Spend my money! What food processor do I want?

[katilac]

and/or what should I look for in a food processor? 

I was given a used Cuisinart DLC-10 Plus in the mid 90s, and it's begging for retirement. The bowl and pusher and so forth are cracking and ready to break, and replacement parts are mighty close to a new processor (maybe more, if Black Friday sales are good). 

It's a 7-cup bowl, and I'd want it to be about that size, definitely don't want to go much smaller. I mostly used the metal blade. Rarely used a dough blade and would be okay without having it (I have a bread machine also). I'm kind of interested in possibly using slicing or shredding discs, but would consider one without those if it was a big difference in price. I do not need a blender attachment, I have one. 

So most important are size (about 7 cups), quality, and sturdiness. I'm thinking this is likely to be in the $150-ish range. I'd be delighted to spend less, but could be convinced to spend more for something amazing and long-lasting. 

Tell me your favorite brands, models, features! Bonus points for telling me what you love to use it for.  

[prairiewindmomma]

You absolutely, completely, without question want this 14 c. cuisinart: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AXM4WV2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1  which is currently $250, above what you're wanting to pay in price and more than you want in size.  You want it because it slices and shreds like a dream.

I regularly shred carrot in it for soup. I fill the container regularly. A 7 cup would be too small. 

It does well slicing potatoes and anything else I've put through it, including more delicate stuff like red peppers and tomatoes.

It's really easy to wash up.

 

If you don't want to spend that much, food network recommends this Cuisart 13 c. at $199: https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-SFP-13-Elemental-Stainless-processor/dp/B07H622BV5/?ots=1&tag=fnxrt32-20&linkCode=w50

If you're dead set on budget, this one is at $100: https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-FP-8SV-Elemental-Processor-Silver/dp/B00LBZOYAK?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 and it's the smaller version of the Elemental line that food network recommended.

[Carol in Cal.]

You want this one!

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cuisinart-elemental-13-cup-food-processor/?pkey=cfood-processors

Why?

--2 bowl sizes so you don't have to compromise with a medium size that doesn't work great for anything

--Reversible shredding disk means one disk gives coarse or fine grating

--Adjustible slicing disk means you can dial in the thickness you want

--Dicing Feature!  (This came out too late for me, but it sure would be nice.)

--Compact, dust free storage of all accessories

--Wide feed tube

--I think it has a retractible cord also.

Basically Chuck Williams helped Cuisineart fix all the minor design flaws and inconveniences in their early models, and got exclusive rights to this design for the first year or two that they made it.  

[KungFuPanda]

My cuisinart is 20 years old.  I did replace the pusher piece when I cracked it, but it wasn't anywhere near the cost of the machine.  Mine came with two bowls and they're both fine.  I'd go for the new parts if the motor works.  It seems like the stuff they make lately just doesn't last very long.

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, Carol in Cal. said:

Basically Chuck Williams helped Cuisineart fix all the minor design flaws and inconveniences in their early models, and got exclusive rights to this design for the first year or two that they made it.  

So you have this? Is the dicing thing legit and it works? Is it a pain to clean? It looks like a lot of pieces.

I have the one prairie linked, and the only thing I dislike is the stupid safety thing and how it all has to line up just so to operate. 

[bibiche]

13 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I have the one prairie linked, and the only thing I dislike is the stupid safety thing and how it all has to line up just so to operate. 

Do you understand why that might be?? 😂  Surely Peter Pan of all people wants to avoid a hook for a hand!

[Carol in Cal.]

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

So you have this? Is the dicing thing legit and it works? Is it a pain to clean? It looks like a lot of pieces.

I have the one prairie linked, and the only thing I dislike is the stupid safety thing and how it all has to line up just so to operate. 

I have the precursor to this one, with everything except the dicing thing.  

Mine is very easy to use, take apart, and clean.  I just love it.  I use it a lot more than I used my older workhorse because the bowl sizes are better (never two batches for soup, and never everything splattered all over the sides of a too big bowl for small recipes), it's easier to use safely, the feed tube is better sized, and the whole thing is easier to put away thanks to the thoughtfully designed attachments and case.

[katilac]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

You absolutely, completely, without question want this 14 c. cuisinart: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AXM4WV2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1  which is currently $250, above what you're wanting to pay in price and more than you want in size.  You want it because it slices and shreds like a dream.

I regularly shred carrot in it for soup. I fill the container regularly. A 7 cup would be too small. 

