Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsUpdate 12/29: Not so happy anymore!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 26, 2018
Update 12/29/18: Not so happy anymore. After a month of moderate use, today I experienced a dangerous failure. The off button failed, and all of the safety stops that prevent the food processor from running failed. Even with the lid completely off, the food processor continued to run until I unplugged it. Back to Amazon it goes. I requested a replacement, but now, thinking it through, I don't know if I dare continue with another of this model.
Let me start by saying I purchased this food processor at the beginning of November. While I haven't had it long,(3 weeks), I have used it almost daily and I did use it extensively to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I am very happy I took the chance and bought this one. Many of the negative reviews are describing issues with the older or previous version of this food processor. The unit that shipped to me must be the "latest", updated version of this model as there were two things that other reviewers complained about that I found improved.
First, the gasket in the lid was completely and easily removable. It was easy to clean both with a hand wash, or with the other parts in the top rack of the dishwasher. I read several reviews with complaints about the workbowl, lid and gasket being difficult to clean and unsanitary due to food sticking in the gasket and nooks and crevices in the rim of the bowl or the lid, or requiring a bottle brush to get the food bits out. I found the bowl/lid/gasket easy to disassemble and reassemble, and nearly effortless to clean by hand or machine. I never had to do anything more than a light wash with a dish cloth or sponge and never found any residual food particles stuck anywhere on the lid or in crevices on the rim of the bowl, even after kneading yeast dough that sticks to everything.
The second item that appears to be changed is the blue lights on the keypad that some have said are too bright, or blink erratically. On the keypad of my unit, the lighting is much more subtle. Only two keys, ON and Dough are outlined with the blue LED light. When plugging the unit in, nothing lights up. There is no blue light bar running across the top of the buttons as seen in some of the other customer photos. The outline around the On and Dough buttons only light up when they are pressed, and they stay on solid when the function is in use, they do not blink. Off and Pulse do not have any indicator lights at all. Pressing the pulse button causes On to illuminate when pulse is pressed, but it goes off again when pulse is released.
As far as the overall performance goes, for the most part, I found this food processor to be a joy to use. It is powerful and surprisingly quiet. The base is heavy enough that it stays put and it's easy to wipe down. I have made yeast dough and pie crust, chopped nuts, shredded cabbage, chopped onions and tomatoes, sliced both soft and firm vegetables and grated carrots and several kinds of cheese. The machine is powerful! It handled anything I threw at it with ease. I found that by partially freezing my cheese for 30 minutes instead of the recommended 15, most of my cheese block would shred without excessive bits left behind between the disc and the lid. At most, one or two small pieces approximately 1/4 inch square were left behind.
Things I love about this food processor:
The adjustable slicing disc. It is so nice to have so many variations in thickness without having to buy and store additional discs. It was easy to use, pull out of the bowl and adjust the thickness, and resume slicing something else.
The way the multipurpose blade "locks" into the bowl, allowing you to pour out the contents without the blade falling out. And the pour spout is great! It's dripless and mess free.
The way the lid attaches. It's so easy to just press down to engage and press the little buttons to remove. No trying to get everything to twist and slide.
The power! It breezes through anything you throw at it, and makes beautiful yeast dough in about 30 seconds.
The retractable cord. This should be mandatory on all countertop appliances!
Things I would like to see improved:
The small feed tube is somewhat large. This was great for fitting an 8 ounce brick of cheese without cutting it down, but not so good for carrots. If you try to shred a single carrot, pretty quickly the shredding disc will grab the carrot pull it under the lid and jam it between the disc and lid. If you shred several carrots at once packing the width of the feed tube, everything works perfectly. It would have been nice if the feed tube was a 3 piece with the existing two sizes plus one more small round that could accommodate a single carrot or piece of celery. (Or Brussels sprouts, or radishes)
The 4 1/2 cup workbowl was a little aggravating with liquids. It may be the somewhat shallow shape, or the speed of the blade, I'm not sure. It was fine with dry ingredients, chopping nuts, chopping a small onion. Liquid was kind of a disaster. My pizza sauce recipe that uses one 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, less than half the capacity of the bowl, was a mess. A lot of the liquid splashed all up under the lid and the gasket, and then leaked down the outside of the bowl, making it necessary to disassemble and clean the lid and the outside of the unit before using the 14 cup bowl. I've made this sauce for years in the 4 cup mini bowl of my Kitchenaid food processor without any issues like this, so I'm confident it's a design thing and not a user error. Either the small bowl needs to be deeper or there needs to be a way to slow the speed down to keep it from being so splashy. I won't use the small bowl for liquids again.
The accessory storage box. It's nice to have a locking box that will keep all the discs and blades that came with the unit safely tucked away. It would be even nicer if it could accommodate any or all of the additional blades available to purchase. I would love to add the french fry blade to my set up but I don't want to have to come up with an additional safe storage situation. It seems like it would have been a no brainer to add another Inch or two to the height of the bottom drawer so that it could accommodate one or two more discs.
I wish they still had a medium sized bowl. Sometimes 4 cups is too small, and 14 cups is just way too big. Or sometimes, it might be nice to have a 10 cup or so bowl to slice onions and pepperoni into before removing it to whip up pizza dough in the 14 cup bowl. My old Kitchenaid processor had a medium bowl and I used it a lot. I wish this unit had the option, even if it had to be purchased separately.
Last, if we have to pull the gasket in and out all the time to clean the lid, chances are it's going to wear out. As of today, Cuisinart does not have the gasket as a separate part available to purchase. It comes installed on a replacement lid only. Hopefully that will change in the future.
Even with the minor irritation with the small bowl, I still really love this food processor. It's a workhorse and for the most part a pleasure to use.
