Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Truth be told, the reason I bought this food process is that it was the only food processor (other than a "mini-chop" model) I could find that would (more or less) fit on our counter. Most food processors sold these days seem to be in the neighborhood of 18" tall. Our cabinets come within 14 1/4" of the counter. So as much as my brother raves about his Breville Breville BFP800XL Sous Chef Food Processor I was not going to buy something that had to be hauled out of storage to chop carrots (or remodel the kitchen so that we could buy an oversized food processor). In the spirit of honesty, even this one is unnecessarily big -- the base looks modest compared to the behemoths on the store shelf, but on our counter (next to the blender) it looks like they could trim a couple inches off the width and depth. But it does not seem fair to penalize KitchenAid for making the least bloated base on display. Having said that, there are a number of features of this food processor that warrant comment. Positives ------- + Externally adjustable slicing thickness (sliding a lever right/left raises and lowers the cutting blade which changes the slicing depth). This is a clear step up from the adjustable blade design. This will slice carrots paper thin to thick. This feature would be enough to make it a serious contender for any kitchen (but see trade-offs below). + Finger holes for lifting the slicing / shredding blades. + Reversible shredding blade for different thicknesses (minimizes kitchen clutter). + Solid feel + Effective homogenization at high speed (makes smoother hummus than the old Cuisinart that broke after twenty years). + Speed selection is good -- low speed (mostly for small volumes), high speed for pretty much anything else + Locking mechanism for the chopping blade + Robust feel to the interlocks + Spindle to stabilize the slicing and shredding blades. + At roughly 15" high, it is relatively compact (I usually store it with the feed tube in front of a side cupboard, but it will go under the cabinetry with the feed tube inverted and the chopping blade removed. Negatives -------- - Top to bottom mixing is not robust. Sometimes when you are filling the bowl with chopped ingredients, you have to stop to stir them up - The locking mechanism for the chopping blade is a bit stiff. - Small feed opening (see trade-offs below) Trade-offs --------- o First, in order to make the externally adjustable slicing mechanism work, the feed port needs to be smaller than the norm. You cannot feed in a potato on its side (unless it is a new potato). This sounds like a negative, but I will call this solid design choice #1 for two reasons. First, the externally adjustable slice depth is a NICE feature. Second, even the larger feed ports on other processors are not big enough to feed a potato on its side (depending on what model you compare to, the wide mouth openings often do not have enough depth to much either). There will certainly be some cheeses and onions that would fit the competition but not this model without being precut, but I think that list is shorter than one might assume. o Slicing blade is a bit awkward to store, but this is part of what makes the external slice depth feature work. o Small capacity (seven cups vs. ten). If you want a bigger processor, you may not want this. But I find this holds full batches of everything I have made so far -- and size does matter when it comes to freeing up counter space. o Relatively easy storage of a few pieces but no bulky storage box. Sure, a storage box sounds great -- and if you have room for it in your cupboard, go for it. But I view this as a contributor to "the space program." Overall, I am very happy with this food processor. It has some real positives, very few real negatives and the trade-offs needed to make the features work are well worth it. As an engineer, I consider it a great compliment to say that whoever designed this food processor made some very solid choices to produce a product that works in the kitchen (not just that sells in the store). I give it an enthusiastic five stars.