Some of my favorite childhood memories are of making fresh pasta. It’s an activity that puts the whole family to work: Rolling, shaping, and pressing dough; catching noodles as they emerge out of the press; hanging pasta to dry over open cabinet doors.
Everyone’s go-to pasta maker, the Atlas 150 Aluminum Pasta Maker is a hand crank model made of Italian steel that clamps to the table; $119.95 at Crate & Barrel.
For speedy weeknight pasta, the Cuisinart Pastafecto Pasta Bread Dough Maker makes both the dough but also the pasta shapes with six included discs; $199.95 at Williams-Sonoma.
The KitchenAid Gourmet Pasta Press Attachment attaches to the KitchenAid stand mixer to press five different pasta shapes, cutting them with a built-in wire cutter; $219.99 at Food52.
The Kurkur Pasta Maker Machine is a sturdy stainless steel hand crank machine with a detachable crank for improved storage potential; $504.61 at Amazon.
Another classic Italian manual pasta maker is the Imperia Pasta Machine, shown in white, for $149.95 at Williams-Sonoma.
An automatic pasta maker, the Philips Compact Pasta Noodle Maker can make a pound of pasta at a time and comes with three discs for pasta shapes.
Like the classic manual machines, the KitchenAid 3 Piece Pasta Roller Cutter Attachment Set affixes to the front of the KitchenAid stand mixer, using the motor to turn the rollers as you glide through your pasta dough.
Like the compact Philips model above, the Philips Fully Automatic Artisan Pasta and Noodle Maker mixes and extrudes pasta dough, but this model comes with six disc shapes for a wide range of potential pastas; $279.95 at Sur la Table.
Like the KitchenAid model, the Smeg Pasta Roller & Cutter Set is compatible with a Smeg stand mixer and uses the motor of the machine to turn the pasta making attachments; $299.95 at Williams-Sonoma.
A budget-friendly option, the Vevor Pasta Maker Machine has all the basic nuts and bolts of a hand crank model with the option of 9 different thickness adjustments; $28.49 at The Home Depot.