Philips Kitchen Appliances Compact Pasta and Noodle Maker, Viva Collection, Comes with 3 Default Classic Pasta Shaping Discs, Fully Automatic, Recipe Book, Small, Black (HR2371/05)

I have been wanting to make my own pasta for many years now but felt doing it by hand or with one of those manual roller machines would be too time consuming. Therefore, once I learned about extruders, I have been obsessing over what pasta maker to buy. Over one year ago I ordered an off brand maker and decided to return it without trying it because I have since learned the Philips pasta makers are highly rated. In addition to this one, I've researched the Philips 7000 Series Pasta Maker and the Philips Artisan Smart Pasta & Noodle Maker (which is only available at one high-end kitchen brand store). I also read all the reviews from all the sites, including the Philips site and Amazon and even watched a few YouTube videos. In the end, this pasta maker is the right balance for me because I am only cooking for myself and do not want to freeze pasta or make large quantities. However, large quantities can be made with this maker but it has to be done in batches. It is really designed for 2-3 people unless a recipe is doubled, which is possible to do in one churning session. It has a small footprint and comes with three discs for the three types of pastas most people use (spaghetti, fettuccine, and penne). In the box is the unit, three discs, one recipe book, one instruction book, two measuring cups (one for dry and one for liquids), a cleaning wand, and a cleaning tool that also doubles as a cutter. The liquid cup has two sides and it is important to know which side to use. Side A is for when only all purpose flour is used and Side B is when a mixture of other flours are used. I used a simple recipe of 200 grams of King Arthur Pasta Flour Blend and 75ml of liquid on the Side B side of the liquid measuring cup. The liquid was one egg topped off with water until 75ml was reached. I then beat the liquid with a fork until it was mixed. I just got this today and less than one hour later had a two person spaghetti meal that I ate all by myself. Because I reviewed everyone's videos and read a lot of reviews, I knew that the dough had to be crumbly, although I do think mine was a hairline too crumbly. After setting up the machine correctly, I then put the flour in the mixing chamber, covered the chamber with the lid, and turned on the pasta maker. As it was churning, I poured the liquid through the two tiny slits in the clear top ever so slowly. It must be done slowly. The texture of the dough must be crumbly and not mixed like one would expect when making bread or pizza dough. Nevertheless, after about 10 minutes I had about 2.5 servings of pasta. I immediately cooked it for 3 minutes in a pot of salted boiling water and then drained it (see photos). It was a simple spaghetti dish dressed with olive oil and grated cheese; however, it tasted much more delicious than store bought pasta to me. I am absolutely ecstatic that I was able to create my own pasta in minutes. Clean-up was not too bad. I remembered from reading reviews that it is important to let the pasta flour mixture dry on all the implements first before cleaning. I then used my fingers to pull and scrap off the dough. The dough just flaked or peeled off depending on which parts I was cleaning. I then hand washed them in seconds once I had brushed off all the stuck on dough--see photos. The photo of the cutting board with dough on it is how much gunk I flaked off the parts. This does not include the small amount of dough I dumped out of the reservoir. Cleaning took me about 15 minutes. In summary, I am so happy with my purchase. This pasta extruder machine is a perfect size for small families or those who do not mind making pasta in batches. It also has a small footprint. As long as I use the measuring cups provided and measure the wet and dry ingredients EXACTLY, I know I'll get perfect results. I must remember that the mixed dough must be crumbly for this to work properly. I am still debating whether I will purchase the Philips Kitchen Appliances Philips Compact Pasta Maker 4-in-1 Accessory Shape Kit which includes the discs for Pappardelle, Tagliatelle, Angel Hair and Lasagna. Those discs are currently too expensive and I am unsure how much I'll use them. The three discs that come with this maker are good enough and I suppose I can improvise elbows by cutting the penne smaller because there doesn't seem to be any elbow disc available for this machine. The current price of $116.95 plus tax is reasonable for this. I do wish I purchased this when it was seventeen dollars cheaper but I had not made up my mind at that time.

