Talk to me about food processors please

[beckington]

I'm looking at buying a food processor. I figure I'd use it mainly for making bean burgers, hummus, falafel, pesto, etc, plus grinding nuts and maybe making dough. DH likes the idea of it cutting up veggies for him. What features should we be looking for? What size - 10 cup, 12 cup? Do you have  a food processor that you love? One of my concerns is that it'll be fiddly and hard to clean. Any words of wisdom for a food processor newbie?

TIA!

[Annie Mac]

Get the best one you can afford. Cuisinart makes good ones; so does Kitchenaid (I have one of theirs). I've had other, crappy ones before and they just aren't worth it. I have a 12 cup model; it also comes with a small bowl insert for smaller batches. It's nothing fancy. It has two speeds: high and low. And pulse. It has a dough blade that I haven't yet used. All in all, a very useful appliance. 

[Arduinna]

I have the 16 cup cuisinart elite food processor. I love the new features they have come up with since I had my first cuisinart. I had a thread on it a few weeks ago. It has a dough button/function that reduces the power when kneading yeast doughs since it has a 1000 watt motor. It has an adjustable slicing blade so you only need 1 blade. The grating blade flips over so you can grate two different sizes with only 1 blade. I love having 3 bowls to work with, and the new lid that snaps on instead of turning to lock is really nice.

It's pretty easy to clean, but not as easy as the vitamix LOL

[beckington]

Thanks ladies!

Annie Mac, does your KA leak? I've been reading reviews and the main complaint that seems to come up is that the KA will leak with even just a small amount of liquid (and that when customer service was asked about it they said you aren't supposed to use any liquid in it) and that in other cases flour will often leak out too - if nothing heavier is being mixed iwth it, I guess. Have you noticed this?

Arduinna, since you've now had a KA and a Cuisinart, which do you prefer? I've read the Cuisinart doesn't leak and the blades are adjustable instead of having a few different ones? Did your KA leak?

So annoyed - I couldn't make a decision on this and the KA one I was thinking about that was half price at Sears has been removed from the website!! Bah! Still, our local store may have it... at the moment i'm leaning towards a Cuisinart but if I can get a KA at half price then so be it! :)

[Arduinna]

Yes with the gasket system on the new cuisinart they got rid of leaking. I had 2 previous cuisinarts along with the kitchen aid over the years. So I had already adjusted to not filling the bowl with liquids too high. On the new one the blade locks in and there is a lid gasket and there is a max fill line on the bowls along with cups markers. I haven't given the new one a hard test of leaking yet just because I haven't made anything in it that would test that so far. 

I could only find the manual online for the 14 cup model, but it shows 10 cups max for thin liquids like soups and dressings. Which is pretty impressive compared to before. I checked out the manual for the 12 cup KA model I had and it just shows a max liquid line on the bowl, which appears to be maybe 1/2 inch from the bottom of the bowl. When mine did leak it was usually from the center blade hub, but like I said I had pretty well adjusted to not using it for very liquid things. I never had problems with flour and I used my KA and cuisinart FPs for years for kneading dough.

Edited by Arduinna - 3/16/11 at 8:46am

[Annie Mac]

No problems at all with leaking, and I've done soup in it & salsa (which gets pretty liquidy with the tomatoes at first). I wanted a Cuisinart, but Costco had this KA on its shelves at half the price of the Cuisinart. I'm pretty happy with it. No bells and whistles, but it's a good sturdy machine. The only thing I don't like about it is that sometimes the bowl is hard to get off the base. Takes kind of a twist and a snap of the wrist. 

[doxiemomma]

Have you thought about getting a Vitamix instead? We got ours at Costco a few weeks ago. Amazing! And as a PP mentioned, the clean up is so easy and fast. Here is a link from the Vitamix website that has short videos of some of the different things a Vitamix can do:

http://www.vitamix.com/household/products/super5000/maxnut.asp

The consistency of the green smoothies are so smooth and easy to drink. No green specks, no chunks, etc. You can also use it for so many other things.  And you  can use the link on my blog to get free shipping. I seriously love our Vitamix. To see my kids drinking kale and spinach every day makes me a very happy mom. :)

http://threebeansandgreens.blogspot.com/

[Arduinna]

For me, vitamix is not a substitute for a food processor. I love both products but I use my FP to slice and grate along with chopping and it's easier to control so things keep their texture and do not turn into instant baby food puree. I love my vitamix too but I prefer kneading dough with the FP.  They both have their place in a well stocked kitchen IMO.

[beckington]

Thanks for all the help! I ended up getting a 12-cup Cuisinart - found it 25% off with free shipping and also I bought the black model which was cheaper than the white or silver (though I would have loved silver - not paying an extra $100 for it though!). Can't wait for it to arrive and start playing with it!! Thanks again! :)