9 thickness settings, 6 pasta types
• Stainless steel

The VonShef pasta maker is an excellent bit of equipment for the low price. It has a very helpful instruction manual, is simple to use and is one of the most generous packages of the bunch. As well as the pasta maker itself, it includes a dough cutter, pasta measurement tool, ravioli maker attachment and two attachments for cutting four different types of pasta – fettuccine, tagliatelle, linguine and spaghetti.

In fact there is so much here that it makes me wonder why some of the other brands couldn’t do the same, as you can’t buy additional pasta attachments for most of the more budget pasta makers, which limits your creativity in the kitchen somewhat.

The VonShef also has a rubber stay on the clamp, which makes it much kinder on your work surface, especially if you have one that might mark such as wood. The improved design of the clamp also means it remains the most securely attached to the counter-top of all the manual pasta makers I tested.

Every one of the included attachments cuts cleanly, and the pasta it creates is tasty and consistent. However the build does feel a bit budget, with some sharp steel edges on the machine.

7. Vogue 6 Inch Pasta Machine

£29.99, Amazon

Best budget pasta maker, 9/10

We like: Extremely effective for the price

We don’t like: Crank is prone to falling out

• Manual machine
• 9 thickness settings, 3 pasta types
• Chrome steel with nickel-plated rollers

The Vogue pasta maker is very straightforward to use – all of the manual pasta machines work in virtually the same way, and after using one or two I feel I have quickly become an expert in using them all. The difference is in sturdiness and how high quality they look and feel to use.

The Vogue does not quite live up to its fashion magazine namesake. It is clearly a cheaper impression than the Imperia or Marcato and it is a little noisier and clunkier to operate.

However, the results it gives are very impressive. The pasta that results is just as nice as that produced by any other machine listed and the machine stays steadily clamped to the work surface throughout the process.

The crank is one area that could be improved. It doesn’t slot far enough into the machine, which means it goes clattering to the ground at any opportunity.

Although the Vogue says it makes tagliatelle and spaghetti, purists should note that the cross section of spaghetti should be cylindrical, whereas the cross section of these strands appear flat or slightly cubed, more like tagliolini. A ravioli attachment is available separately.

8. Judge Kitchen Pasta maker

£51, Judge

Best classic pasta maker, 7/ 10

We like: It’s classic design

We don’t like: the handle, which kept falling off

• Manual
• 7 thickness settings - 0.2mm to
• Stainless steel

This is your standard pasta maker: a stainless steel machine with three cutters (the main one and two others) which can be slotted on as you need them - allowing you to make fresh spaghetti, tagliatelle pasta, lasagne sheets, ravioli, filo pastry or noodles. The pasta maker came with a clamp, which helps the pasta maker stay sturdy, but I found it hard to set up and without the clamp it’s very hard to use, sliding all over the counter-top and requiring all my attention to make sure pasta maker and pasta didn’t end up decorating my kitchen floor.

The Judge pasta maker, just like the others, also has a setting on the side to change for different thickness – this one was a little stiff, however, so I was forced to leave it on the thickness of 0.4mm and roll the dough flat enough myself to feed it through. I then made both spaghetti and tagliatelle. The results came out well cut, but at this thickness the pasta was quite flimsy and broke easily as I went to cook it. Thankfully the finished result still tasted great.

A lot of dough did get caught in the machine, meaning I had to soak it to clean it – something you are definitely not supposed to do, so I fear I would regret this long-term, especially at the price of £51. A pasta making novice might accept its quirks, but a true Italian chef may feel a little annoyed by them.

9. Lakeland Pasta Machine

£29.99, Lakeland

Best all-in-one pasta machine, 7/10

We like: The Lakeland three year guarantee

We don’t like: You can’t add extra attachments

• Manual machine
• 8 thickness settings, 4 pasta types
• Chromed stainless steel

Unlike all of the other manual pasta machines featured here, the Lakeland pasta maker is an all-in-one unit which combines the sheet rolling part of the machine together with all of the three pasta cutters it offers. Usually, the pasta cutter is separate and slots on to the machine as and when needed.

This does make the overall look of the pasta maker more smart, but also more unwieldy and less versatile, as you don’t have the option of buying additional pasta cutters to make different kinds of pasta and slotting them on. Spaghetti, tagliatelle and linguine are your limit.

The crank falls out literally every time you take your hand off it and the ‘spaghetti’ attachment doesn’t cut as sharply as you’d hope, some strands have to be manually separated by hand, which is not ideal. I’d also argue it’s not spaghetti, as it’s much squarer rather than round in cross section, an issue I have found with many of the pasta machines around.

However the tagliatelle and linguine come out beautifully. Bearing in mind the low price of this machine (one of the very lowest on the market), you get good pasta for your money, along with a three year guarantee from the makers, which is reassuring.

Pasta machine FAQS

How do I make homemade pasta using my pasta maker?

‘The most important thing to do when making pasta is to work the pasta so it is elastic and has a Play-Doh like texture – this helps to make it more manageable and more forgiving when you roll it through the machine,’ says chef Theo Randall. ‘The best way to start is to place the dough through the rollers on the widest setting and each time the dough goes through the machine you must fold it over and repeat the process at least five times. 

‘This will give you a smooth pasta dough and will give the pasta good texture which will therefore give the pasta a better al dente bite. Using the widest setting also helps to not place too much pressure on the rollers. The machines are strong but if you are not cautious the internal cogs can wear down.’

What are the key differences between a manual and electric pasta making machine?

This entirely depends on the machine. A manual pasta making machine can be turned into an electric one by purchasing and connecting a motor instead of a hand crank, but nothing else changes – you still have to knead the dough yourself and the rollers and cutters are identical.

Meanwhile a fully electric pasta making machine takes away almost all of the labour of making pasta. It will mix and knead the dough for you, and in the case of the SMART electric pasta maker, for example, you don’t even need to feed the dough through rollers yourself, it’s all automated.

Which pasta maker machine is right for me?

First, choose between electric or manual. Manual pasta machines are more traditional and take up less space in your kitchen, but they are also more hard work, requiring you to knead the dough yourself and crank it through the rollers by hand. If you make pasta very frequently, for large numbers, or struggle with your hands at all, then an electric pasta maker or pasta attachments for a kitchen stand mixer will suit you far better.

What kind of dough can I use in my pasta maker?

Use a classic pasta dough – flour, eggs and water. Chef Theo Randall recommends his pasta recipe, for which you will need 350g Italian tipo 00 flour, 25g fine semolina flour, two whole eggs, four egg yolks and a tablespoon of water.

“Mix the flour and semolina flour together, add the lightly whisked eggs and a tbsp of water,” says Randall. “Mix together with your hands until you get a dough that has a similar texture to Play-Doh.”