We made all our bread with a bread machine now. Shipping Udons when everybody stays at home for lunch cost us a fortune. Organic spaghetti tastes OK if we fry it. So it seems that this machine will be a good choice if it works. I never believed the videos of making noodles. And it looked like a whole of extra junk to clean up. But this one is from Philips. And if I don't like it I can return it, most likely leaving it out at my door. I didn't think about economics before. The worse you can get is saving 23 cents per 200 g of noodles without the egg, for 2 to 3 people. This compares organic flour with organic spaghetti from Whole Foods, doesn't count electricity, water, and labor So it takes 1.9 years to break even if you make 200 g every day. If you add the organic egg, you are losing 19 cents per 200 g of noodles. But spaghetti doesn't have eggs. The disassembly and reassembly were easy. Except that the triangle marker on the spaghetti disc was so faint that I thought the manual was talking about something else. The process is so much easier than the bread machine. There is no confusion. Pour 200 g of flour into the chamber out of the way. Close the lid and then turn on the machine. And then pour an 80 ml total of egg plus water into the chamber slowly over the lid. There are only 80 ml of liquid so it can't take much time. There are only 200 g of flour so the whole process doesn't take much time either. I can't believe that the machine did it right the first time. There are no sensors. A simple motor is controlled by a program. But the machine makes spaghetti like a robot. A spaghetti isn't uniform across the length but the imperfection disappeared after cooking. If not cooking immediately, I would cover the spaghetti so it won't get dry easily. It will start stiffening up and may break when you move them. I boiled the basic spaghetti recipe for 8 minutes. It tastes like, well, spaghetti. You can put everything except the motor into the dishwasher. All the plastic is of good quality. They can be rinsed clean. There is a brush with a hard scrubber and a silicone soft scrubber to take out the few flours that are left behind. The flat cleaning tool is actually the metal pin in the middle, each end of which is used to clear holes on the discs. It's not Korean ramen, not authentic udon, but I've been there before settling on spaghetti now. I'm very happy with it. Perhaps I'll think of something that justifies me against ordering spaghetti on our weekly grocery order.

I purchased this via Amazon Warehouse, where it was flagged as new. Nope. Not even close. It came in ziploc bags and was very much used. Disappointing. However, I hate returning things, so I cleaned it up. I found a gluten-free pasta recipe on the Philips site and was disappointed that one did not come in the included recipe book. No problem- just used what was on the site. It drives me crazy when a recipe says 2 eggs and does not stipulate the size or overall grams, particularly since a few grams off can mess up the pasta. Regardless, my first batch came out just fine, although I think maybe a bit more liquid was in order. YOU MUST WEIGH TO THE GRAM AND FOLLOW THEIR RECIPES WHEN YOU FIRST START!!!! I cannot emphasize this enough: if you are off even a little, it may not work at all for you. Turn the dial and hit play. Just dump in the flour and slowly pour in the egg mixture. It automatically mixes. It then beeps just before it extrudes, which is only a few minutes (3ish). Be prepared to stand there to cut the pasta until the entire batch is extruded. Since it is so fast, boil your water before putting the flour in the machine. The pasta was cooked in 3 minutes. I was happily surprised at how much I liked the pasta, especially since the trash gluten-free options that are so expensive tend to be pretty bad. The clean-up is a breeze- top shelf of your dishwasher. It couldn't be easier! I can make fresh pasta and cook it faster than a box of dried pasta. Love it!! This works well for 2 people. If you have a family, get the bigger model. I love the small footprint, and it is light, so easy to store and pull out. The little drawer on it holds the other 2 discs, and it has 3 discs included. I will pick up the extra disc, as I see myself using this a ton!

