Pasta Maker

I am looking for a pasta maker for Christmas. I am not quite yet willing to drop $150 on the kitchenaid set and am looking for a manual model. Do any of you have any recommendations on a model and does anybody in town sell them? I looked at bed bath and beyond and william sonoma and could not find them there. Thanks in advance for any help.

DON"T get a Ron Popeil pasta maker. Excellent concept but I went through TWO of them before I invested in the attachments for my Kitchenaid. First one -- switch went bad; could mix but not extrude. Second one -- main front plate broke; too expensive to replace.

Big question: What kind of pasta do you want to make? Just the flat sheets, maybe linguine, fettucine or spaghetti? In that case, I'm really happy with making pasta using my dough hook then running it through the KA pasta roller till I'm satisfied with the thinness and texture and then through the KA cutter attachment.

As for other shapes, I have the extruder attachments for my KA too. Don't use them very often.

Lois

I have an Atlas manual that makes and cuts sheets. A few years back my partner at the time gave me a motor made in Italy for it. I love it. I have seen the manual ones in Target and Walmar in the past. there are multiple models online, Amazon.com has 472 results for pasta maker.

[Robin Garr]

Agreeing with Suzi, the Atlas is the Italian standard manual maker. We've had ours for years and I have no idea of the current price, but they're heavy duty and not terribly expensive.

Saw one at Bed Bath & Beyond last night for about $40. I don't know the make or quality.