Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me begin by telling you this processor replaces a 30-year-old original Cuisinart DLC-8. It didn't have a wide feed tube, and had much less power, so I'm not making a comparison with a newer, comparable machine. It's kind of like comparing an economy car to a Mercedes. Also, I got it for a significant discount during a Macy's sale, which is the only reason I bought it. I don't know if I'd pay the regular price for it. Another reviewer liked the limited edition better when spending the big bucks. That said, I'm happy with it, but not as thrilled as I expected to be. First of all, be forewarned, this baby is BIG. I have a small appliance garage on my counter. My old one fit in there facing front-to-back, with the work bowl attached and the cover inverted. This one is so large I can't face it forward -- the door won't close. So it's in sideways, with the bowls attached, but the cover sits on its side next to it, because with the large feed tube you can't just turn the lid upside down. Other appliances (hand mixer, stick blender with attachments) had to find other homes. If space is a premium for you, think hard about this one. A measurement they don't give you and which might be useful: height with bowls, but without the lid is about 12.5 inches. One of the main reasons I wanted a new processor was power. I make an English muffin bread that has an extremely soft dough -- you might say more of a stiff batter. It doesn't do well in my large stand mixer - the dough crawls up the dough hook, so I tried using my old food processor. It bogged down and just stopped - I think the internal override must have tripped, because in a while it worked again. It's the only thing that ever completely overwhelmed that old workhouse, although it slowed down and groaned on many an occasion. This one handled it, but with a little bit of effort. You could hear it laboring, but it made it. I do love the 3 work bowls; they fit together beautifully. You can do something in the smallest bowl, take it out and leave the stuff in there, then do the next one, and so on. The bowls below stay clean. The chopping blade and slicer/shredders work with both of the larger bowls. However, you can only use the dough blade with the largest bowl, not the middle one. I made pizza last night and since pizza dough is a smaller amount, I think it would have worked better in the smaller bowl. In the large one it kind of got lost. I was happy with the final kneading results - soft and smooth, but I had to fiddle with it a little. There was a flour ring left in around the shaft, about an inch or so radius. Nothing too disturbing. I had no residue in the corner between the bottom and sides. The adjustable slicing blade is really great - love it! And the sealed top works as advertised. It's the first time I made anything that starts with dry flour that didn't make a dust cloud around the whole machine. Also, I like the way the top attaches, with a click rather than a twist. When you need to take the top off and on several times, it seems much easier to me. Another thing I like is the bumps they put on the bottom of both the small and large feed tubes. They grip the food in the chute better and it doesn't seem to slip sideways as easily. Perhaps Cuisinart has done this for years and I don't know it, but it's a big improvement over my old one. I also like that the smaller feed tube is a nice sized oval - in fact, about the same size as my old one. Some other models have a small circular feed tube that could hardly hold a very large carrot. There are a lot of parts to this thing, so I think I may not bother getting it out sometimes because of the hassle. For example, I made some butternut squash soup the day after I got it. Even tho it was brand new and I wanted to try it, I didn't bother dragging the whole thing out to puree the squash, I used my stick blender instead. I think it would have done a good job, but it didn't seem worth the trouble. On the other hand, that's exactly why I have a stick blender. Maybe if I made a huge amount it would be worth it. I'm sure if you keep it on the counter it would be much handier.