I am trying to decide which food processor to buy, the Kitchenaid or Cuisinart. I’ve decided on the 9 cup but which one? I read the reviews at Amazon and thought I had decided but I’m getting cold feet. Can anyone here tell me about their food processor to help me decide? Thanks!
Hi Chocolatelover! I have 3 cuisinarts, a mini, a 7-cup, and an 11-cup. I’m not that fond of the mini, but comes in handy on ocassion. The other two are wonderful! The 7-cup is large enough to make one batch of Rose’s ganache or pie crust. The 11-cup came with a dough blade, and extra work bowl, and it is big enough to knead a loaf of the Ricotta Bliss Bread. I’ve never used a kitchenAid FP so I can’t compare them for you, but I don’t think you would be disappointed if you purchased a cuisinart.
I should also mention that the 7 and 11-cup models have very similarly sized bases, so don’t think the smaller model takes up less room on the counter. Also, the workbowls, lods, blades, and discs are not interchangeable between these two models.
I have an 11 cup Kitchen Aid. It is the older model made in France, which has a very quiet magnetic motor and never heats up, which is handy when making pastry dough. I absolutelly love the size. I think if you go for a 9 cup, you might as well get the 11 cup!
I believe the newer food processors, both KitchenAid and Cuisinart are all made in China, and both do heat up. Therefore I would choose Cuisinart since it is more readily available.
I have had the Cuisinart for 20 some years. It does some things well and some things not so well. I would rate it as a luxury rather than a must have. I just don’t use mine for very many things. The mixing bowl finally cracked on me a few years ago and on the plus side Cuisinart sold me a new one for a reasonable price. If your budget is tight and you have the time I have bought several in the last year for other people at thrift shops. I got a really nice condition dcl7pro for $25 just a few months ago. Many people have bought food processors over the years and almost never used them. They frequently end up at Salvation Army etc.
If you want to make every recipe from the bibles, or at least every major technique, there is nothing more helpful than a food processor after the mixer.
But, thanks for the tip, yes lots of people buy the thing for no reason…
Yep - those cuisinart motors seem to just keep on going! I see the motors for sale all the time. The bowls are easily replaced if needed, but they have pretty good longevity too (the bowl of my 10+ year old model cracked badly during a move, but is still quite usable). I’d like to get one of the Robocoupe-type lids for my newer model (no feed tube, just a hole in the center). I’ve seen them being used on TV, but I haven’t investigated whether they are available for all models or not.
I’ve had my Kitchen aid food processor for about 11 years now and I love it. I use it quite a bit and have had no problems with it. One of my favorite features is the mini bowl that sits on top of the big bowl. It’s perfect for small jobs and means I don’t need a separate mini chopper.
Good luck with whichever you choose, I don’t think you can go wrong with either!
Just got a new 11-cup Kitchenaid, it works fine. I do like that mini-bowl. My husband keeps saying, though, “I really don’t think it works all that much better than the old Bosch one we got really cheaply second-hand.” And he’s right for most things, although the old one was smaller (7 cup rather than 11 cup) and really couldn’t deal with bread dough. And didn’t have a mini-bowl.
If we’re not sure we need something or will use it or like it, we often try to buy a used one first. Then once we’ve figured out what we like/don’t like, use/don’t use, we will save up our $$ and eventually upgrade to a new one.
I have the Kitchenaid…my sister has the cuisinart. We are both satisfied. The kitchen aid comes with that little bowl that sits inside the big one. I find it useful at times… although it seems that things don’t chop as finely in the little bowl as they do in the big one. I don’t think you can go wrong either way
I need to buy a food processor for a church rectory. Normally there’s 3-5 people for dinner; however, sometimes there are large gatherings. I’ve decided to go Cuisinart but can’t decide 11 cup or 14 cup. Suggestions ASAP! thanks, Ric
I use the 11-cup for just about everything. The 14-cup would be nice when making double batches of ganache or a cheesecake batter, but other than that, I find the 11-cup is great.
PS - it’s not that the double batch of ganache or cheesecake batters won’t fit in the 11-cup work bowl, because they will, but they go over the “max fill line” and end up leaking out of the bowl via the blade stem hole.
Here’s an example of my pumpkin cheesecake batter that overflowed - I knew this was going to happen, so I was able to pour the batter out of the bowl before too much leaked out. Click on the photo for a larger pic.