It does well slicing potatoes and anything else I've put through it, including more delicate stuff like red peppers and tomatoes.

It's really easy to wash up.

If you don't want to spend that much, food network recommends this Cuisart 13 c. at $199: https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-SFP-13-Elemental-Stainless-processor/dp/B07H622BV5/?ots=1&tag=fnxrt32-20&linkCode=w50

If you're dead set on budget, this one is at $100: https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-FP-8SV-Elemental-Processor-Silver/dp/B00LBZOYAK?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 and it's the smaller version of the Elemental line that food network recommended.

Oh dang, those are beautiful 😍

Easy to wash up is a huge plus. I would potentially go that big, because honestly it does not seem to have a much bigger footprint than my 7 cup. Does it handle smaller amounts with no issue? I do like that the next one has 2 work bowls, bc it would be awesome to use it for two different things without cleaning. I'm a person who likes to have redundancy; I am much more likely to get more done if I can just keep going, if I stop to wash I want to use again, I'm likely to stop altogether. I own many measuring cups, whisks, and bowls. 

The top one doesn't have the adjustable slicing disc, which seems potentially handy. 

1 hour ago, Carol in Cal. said:

You want this one!

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cuisinart-elemental-13-cup-food-processor/?pkey=cfood-processors

Why?

--2 bowl sizes so you don't have to compromise with a medium size that doesn't work great for anything

--Reversible shredding disk means one disk gives coarse or fine grating

--Adjustible slicing disk means you can dial in the thickness you want

--Dicing Feature!  (This came out too late for me, but it sure would be nice.)

--Compact, dust free storage of all accessories

--Wide feed tube

--I think it has a retractible cord also.

Basically Chuck Williams helped Cuisineart fix all the minor design flaws and inconveniences in their early models, and got exclusive rights to this design for the first year or two that they made it.  

That looks similar to the 2nd one linked above. Adjustable slicing disc and dicing feature both sound good. 

I need a spreadsheet 📊

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

My cuisinart is 20 years old.  I did replace the pusher piece when I cracked it, but it wasn't anywhere near the cost of the machine.  Mine came with two bowls and they're both fine.  I'd go for the new parts if the motor works.  It seems like the stuff they make lately just doesn't last very long.

All 3 of my plastic parts need replacing and that's about $100. So, a considerable amount toward new, depending on which one I go for. It stresses me somewhat to pay that much for parts for a motor that's a quarter century old. The fact that's it's pretty ugly doesn't help either 😄

If I buy a new one, I'll put this one curbside with a note. It will be gone within hours. 

[katilac]

2 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

never everything splattered all over the sides of a too big bowl for small recipes

This is what I was thinking might happen. I'm liking the idea of 2 work bowls a lot. 

[prairiewindmomma]

The 14c handles small batches just fine. It actually blends and creams dressings and stuff better than my Blendtec blender by far. We have only kept the Blendtec because it’s still functional and it’s easy to pour out of for dh’s daily protein shakes. When it goes, I don’t think we will replace it. 

[Carol in Cal.]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

This is what I was thinking might happen. I'm liking the idea of 2 work bowls a lot. 

It’s remarkable how great it is.

I have the first generation of these, that had three work bowls, and I can see why they dropped it to two—I hardly ever used both of the bigger ones, just one big one and the tiny one.  

But, every so often I need to, say, shred a bunch of cheese and then set it aside and mix up some dough, and then add the cheese to the dough later (for cheese biscuits), and having multiple bowls is a tremendous convenience.  Plus the way they nest together makes storage no more high volume than if there was just one bowl, unlike my Kitchen Aid for which I have two bowls which takes up a ton of room.

[katilac]

bumping my own thread bc I'm sure more people have opinions on how I should spend my money 😄

[Clarita]

Cuisinart. The one con is having to align all the safety features. Otherwise it works. I don't think I have the dice feature. 

[katilac]

1 hour ago, Clarita said:

Cuisinart. The one con is having to align all the safety features. Otherwise it works. I don't think I have the dice feature. 

I'm pretty clumsy, so safety features are fine, lol. 

I don't think dicing is going to be a must-have for me. It would be cool, but I've looked at lots of photos and examples of chopping vs dicing, and very little of my cooking requires that level of precision. I'm not all that fussed when  I cut by hand; if the pieces cook a bit differently, well, variety is good 😄