Kitchenaid vs Cuisinart Food Processors

[LindaK]

I've got a Cuisinart  DLC 8E. The thing is just slightly older than my marriage, as I got it new for a wedding present in 1983. I have two sets of bowls for it, neither of which is original, and replaced the cutting blade at least twice. I still have all of the other original blade attachments.

The motor in this thing still runs like it was new. I like it because it has a minimum of safety features-I find that many of the new ones are overkill to the point of making the units a pain to use. This has been a great machine. I know that it will eventually conk out, as I have used it, on average, 3 times a week for over 20 years. I think I will be forced to buy another Cuisinart just because this thing has been so great. Except for a 50 year old roaster oven (on the cool stand with the clock on it) and an O'Keefe and Merrit Stove, the Cuis is the oldest appliance that I own.

Hey, we got the same machine for the same reason right about the same time. Happy to hear that you at least still have your marriage! I got the Cuis, anyway. Still works perfectly and I use it constantly. Can't imagine defecting to another brand.

[BettyK]

I have the 11-cup KA which I like very much except for that small bowl. Each time I used the small bowl I ended up having to wash the big bowl too. There's always something dropping in there. Finally I bought a small Cuisinart (3-cup?) to remedy this situation.

I've also grated the cover twice. Seems like you have to watch that you do not overload the processor...as soon as it gets full...it starts grating the cover. Anyone else noticed this or is just me?

[Fat Guy]

The Cuisinart Mini Prep is one of the great $30 items in the universe. I believe the capacity is listed at 21 ounces, but its best performance zone, in my experience, runs from about 4 ounces up to about 16 ounces. KitchenAid also makes a mini unit, which I like much less than the Cuisinart. I think the KitchenAid may in theory be a superior piece of machinery. It's got a true 24-ounce (3-cup) capacity and it's extremely sturdy seeming (the Cuisinart seems lighter weight, although I haven't actually checked manufacturers' specs on weight so I could be wrong). But for me, the Cuisinart always seems to wind up being the right size for my needs (a cup of mayonnaise or other dressing that needs to be emulsified being the most common), it takes up very little shelf space, and it has worked flawlessly for about 10 years now (not that I use it all that often). If I ever needed to do 3 cups of food prep, I wouldn't use a mini processor -- I'd work with the full-size one anyway.

[Dave the Cook]

I had one of the original Cuisinarts (DLC-7?), and it worked flawlessly until I managed to pour honey vinagrette down the switch gasket (don't ask). After a couple of years, I replaced it with the Little Pro Plus. I agree with Steven that the Mini-Prep is a great buy, but I'll put in a word for the Little Pro: 3-cup capacity, 600-watt motor, two speeds, fifty-five bucks. I don't do bread, but I haven't gone back to a full-sized processor, and haven't missed it.

Slightly out-of-category, but I can't say enough about the Cuisinart Mini-Mate. It's great for peppercorns, coriander and cumin, but really excels at the eight cloves of garlic that you don't want to put in your spice grinder, or at thrashing small batches of rubs. Just drop the bowl in the dishwasher.

[rjwong]

I just bought a Cuisinart Custom Pro 11 tonight at Costco for $149.

I was all set to buy a Canon SD 400 digital camera for under $340 so I can take some photos at restaurants, and they were all sold out (and no more is coming)!! I was so depressed that I decided to buy the Cuisinart instead. Please, don't try to figure this one out, except that I was thinking of buying a Cuisinart for a while.

For starters, I was thinking of making some bread dough and later, some hummus with tahini.

I'll give an update later on how my Cuisinart is working ...

[PaulaJK]

Fiftydollars...I wish that I had read your post earlier.

I just burnt through my 2nd Cuisinart blender. Both burn

outs occurred in the same manner, viz the two black rubber

parts shredding & smoking. I made an error in re-buying

this brand item because I thought that perhaps I had

somehow contributed to the first go-round. Now I'm on

KA for belnding! I've enjoyed my Cuisinart FP for years....

and was both surprised & disappointed by the blender.

