Which Food processor to buy?

[Giotto1401]

I hav a 6qt Kitchen aid stand mixer totally love it and I'm ready to buy my first food processor. I cook for my family & host allot. I also cook a meal or two per week for neighbors. I never regret bigger and better, but do i need bigger if i have a stand mixer already? Im looking at:

1. Kitchen aid 14 cup for $220 with lots of attachments. You get allot for the money but is it as good as a Cuisinart?
2. Cuisinart 11 cup for $200. Not as many attachments and smaller. Is it that much better or am i paying for the name? If it that much better should i consider there 14 cup model?
3. Viking 14 cup for $299. Love the look but is it worth $299 and about $100 more then i wanted to spend.

PS my first post never thought to look for a forum on cooking this sit looks great.

 

[Jenny]

I am glad you put this out there, Giotto. My husband is the food chopper in our house cuz I hate it, hate it, hate it! We have been looking for food processors just for chopping veggies! (pitiful, huh!) I'll be checking this to see what others recommend.

Funny enough, we love pureed soups and we use our Kitchen Aide blender to puree the veggies for the soup. I could just use the processor for this job as well as cutting the veg. hhmmmm.

 

[GB]

First off, welcome to the site. You will get a ton of great info here.

All I can tell you about is what I have used. I own the Cuisinart 11 cup and I love it. It is powerful. It has a very large food chute. It is easy to clean on the outside. I think it is well worth the money. I am sure others will jump in and tell you about the other brands.

What types of things will you be using it for? That will help us get a better idea on what advice to give you.

 

[ironchef]

I hav a 6qt Kitchen aid stand mixer totally love it and I'm ready to buy my first food processor. I cook for my family & host allot. I also cook a meal or two per week for neighbors. I never regret bigger and better, but do i need bigger if i have a stand mixer already? Im looking at:

1. Kitchen aid 14 cup for $220 with lots of attachments. You get allot for the money but is it as good as a Cuisinart?
2. Cuisinart 11 cup for $200. Not as many attachments and smaller. Is it that much better or am i paying for the name? If it that much better should i consider there 14 cup model?
3. Viking 14 cup for $299. Love the look but is it worth $299 and about $100 more then i wanted to spend.

PS my first post never thought to look for a forum on cooking this sit looks great.

Well, you'll be able to do more things in the food processor that you cannot do with a stand mixer and vice versa, so you can't really compare the two. First of all, what do you want to use the food processor for? Do you own a blender? Do you see yourself needing the food processor to make dishes that you cannot make with a blender? Are there dishes that you want to try and can actually see yourself making which will merit purchasig the food processor? With that being said, you can't really go wrong with either of the three brands. It's going to depend on what you're looking for.

 

[lindatooo]

I'm very happy with my Kitchen Aid - it's done all I've asked of it and there's a small bowl as well for smaller jobs. Very powerful!

 

[kadesma]

I've had my 11 cup Cuisenart for almost 16 years, It's yellowed with age and use and I've had to buy new knife blades for it. I'd buy another if need be. In fact I'm looking at and thinking about getting a bigger capacity one..What ever one you choose, it will really help with the veggie chopping.

kadesma

 

[Andy M.]

I also have an 11-cup Cuisinart. I have no complaints.

The only reason I'd consider a 14-cup model would be the size of the recipes I prepare often. That 3-cup extra capacity could be useful if you do a lot of large recipes.

 

[urmaniac13]

If you are chopping for relatively small quantities, and if you do the "chopping" much more than than slicing, this would be a great choice... I use it almost everyday for chopping vegetables, nuts, also for whipping cream, mashed potatoes etc etc. very versatile and handy, and after using it there are only a few pieces to wash. I love it.

 

[jennyema]

I also have an 11-cup Cuisinart. I have no complaints.

The only reason I'd consider a 14-cup model would be the size of the recipes I prepare often. That 3-cup extra capacity could be useful if you do a lot of large recipes.

I've had mine for nearly 20 years and only recently had to buy a new bowl for it. Yesterday I broke the chute, so I'll need to buy another one of those but I love mine and would probably replace it with the same if it breaks.

Make sure you'll reallyuse the 14 cup one because it may be too big for really small jobs. I've found that to be the case with my big mama Kitchenaid Pro mixer.

ALSO, ship around because food processors are always on sale in brick and mortar stores and also on the internet. You might be able to do better than those prices.

