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14 Different Types of Juicers & Their Uses (with Pictures)
Nicole Wells
Last updated:
One great way for people who don’t like to eat their fruits and veggies to still get many of the nutritional benefits from them is to turn them into juice. Because juicers work with raw ingredients that range in hardness and consistency from carrots to apples to berries to leafy greens, there are several different kinds available for sale.
Knowing what you want to juice will go a long way in helping you know which machine is the right one for you. This is a great starting point for a purchase decision. From here, you can look into specific models and makers, taking into account things like warranties and electricity usage.
Juicing isn’t a new thing. America’s love for orange juice started with fresh-squeezed orange juice made with hand juicers. There are a few different kinds of these on the market now, from models that use lever-action to squeeze juice to ribbed extractors, the likes of which your grandparents used. The advantage of these is that they’re much less expensive than a powered juicer. The disadvantage is that if you have to juice a lot of fruit, it’s going to wear out your wrists.
1. Lever-Action Hand Juicer
If you’ve got a lot of fruit to juice and don’t want an electric model, this is the sort of juicer you’ll want to consider. Fit the citrus half onto the juicer, pull down on the lever, and in no time flat you’ll have a glass full of fresh-squeezed juice—but without the physical toll of an old-style juicer or the expense of a machine.
A hand crank spins the toothy grinding column of this manual juicer to mash up hard and soft fruits. It’s a simple action, but one that you can produce by hand, whereas more expensive models deliver by way of electricity. It isn’t so great for citrus or leafy greens, but it excels with harder fruits and vegetables like apples.
Operating like the lever-action manual juicer, but without the stand, this two-handled juicer is great for squeezing juice from lemons or other citrus fruits. Cleanup is as simple as opening it and flicking the rind into the compost or garbage.
If you aren’t into juicing as a lifestyle, but occasionally want to squeeze lemons or oranges for cooking, this is a basic juicer model. It’s inexpensive and only takes up a little bit of space. If you are after lots of juice, however, be aware that this is the most labor-intensive model out there. You can put in long minutes of work and only get a mouthful of juice as a reward.
A masticating juicer works in the same basic way that you chew up food. It slowly grinds it up, but without jaws and teeth. This helps to minimize heat, which speeds the oxidation process. In general, it also maximizes the amount of nutrient-rich juice you get.
5. Vertical Juicers
Vertical masticating juicers place the grinding action in a column perpendicular to the countertop you have it on. This allows gravity to help pull down whatever you’re juicing, but it does make it a little harder to clean up.
Horizontal masticating juicers place their chewing section parallel to the countertop. This position creates a little more space between the body and whatever receiving container you’re putting the juice in. But these juicers do take a little longer to operate and clean up.
Want to buy a horizontal masticating juicer? Try the Omega NC800HDS!
Auger Juicers
Auger juicers employ a column that spins at low speed to slowly crush up fruits and vegetables and convert them into juice. Because it’s slow, it minimizes the amount of heat generated, which means the oxidation process isn’t supercharged.
Single-auger juicers are among the best juicers for leafy greens and wheatgrass because the action relies on a single column, of varying design, that pushes the food it’s juicing against something that holds it in place while the juice is extracted.
Perfect for hard vegetables and fruits because the vertical column uses gravity to ensure that the food is ground up quickly. But these can also be a little bit harder to set up and clean when you’re done making juice.
Horizontal auger juicers tend to be easier to set up and clean thanks to the fact that there are fewer moving parts. But they don’t work as well on harder vegetables and fruits because the pulling power of gravity is lost.
These auger juicers use a pair of columns that grind together at low speed but at high torque. Fruits and vegetables are pushed down between the two and ground up against a screen to extract the juice. Hard vegetables and fruits can take a quick minute, but these do work well for leafy greens and grasses. These are also known as twin gear juicers.
The most common and most inexpensive juicers on the market, centrifugal juicers have a blade in the bottom that chops up produce and then spins it around a rounded basket. It operates at a very high speed and makes a lot of noise. Also, the juice doesn’t keep very well, and it doesn’t work so well on leafy greens or wheatgrass.
11. Vertical Centrifugal Juicers
Centrifugal juicers all have the same basic construction, which is pretty similar to a basic manual juicer. The difference is that instead of your hand providing the rotating power from the top, there’s a motor spinning a blade at the bottom.
Hydraulic juicers can extract a lot of juice per pound of fruit or vegetables, making them among the most effective juicing machines on the market. Their prices reflect that and therefore aren’t intended for anyone but the most avid juicers.
12. Manual Juicers
These rely on the same kind of action as a tire jack. Chop up your fruits and vegetables and then place them into a juice bag. Place that on top of the juicing plate and crank the handle, which operates like a jack. It rises up and uses 2 tons of force to push juice from fruits and vegetables.
If you get a manual hydraulic juicer, you’re doing all of the preparation work. If you have an electric hydraulic juicer, you’ve got the juice to run the chopper to prep your fruits and vegetables and also to help run the press to squeeze them.
If you want to make a large quantity of juice to store for later, you might want to look at a steamer juicer. These heat fruits and vegetables so that their cell walls break down and release the juice. It’s not a very tasty way to juice, but it’s pretty economical if you want to store it for later use.
14. Multi-Stacked Juicer Pot
These are all generally designed in the same way. There’s a bottom catch basin, a steamer insert, and a pot to hold your fruits and vegetables. The bottom pot can usually double as a saucepan on a stovetop.
There you have it: the 14 different types of juicers. Now that you understand your many options, you can choose the perfect model for your needs. Whether you’re looking for a masticating juicer that can handle leafy greens or a manual citrus juicer, there are plenty of great juicers out there. Now it’s time to get out there and start juicing!
Nicole is a juice fanatic and overall fitness enthusiast who loves sharing her passion for juicing with others. When she's not blending up a new concoction of her favorite fruits and vegetables, Nicole can be found behind the computer, writing about all things juice!