[pounce]

I recently purchased the KA pro-line processor and really like it. You get 3 bowls. The main chef's bowl (16 cup), a second large work bowl that fit's inside the large bowl when opperating and then the mini prep bowl (4.5 cup). The large size is overkill for my needs, but it sure is sexy. Very solid. The price is high, but a combination of an Amazon sale and a KA 20% sale that enended in May put me over the edge. I ended up with a few other pro-line appliances due to the sale. I couldn't be happier with them. Having matching counter appliances is a cushy luxury I'll be reminded of every month when the payments are due

[Mottmott]

Fiftydollars...I wish that I had read your post earlier.

I just burnt through my 2nd Cuisinart blender. Both burn

outs occurred in the same manner, viz the two black rubber

parts shredding & smoking. I made an error in re-buying

this brand item because I thought that perhaps I had

somehow contributed to the first go-round. Now I'm on

KA for belnding! I've enjoyed my Cuisinart FP for years....

and was both surprised &  disappointed by the  blender.

←

I believe I heard that Cuisinart like Kitchen Aid is under new management. We may no longer be able to take the names as a guarantee of quality despite our 20 or 40 (in my case) year old FP's & mixers that just keep going.

[johnsmith45678]

I recently got a KitchenAid KFPW760OB 700-Watt 12-Cup Food Processor - managed to get it for $145 too (promotions, codes, free shipping, etc.) plus a set of cutting boards (wondering if those will ever arrive though). It's great - lots of attachments and the small inner bowl is kind of convenient. I checked out Cuinisarts, but the general consensus seemed to be that Cuinsinarts weren't as good as they used to be, and that Kitchenaid was better (quality, features, assessories, etc.).

Edited August 17, 2005 by johnsmith45678 (log)

[Anko]

I just purchased a Kitchenaid food processor off of Amazon. Here's the Egullet link to the blue version: KitchenAid Blue 12-Cup 700 Watt Ultra Wide Mouth Food Processor.

It's a product that originally was prepared for QVC, so the list of the accessories is kind of misleading, but other reviewers have supplied the missing information. According to one, the package does include:

1. A 12 cup bowl;

2. A mini bowl (4 cups I think);

3. Citrus juicer with small and large cones;

4. Large and small blades for the 12 and 4 cup bowls;

5. Dough blade;

6. Thin and medium slicing disks and a medium shredding disk;

7. A spatula; and

8. An accessory Box.

If you use the $25 coupon available on all "Kitchen and Housewares" purchases over $125, the final price will be $115. I gotta think this is a pretty good bargain.

Other colors are red, black, and white.

[Catherine Iino]

I've had three or four Cuisinart food processors, and couldn't live without one, but the Cuisinarts have some serious design flaws. The Lexan or whatever it is that the bowls and feeders are made out of is brittle and cracks easily, in my experience. On the models that depend on the plastic arm on the feeder bending slightly to turn on the machine, I've gone through way too many feeders. I have a Prep 11 Plus now, which has a redesigned feeder with an aluminum arm, so that won't happen. It does, however, require an extra step to use, which a bit of a pain. And my feed tube is developing a crack anyway. Replacement parts are absurdly expensive. So I'm very interested in the positive reviews of the KA, and the deal that Anko just pointed out is great.

On the other hand, someone gave me a Kitchenaid blender last year, and it seems to be one of the most poorly designed pieces of equipment I have. My cheap Osterizer is much more effective at turning frozen fruit into smoothies, for example.

So: should I get a KA food processor? How well does it do with dough? I use the food processor primarily for pureeing, mixing, and making dough, and only rarely use the slicing or shredding disks.

Thanks, as always, for any advice.

[Steven Blaski]

I've had three or four Cuisinart food processors, and couldn't live without one, but the Cuisinarts have some serious design flaws. The Lexan or whatever it is that the bowls and feeders are made out of is brittle and cracks easily, in my experience. On the models that depend on the plastic arm on the feeder bending slightly to turn on the machine, I've gone through way too many feeders. I have a Prep 11 Plus now, which has a redesigned feeder with an aluminum arm, so that won't happen. It does, however, require an extra step to use, which a bit of a pain. And my feed tube is developing a crack anyway. Replacement parts are absurdly expensive. So I'm very interested in the positive reviews of the KA, and the deal that Anko just pointed out is great.

