I've owned a good half-dozen or so garlic presses over the years, and I eventually settled on this one:




I've owned it for 4 years, which I think is a personal record.

While it's the "best" one I've personally used to date, I really think that I just don't fancy garlic presses that much.

More often than not, I seriously just use my chef's knife. If I want them really finely minced, I just smash them with the knife, then do a fast rocking chop. Doneski.

I really only reach for the press, when I need like an entire bulb of the stuff (rare for me). Otherwise, it's honestly just as quick for me to use the knife I already have out anyway. And if I count cleanup, I'm actually faster with the knife.

For graters, I have four total - Two Rösles, and two Microplanes




I have one for coarse grating, and one for medium grating, These babies are Tier 1, straight baller, awesome. I prefer this style to a box grater, but that's a personal preference. Point is, they're sharp as hell (and STAY that way), and absolutely have not corroded even one little bit, in the three years I've owned them. And I toss them in the dishwasher every time, because the hell with handwashing a cheese grater. Both still have a mirror finish. I don't know if these are "Lifetime" graters, but I suspect they will be. Or real close to it.

For fine grating (and zesting), I have two of these (one wide, and one narrow):




These are widely regarded as the gold standard, and my own experience backs that up. And circling back to your garlic press question, these are what I use when I want a garlic paste.

They do. I have a pair of them. You get the hang of it after 2-3 cloves - they work best if you use moderate pressure. You develop a feel for it, pretty quickly. Once in a while, I'll think I've rolled it enough, dump the clove(s) out, then go "Nope - not quite!", put them back in, and roll 'em a few more times. And every now and then, I'll accidentally squeeze one funny and shoot a clove out the side and across the counter. But mostly - they really do work as advertised. At least for me.

That said, mine mostly just sit in the drawer. I've become so quick at it over the years just using the side of my knife (light smash, then peel the paper right off), that using the roller thing is kind of a wash, time and effort-wise. I already have the knife out anyway, so it's one less thing to rinse off.

But mostly, I keep forgetting I have the silicone things in the drawer.

These are the ones I have, in case you're curious:

If you have a lot of garlic to peel, placing the cloves inside of two metal bowls and vigorously shaking them for ~20 seconds works wonderfully. Picked up that trick years ago, and it works a treat.