I am wondering if anyone could tell me if it is necessary to use an actual fondant sheeter verses using one that was manufactured for pizza dough. I am asking because, although I do not work with fondant all that much, I would like to but I am not so strong anymore and it is really hard for me to roll it out. I have an opportunity to purchase a Somerset dough sheeter, 20" for around $500. It was used in a pizza shop and is sold as such, but I am wondering if it would work with fondant. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

There is no difference as far as I know. They are all dough sheeters. I would make sure it's really well cleaned, but it would work fine.

Now... if you are planning on covering a cake that is larger than 10"... maybe 12" if you are good with the placement... this sheeter will be too small for you. If you only do smaller cakes though... this will be fine. Or maybe you can use the sheeter to get it started and roll it out more after since it won't be too hard to roll it a little thinner after it's already rolled out. Just remember that the piece of fondant you roll out should be at least 10" bigger than the diameter of your cake to account for the distance up each side and give you a little bit of play.

HTH's

Thanks so much FromScratch. This does help. I too figured that I could start the fondant in the sheeter and roll more when necessary. I think for the price, I really cannot go wrong. If it is something that becomes and issue, I bet I could resell it for more than I paid. These things are very expensive.
Thanks again!

For me, I wouldn't waste the cash and space on a sheeter that wasn't going to do 100% of the work for 80% of my cakes. I think if you are always rolling more you are going to resent the purchase. Put the cash away for the big one

Just make certain it is a Somerset dough sheeter and not a dough roller and you'll be OK.

You'll likely still have to order the fondant ramp from Somerset but that is a screaming deal. Best of luck!

Have you called Somerset? I would try that first and see what they have to say.

I think the best thing you can do is get the model # and look it up. I think a dough roller would work too... just watching the product videos over on the Somerset site and they both do the same thing... just in a slightly different way.

Though watching those videos makes me want one... badly. To have a sheet of fondant rolled out in 5 seconds... ahhhh bliss!!

I think... for $500 you probably can't lose. Just make sure it's not ancient and functions well. I can't imagine selling it for $500 unless it came with the establishment and they have no clue how much they run for.. or.. it's broken nd needs fixin'.

New a 30" sheeter is 4-6K. That's a huge chunk-o-change but you could use it for so many things... pie crust... pasta dough... disobedient children...

Disobedient children?! Ah, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA! How horribly funny!

Ahhh, to roll out fondant in 5 seconds...

First let me say that $500.00 is an AMAZING price!!!!!! There should not be an issue with using a dough sheeter as opposed to a fondant sheeter, but you have to clean well between uses because flour in fondant can cause fermenting and that would be unfortunate.

I have had access to a two stage Somerset 20 inch sheeter in the kitchen I was renting. I do love the idea, but the reality is that the fondant seems to get stuck in the top chute a lot, and it is hard to roll anything very wide as it seems to always stretch long and skinny. I was more successful skipping the first stage entirely, having the machine roll thicker than I needed and finishing by hand with a heavy rolling pin, unless the cake was pretty small.

I have to admit, however, that the lady who owns the kitchen loves this sheeter, so I assume that the learning curve just takes awhile and with more use, I might also find it more useful. She can catch the fondant as it comes out of the machine and place it directly on the cake without stopping. For me it curls under itself and is always too narrow.

When I look for a sheeter, I hope to find a reversible one rather than the two stage thing, but if you are more coordinated than I am there are definitely ways to make this one work.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have actually found out more info on this sheeter. It is a Somerset model CDR-2100
As far as cleanliness it is almost perfect. There are no noticeable scratches and everything looks to be in good condition.
I know that $500 is a awesome deal, I am just nervous because it was designed and used for pizza dough. I am wondering if anyone else has used one that was designed for pizza with fondant and does it work basically the same?
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between a roller and a sheeter? I have watched the video's and they seem to do the same thing, unless I am missing something.
Thanks again!

We have the 30" Somerset sheeter...the one designed for fondant. I love it. My concern is you're spending $500 on machine that's only big enough to cover a 10" cake.

Personally, I would put the $500 towards a 30" sheeter.

Spring- I am with you on it, really I am. I just do not think my wallet is! LOL
I looked on ebay and they have the 30" for fondant for $4,199 and $125 shipping. The price has a "Make an Offer" option but I do not think they will accept my offer... I wish! If you don't mind, could I ask how much you paid for yours?
Thanks in advance

For 5 weekes I was "fighting" with Somerset to buy CDR500 220V and now they shipped it without any papers and forwarder can't send it to Europe for me. Terrible contact ! When I call them they said "send an email". It really took 5 weekes to make easy deal...Now i'm stucked without invoice and CE certificate for Europe. 

AHello I was wondering if anyone knew if somewhere in Australia that sold sommerset dough shetters, even second hand .

AHi I was wondering if u ended up buying this and does it work well with fondant as I too have found 1 second hand and is wondering the sane thing ?

Unfortunately this is an old thread and Moofie hasn't posted since June 2011. You might search her posts to see if she ever commented about it somewhere else. Here's the link http://cakecentral.com/forums/posts/by_user/id/48779