On the other hand, someone gave me a Kitchenaid blender last year, and it seems to be one of the most poorly designed pieces of equipment I have. My cheap Osterizer is much more effective at turning frozen fruit into smoothies, for example.

So: should I get a KA food processor? How well does it do with dough? I use the food processor primarily for pureeing, mixing, and making dough, and only rarely use the slicing or shredding disks.

Thanks, as always, for any advice.

←

Get the KitchenAid--it handles bread dough better than the Cuisinart. That has been my experience as an owner of both--(I owned the Pro Custom 11 forever until it died last year; I replaced it with the new model KA).

A recent Cook's Illustrated equipment test also recommends choosing the KA. CI's top 2 models were the 12-Cup Ultra Wide Mouth Food Processor (model KTA KFP760) and the 12-Cup Food Processor (model KTA KFP750); the Cuisinart Pro Custom 11 came in third. They recommend the KFP750; it performed the same as the 760, but the 750 retails for about $30 less; plus, CI found that a safety feature of the feed tube in the wide mouth 760 model was somewhat cumbersome.

The KA is also sexier and comes in cool colors.

Edited December 13, 2005 by Steven Blaski (log)

[Anko]

If you take advantage of the above Kitchenaid deal, you can also get a free cutting-board set. Follow this link: Mail-In Offer.

Sorry if I'm starting to sound like a shill for KA; just excited about finally getting a food processor.

[johnsmith45678]

I never did get my cutting boards. I should probably contact somebody.

As for my KA food processor - I haven't used it much, but it does great when I do.

Edited December 13, 2005 by johnsmith45678 (log)

[Marlene]

I've had three or four Cuisinart food processors, and couldn't live without one, but the Cuisinarts have some serious design flaws. The Lexan or whatever it is that the bowls and feeders are made out of is brittle and cracks easily, in my experience. On the models that depend on the plastic arm on the feeder bending slightly to turn on the machine, I've gone through way too many feeders. I have a Prep 11 Plus now, which has a redesigned feeder with an aluminum arm, so that won't happen. It does, however, require an extra step to use, which a bit of a pain. And my feed tube is developing a crack anyway. Replacement parts are absurdly expensive. So I'm very interested in the positive reviews of the KA, and the deal that Anko just pointed out is great.

On the other hand, someone gave me a Kitchenaid blender last year, and it seems to be one of the most poorly designed pieces of equipment I have. My cheap Osterizer is much more effective at turning frozen fruit into smoothies, for example.

So: should I get a KA food processor? How well does it do with dough? I use the food processor primarily for pureeing, mixing, and making dough, and only rarely use the slicing or shredding disks.

Thanks, as always, for any advice.

←

I recently bought a KA food processor and I really like it. Like you, I don't use the shredding and slicing disks much at all, but for the pureeing, mixing and making dough, its great. I think the two best appliances KA makes are the stand mixer and the food processor. I looked at their blenders a while ago and ended up with a Breville for smoothies and drinks and a Waring for my other blending needs. Ok, so that's a little overkill, but I would pick either of those blenders over a KA or Cuisinart any day..

[etalanian]

I've been using Cuisinart FP's for (yikes) nearly 30 years. I have no complaints. I still have the dc-7 I started with, the pro-14 I use now, another one in our vacation home, and the small prep one which I use pretty much daily. I really like them. I have other Cuisinart machines that I like, also. Just another cook's opinion.

[rjwong]

Back in Aug. 2005, I bought a Cuisinart 11-cup food processor at Costco.

Well, today (end of 2005), I returned it. I used it about less than six times, mainly for mixing batches of cookies. And the motor overheated! I was a bit disappointed ...

So what did I get instead? a KitchenAid Professional HD mixer. I should have bought the mixer in the first place.

As for the cutting, slicing & shredding, I'll just work on my knife skills.

[lennyk]

Anybody here can tell me which food processor spins faster between the Kitchenaid or Cuisinart 7cup models ?

I own a Kitchenaid and use it a lot for grinding nuts but I find that its not very efficient, my old Hamilton beach spins ways faster and grinds finer but gets hot fast.

thanks,

L