May 2009 food processors report: Which ones made the cut?

Our May 2009 report on food processors, “Chop Time and Costs” (available to subscribers), revealed a strong trend toward multifunction machines and some good bang-for-the-buck performers.

The Magimix Cuisine 5150, $480, for example, includes a juicer and citrus press attachment and three different-size chopping bowls; the smallest one us useful for chopping items like garlic. It also has a whipping attachment for cream and egg whites.

While it would be nice to chop, slice, shred, puree, blend, bake, beat, whip, and juice with just one machine, the price of the Magimix kept us from recommending it or naming it a CR Best Buy.

The top-rated Cuisinart DLC-2011BCN, $200 (shown), chopped, pureed, and mixed dough well, outperforming models that cost twice as much; other machines struggled especially with the latter two tasks.

If you don’t bake, consider the KitchenAid KFP715[WH], $100. It’s quiet and small, with a 7-cup capacity. Note that most food processors in our tests could hold less than half of their dry capacity when processing liquids, before leaking. Read the rest of the report for more details.

Essential information: Let your machine show its chops by making these food-processor recipes. And visit our food-processors product page for more free buying advice.

Comments

[Esther]

I've tried to make JUICE in my VitaMix 5200. It comes out thick and pulpish. JUICE needs a strainer from even the most expensive machines! I would like to know how well the ORIGINAL MAGIC BLENDER (which has a juice attachment), makes juice. Are there other SMALL, effective, EASY-TO-CLEAN, INEXPENSIVE Juicers, which do not take up a lot of space? Or an all-in-one-machine that both kneads bread AND makes pulp-free juice? Thanks! I'll be waiting to see your answer -- in ConsumerReports or by email! : )--D=] (Smilie sipping juice in glass through a straw!)

[Kim]

The Vitamix website says that although it can make juice it needs to be strained through a cheesecloth. Just thought you might find that helpful.