What a crazy mess my first experience was! I’m surprised nobody else I can find mentioned the poor instructions in the black & white booklet that gives the wrong units of measurement for the egg/liquid ingredients. Instead of ml, like it’s marked on the included measuring cup, the manual’s written instructions labels the liquid in g, aka grams. I was thrown off by it and blame it in part for not getting good results the first try using semolina combined with whole wheat flour. I forgot to double the amount of egg & water to the 400 g doubled flour amount. It called for 150 g semolina and 50 g white flour. Liquid measure was supposed to read, 75 ml after you add 1 egg and top the liquid up to make it that amount. Double that would have been 150 ml. Instead, I was tearing my hair out wondering why it said to add grams instead of ml. My husband was probably right when he told me at that point that I shouldn’t have drunk any of the whiskey he had just brought home from a trip out to the local liquor store. lol I ended up with a big ball of dough that I knew, from past experience with an old machine I used to own, was too wet. I had to stop & rethink everything. I didn’t want to throw all that dough & egg away. I decided to split it into 2 halves & add another 100 g of flour, acc. to the included dry ingredients measuring cup, to each of the 2 separate batches I was about to remix. I didn’t have white AP flour I could use for adding to the dough. A few days prior, the new bag I just recently bought at the grocery store had a worm in the top when I opened it. I had to throw the whole bag away! I didn’t know I had another bag of white flour in storage until after I finished making the pasta in this machine! I found some bread flour I had in storage and added that in place of the white AP flour to the over-moist semolina dough mixtures. Somehow miraculously, it all worked out and I was able to extrude 2 good batches of pasta when all was said and done! FYI, I liked very much that the machine automatically went back to remixing the dough left in the machine so that it could extrude more of it out. But even after that, there was still residual dough left in it that it was unable to pick up and push through the extruder. The solution: take it out of the machine and push it back into the rectangular opening where the screw turning mechanism pushes it through to get it to extrude it. When you’ve done this enough times and you still have a small amount of dough left, make it into noodles by hand. Stretch it out between the palms of your hands and roll it into round noodle shapes. Having been a pottery artist for many years, this is very easy for me but I don’t think it’s hard for anyone to do. Another thing I had fun doing was pushing out the “buttons” of pasta dough that gets stuck in the dies, and cooking them in with the rest of the past without changing their shapes. You can reshape them if you want. And you can do the same with any and all the little bits of dough that gets left out. If you really want to get into it & you’ve made a bigger mistake that leaves a larger quantity of unextruded dough, you can get out your rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a flat sheet. Then cut it in noodle-shape slices. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Another issue I had with the instructions is how it says to place the die on the opening by putting the non-existent arrow at the top. There are lines in die opposite each other but they don’t end up centered at the top if you push the die in firmly enough so that its little teeth fit into slots on the machine end that hold the die in place. This was very confusing. I didn’t know if I should keep the die loose and not push it into the machine or push it hard enough to make the teeth mesh with the gaps molded in on the machine. Very hard to describe the problem but if you’ve tried this, I think you’ll know what I’m talking about. Positives- I like the improvements they’ve made to this type of machine such as the built-in storage drawer on the bottom. The whole process being automatic from mixing to extruding is very nice. It’s nice and compact which is a big reason I bought this instead of the larger model. The scraper with metal rods built in at both ends is very handy for poking dough out of the holes in the dies when they need cleaning or if you need to clear a few holes while it extrudes and they get plugged up. Can’t wait to try this again with a better start the next time we want to eat pasta. Not sure if this machine’s motor is strong enough for it to last. I bought the added coverage in case it breaks down. I also bought the extra dies elsewhere that will fit this machine & await their arrival so that I can try them out.

On first try, this pasta maker was a delight to use. It was easy to measure ingredients, flip the switch, and wait for reasonably good homemade pasta to come out. Unfortunately, it's more fragile than an egg shell. After a couple of uses, I noticed the pasta maker struggling a bit when spitting out pasta. But the results were fine, and the pasta seemed right once it came out. I was extremely careful to follow the precise measurements laid out in the manual, as others have noted. On the fifth use, the pasta maker made a terrible grinding sound near the beginning of the process. The whole top half flipped off and fell on the floor, as if the gears had gotten stuck. I tried putting everything back together, but the motor had burned out. This appeared to be covered under the manufacturer warranty, so I contacted Philips. After three incredibly long months of "reviewing the case," they finally sent a replacement. Despite the circumstances, I was excited to have a pasta maker again. I measured flour, water, and egg and tried again. This time, I used ever so slightly more water in case there were any issues with hydration. About five minutes into the process, the machine attempted to spit out pasta, but nothing came out of the tube. It started making noises again. I immediately stopped the machine and attempted to disassemble the parts. I couldn't. The front pasta tube is stuck in place and won't come off. The plastic looks warped. I can't believe how cheap this thing is. It just doesn't work. For the amount of money this costs, I would expect to get several years of use at least. It's just garbage. I'm once again stuck with a giant $200 paper weight, but this time, I'm not waiting another three months for a replacement. It's going in the trash. Don't let this happen to you.

