Cuisinart Food Processors

Cusinart offers more than a dozen different food processor models, ranging from the Mini-Mate Plus Chopper/Grinder (list price $40) to the fabulous DLC-X Plus Food Processor (which lists at $1,000). Pictured is the best-selling seven-cup Pro Classic Food Processor (listed at $200).

Publications devoted to cooking and the home sometimes feature reviews of food processors, but these are difficult to find online (unless you are a subscriber).

The Vegetarian Times is one journal which allows free online access to its reviews. About the Cuisinart DLC 2011 Prep 11 Plus food processor it said:

Features: Large feed tube; 11-cup work bowl; and an instructional video.

Performance: Chopping is uneven with pieces that range from 1/16 inch to 13/4 inches in size. Shredding is uneven, and pieces are curved and often broken with much waste. It purées 4 cups of soup quickly, but it leaks. Tomato slices are perfect, best of all.

Comments: Compact design. All pieces can be stored inside work bowl. Powerful motor and a very quiet performance, yet the product did not perform as well as the industry leader should perform.

The Daily Olive food blog reported on a review of food processors from Cook's Illustrated magazine:

The champs in the pastry tests - the Cuisinart Pro Custom and KitchenAid - were also the best overall models. Both machines have large 11- or 12-cup bowls (ideal for many tasks and necessary for kneading bread dough), heavy bases (in excess of 10 pounds) so they remain stable, and ultra-sharp blades that stop instantly when the pulse button is being used. This last feature is especially important when making pastry dough. Some models required a 2-second spin-down after each pulse, making it much more difficult to stop cutting the butter into the flour at precisely the right moment.

About the Cuisinart Pro Custom 11 the magazine wrote:

The Cuisinart Pro Custom 11 is our top choice for baking tasks, including pastry and bread dough, but the narrow feed tube makes vegetable prep tricky.

Otherwise, the consumer reviews on sales sites like Amazon.com provide some very useful guidance.

For example, here is an Amazon.com review of the DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-cup food processor, from a reviewer who awarded it four stars (out of five):

While I usually chop on a plastic cutting board with a big chef's knife, the Cuisinart makes several tasks a lot easier. Chopping cooked or raw meat is one. If you are making hash from leftover corned beef, a short burst in this food processor is the easiest way to go. For mixing certain pastry doughs (pie or pate brisee) this is also a very good item to have, although you have to be careful to go slowly and not overprocess. The one thing the Cuisinart does is heat up the dough if you whirl it around too much, so you have to be careful. And if you put too heavy a bread dough in, using the plastic bread blade, you can heat the shaft up enough to jam the blade onto the central post and that's a big nuisance. However, with these cautions, the Cuisinart is hands-down my favorite food processor and for shredding, slicing thinly or chopping, pretty much the best kitchen appliance for the job.

* Get the Latest Price on the Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor.

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