 

[Giotto1401]

Thanks for all the feedback. Im looking to mostly chop vegetables with my food processor. When someone gave me their old 4qt stand mixer I thought I would just be using it to knead my pizza dough for Friday night Pizza and my bread making. I quickly fell in love with it and use it 2 to 3 times a week for so much now. My only problem was, it was too small for double batches of dough and I recently upgraded to a 6qt. I do see other uses for a food processor, but mostly just supplementing the mixer. The kitchen aid Food processor has a whipping attachment. I could use it for smaller recipes and the times when my mixer is being used and I need another. I’m just not to sure of all the applications and wondering what they are and if it has the same potential as my stand mixer did. I know I would love it if only for cutting vegetables (which is reason enough for me), but is bigger better?

I started really cooking when I became a stay at home dad and we got stationed in the middle of the California desert. With no place to get good baguettes or food I learned to cook, now 5 years later I love it. We live near DC but I don’t know many people who cook much less know what a food processor it

 

[GB]

but is bigger better?

Well my answer to this will be...to a degree, yes. BUT there is sucha thing as too big. For me the 11 cup is perfect. 14 would be too big, take up too much counter space, but anything smaller than 11 would be too small. That is just for me though. Your needs might be completely different.

 

[Giotto1401]

ALSO, ship around because food processors are always on sale in brick and mortar stores and also on the internet.

Whats a brick and mortar store? Yeah I'm trying to be patient waiting for a sale. I got really lucky on my mixer. The Exchange(military department store) had the 6qt professional for $249. probably just returned by someone not the color i would have picked(Black), but couldnt pass it up. Now i need to come up with some color ideas to go with black for my future kitchen?

 

[jennyema]

Things that I do regularly with the food processor that I can't do (at least very well or easily) with a mixer:

Chop vegetables, nuts, etc.

Crumble bread, crackers for crumbs

Combine liquids, especially when you need them to emulisify like making salad dressing, mayo, and other condiments

Combine liquid and solid ingredients that must be chopped to make a paste, like pesto or tapenade or tzazki, or salsa. Or to make jelly or a filling of some sort. Or about a million other things.

Make a quick pie crust or short dough.

I have a blender, too and you can do some of this stuff with it, but I prefer the versatility of a food processor because you canalso slice and shred with it.

I honestly don't know how I could do without a food processor. It's the most indispensible thing in my kitchen.

Brick and Mortar store is just a physical store, as opposed to buying something mail order or over the internet. Macy's, for example, whoch always has sales.

 

[jennyema]

I have the mid 1980's equivalent of the 11 cup $159.99 Cuisinart shown here.

I think (tho not sure ) the $200 one has a more powerful motor, which you probably don;t need if you aren't going to make bread dough in it.

 

[Giotto1401]

I have a blender, too and you can do some of this stuff with it, but I prefer the versatility of a food processor because you canalso slice and shred with it.

I honestly don't know how I could do without a food processor. It's the most indispensible thing in my kitchen.

Cool what size do you have?

 

[Giotto1401]

Well my answer to this will be...to a degree, yes. BUT there is sucha thing as too big. For me the 11 cup is perfect. 14 would be too big, take up too much counter space, but anything smaller than 11 would be too small. That is just for me though. Your needs might be completely different.

Im starting to believe that 11 cups will probably be fine. Counter space is becoming something of a commodity.
I read some feedback on the 14 cup kitchen aid processor small bowl leaking into the larger bowl, has anyone heard of that happening?

 

[CharlieD]

how about this one: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=104749, both big and not too much money. I have one of them and am very happy. also I get coupons from them, I had a 20% off when i bought mine, I think it is great, I had an 11 cup, but always wanted to get bigger one, finally did last year, now I'm happy.

 

[Giotto1401]

how about this one: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=104749, both big and not too much money. I have one of them and am very happy. also I get coupons from them, I had a 20% off when i bought mine, I think it is great, I had an 11 cup, but always wanted to get bigger one, finally did last year, now I'm happy.

My only concern with that one is its reads like it has smaller motor in it. In its description it reads “heavy duty motor”. While the more expensive models with the same size bowl description reads "cusisnarts most powerful motor.” But I cant find anywhere that gives more detail about the motor. Not even cuisinarts web page.

 

[Corey123]

There's a professional machine made by K'Aid. I heard that it's very good and very reliable. But it's also very expensive, costing upward of almost $500.00!

To see it, go to http://www.kitchenaid.com.


~Corey123.

 

[middie]

I have a cheap one I'm happy with. I can't remember who made it but I got it from Walmart for 10.00. I can't afford the really good ones, but this one works just fine for me.