Turns out the vita mix isn't quite the ultimate tool for everything. Oh well, time to replace my broken old food processor. Any brands or advice? Thanks!

I have mentioned before that my Hamilton Beach fp is great and it was about $35. The only beef I have is that it's TOO powerful, even at the first speed (there are two speeds). I wish there was something a lot less intense so if you wanna pulse it and not totally obliterate it, you could do it easier. I can still control it and not totally blend it but it's so strong that you have to be mindful. Look at the Amazon reviews. Cuisinart didn't have such glowing reviews for their blender; I don't know about their fp, though...

I am in the same boat as you coco. I have a vitamix and am looking for a FP right now. i actually wanted to start a thread about it myself !

What i gathered so far is that food processors were invented by a french company called Robot Coupe which still makes the best and most expensive ones - but they ar all professional models, no home models.

the original food processor as it came to america was cuisinart, but it was actually manufactured for cuisinart by robot coupe in france. today cuisinart is still arguably the number 1 food processor in america but its now made in china.

you can still buy a robot coupe manufactured in france food processor though but under the magimix brand. magimix is made in france by robot coupe and costs from $300 to $500 depending on the model. it is primarily sold by williams-sonoma stores, where i had a chance to see it in person ( i also saw vitamix there, they sell all sorts of ultimate kitchen gear ).

magimix FPs have the most powerful motors - so powerful they actually destroy the rest of the food processor when they work. magimix are also the heaviest for that same reason - huge motor. but they are also the most expensive of home food processors.

i gathered some advice so far and it was essentially to get a 14 cup food processor. nobody agreed on what brand to get but everybody agreed that 14 cup is better than smaller ones. magimix and cuisinart both make 14 and 16 cup models. kithenaid maxes out at 12 cups.

ani phyo seems to use cuisinart custom 14 in her home kitchen. it costs less than half of magimix. if you are budget conscious i would strongly consider it.

as for myself - i am still trying to make up my mind. if anybody can offer any advice please do ! i would appreciate it !

so far my choice is between Cuisinart Custom 14, Magimix 4200XL and Magimix 5200XL

ps: the most demanding task on a food processor is kneading dough. that's when less powerful food processors burn out their motors. as a raw vegan you are probably not going to use that feature so you may not need the kind of ultra power that $300+ FPs pack.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2011 01:14PM by proteus.

That is way more food processor than I will ever need or use! Wow. I already have a vita mix for pummeling things into puree, a food processor is just for hummus, salsas, etc. And I don't like making a tomato based soup or sauce in the vitamix, it gets sort of frothy and foamy which is incredibly unpalatable to me.
I'll see if there is a kitchen store here in town, if not I'll check out what's in the states next time we go over to my parent's place. There's always amazon too I suppose.

Cuisinart or Hamilton Beach it is. Just wish I could find one with a glass container instead of plastic.

one more thing - get a direct drive FP. all blenders are direct drive. all robot coupe, magimix, cuisinart and kitchenaid FPs are direct drive too.

but many cheap FPs are not. they use a transmission which can produce noise, vibration and is a possible point of failure.

you can tell by the location of the motor. if the motor is directly under the blade then it is a direct drive unit. if the motor is on the side of the machine then it is not a direct drive.

also consider warranty. cuisinart and magimix both give 3 year on the entire unit and 5 to 20 years on the motor depending on the model. other brands may give only 1 year warranty.

magimix and cuisinart motors essentially don't fail. what fails on those units are the plastic parts and switches, but those can fail as quickly as from 1 use.

robot coupe FPs essentially don't fail at all. some people have had them for 30 years and i haven't heard of a single failure. problem is a robot coupe comparable to a $100 cuisinart costs $600, the difference being that the plastic parts that fail on cuisinart and magimix are made from stainless steel on the robot coupe.

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wish I
> could find one with a glass container instead of
> plastic.

i don't think there are any glass ones. it would be difficult to shape glass in a way that would allow the safety mechanism to lock i guess. even with plastic ones often they don't lock properly. its either plastic or $tainle$$ $teel ( robot coupe ).

@ Proteus

Was looking at the Magimixes you were talking about. Is your main intent blending green smoothies and the likes without the traditional water/juice?

I wonder how oxidization and heat would be in comparison to the blenders, or even Norwalk's triturator. Megamix + Welles Press the combined cost still being less than half the cost of a Norwalk makes me wonder if it's a viable or even convenient alternative.

I had a $35 Hamilton Beach 8 cup for a few years. It worked great, but only lasted about 1 year so every year or so I'd have to buy a new one. I use a food processor at least 3-4 times per week.

I recently broke down and purchased a Cuisinart Architect Series that comes with 3 prep bowls and a slew of attachments on sale for $179. This item will last my lifetime I am sure but I could have just kept buying Hamilton Beach's as I don't see such a great improvement in quality of chopping/slicing/shredding, not easier to clean, really not worth the extra money other than it will probably be the only food processer you'll ever have to buy, very well made. I will say the Cuisinart is not great for making puree's as it only holds so much liquid before it starts to leak. My Hamilton Beach would never leak even if I overstuffed it...

If you can afford the Cuisinart I say go for it, otherwise a food processor is just a food processor.

I've been using a Cuisinart for 3 years now and have been very satisfied with it. Has anyone used the Cuisinart mini FP? I'm thinking about getting one for my daughter who doesn't have much space and prepares food for one. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with a mini.

I have the Cuisinart mini and am not terribly impressed by it. it doesn't seem to chop very effectively and there's a "dead space" in the bottom that misses stuff. Overall am quite disappointed.

I just discovered that my Cusinart 14 cup food processor has BPA in the container, so I"m going to sell it and buy a Breville Sous Chef with is BPA free.

Paul

I have a Hamilton Beach--my second. It's a cute one--compact--very interesting design. I wager my last HB would have lasted longer had I been on the ball one day a bit more. Like other appliances, you have to be careful about assembling it 100% correctly because it can go kaput otherwise.

I will second the Hamilton Beach, but I have the $60 model: [astore.amazon.com]

I'm looking at food processors again, I hope you don't mind me resurecting this thread.

I'm curious, why has no one mentioned the Waring food processors? I did two big papers for a business 101 class on a local business D.C. I chose a raw food take-out business called Khepra's Raw Food Juice Bar. They use the Commercial 3.5 Quart Batch Bowl food processor -the WFP14SW. Although I see there are more powerful moters in there like the FP1000 has a 2 HP motor. It's smaller (2.5 Quart bowl), but for large scale chopping/dicing it can do continuous feed.

Asking for a quote now, hard to tell how they compare to the competition for value without a price tag. I wonder if it would become a problem where I would want a bigger bowl.

Any further comments on your experience with your food processors?

I stopped by a restaurant equipment store next to the health food store I go to. They only carry Warring food processors. The owner of the store said it was due to the Warrantee. The restaurant supply store would essentially be the "service center"on Waring' behalf. So if I had a problem covered by warrantee, I could go to the store, give them my model, they give me a new model and I go home.

They cost a lot more than a top of the line Cuisinart though, and when in that price bracket might as well look at a Magimix or Robot Coupe.