I love my little pasta maker!! It brings me so much joy when I use it. It’s so simple and the pasta is fresh!! I cannot say enough. I wish I could buy one for all my daughters, but they use their stand mixer. The instructions are clear and precise, which is always welcome. The recipe booklet is perfect for switching up plain old pasta. I just love all this! It is compact, so storage is not an issue. It does have some heft to it, so be careful. I feel it will last a long time. The motor is very quiet and strong. Good quality parts, they also have heft to them, so not worry of breaking any parts. I’ve dropped the rod on the floor and prayed it didn’t hit my foot, cause that would hurt. I bought the Black colored machine to match my appliances and it blends perfectly. Buy this machine!!

Ever since I have met my wife my entire way of cooking has had to change. She has celiacs disease and it is so bad she can't even touch regular flour without it entering her bloodstream...I used to think going Gluten Free was for Gwenyth Paltrow and her goop troop. But I have adjusted and just simply gotten used to eating crappy pasta. Because let's face it....gluten free pasta sucks. Until now. I ended up buying this because making Italian food is one of my favorite dishes to make...I miss the flour everywhere...I miss the warm pasta feel as you make it etc. But with gluten free pasta I was hovering dangerously close between cardboard and pasta so heavy that it would make some unladen Jewish bread seem like a chewy treat. ****THE REVIEW*** When I unboxed this thing I had my doubts. How in the hell was this thing going to make any kind of decent pasta. But my wife was excited again for pasta and so we just went for it. Pictured above is actually our first batch. You can literally still see the box and instructions on the right. Our first batch came out literally perfect. We used King Authors 1:1 gluten free flour. We ate a couple of noodles straight off that rack and they were amazing. Even better with some homemade sauce we had made just prior. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PASTA MAKING KIT and for people like me that ignore that sentence because we know better let me say it again FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PASTA MAKING KIT I seriously can't express this enough. Our second batch I decided I knew better. I changed the ratio based off another recipe I had been making hand made pasta with...put that recipe into the maker and it was total garbage...the first noodles to come out were almost as good as the first ones...then the ratio was off and not enough liquid for the rest of the flour and it ended up blocking up the mixer. I ended up throwing out the batch. I tried again using more eggs then what my recipe called for and the noodles weren't garbage ready but they were not the caliber I am used to serving in my house to guests...and then I went back to the recipe as it is on the website using the flour weight instead of cup measurements...and voila! Back to perfect noodles. again...shouting warning WEIGH YOUR FLOUR. DO NOT PACK IT INTO A MEASURING CUP...seriously. I did this wrong twice and forgot another time...your end result will almost always tell you how you messed up...now if Philips could make a fridge warning me I am putting the cereal into it instead of the milk I would appreciate it. Clean up is not so much fun...but seriously when is it ever...there is flour, egg, and mess everywhere and in every nook and cranny...while it is fairly easy to take apart and put back together...if you miss anything...the next time you take it out though it will be as if you left concrete inside of your machine. We have owned it about a month now and we have made 11 batches of pasta and only 3 were horrible...and all of those were my mistake. If you want gluten free pasta (I am sure regular pasta too but there is so much good pasta out there why make your own) that tastes amazing...with the ability to make almost ANY kind of pasta (lemon pepper pasta and tomato basil are our favorites so far) I seriously cannot recommend this enough.

I have used the Philips Viva Pasta Maker twice now. Here are my thoughts: Q: Is it easy to use? A: Absolutely. You weigh in the flour, add eggs and water, and press a button. Within 3 minutes the pasta will start to squeeze out. You now need to cut it to the desired length, which for spaghetti means cutting it every minute or so. The full run for a double batch (400g) is about 10-15 minutes. I make the sauce while it's working. Q: Is it easy to clean? A: Kinda. Everything is machine washable, and it is easy enough to disassemble. That being said, there are a quite a few pieces that need to be dissembled, cleaned and reassembled for every use. Still this is easy enough so that cleaning isn't an issue preventing me from using the pasta maker. Q: Does it work well? A: Yes. Follow the instructions and you'll get good fresh pasta. That being said, I still feel a difference in taste/texture compared to the very best handmade pasta- but that might just be a question of dialing in the recipe. It really does work. So am I happy with it? do I recommend it? Yes. If you eat pasta often enough, this is fantastic, easy to use, and works very well.