Cuisinart (DFP-14BCNY) 14-Cup Food Processor Reviews

 I just received this machine as a gift about a week ago. It is has already been put to good use in my home kitchen! Today alone I diced mushrooms & onions, shredded cheese, and sliced strawberries, apples, & tomatoes. They were all done beautifully without damaging the food in process. This gave perfectly shredded cheese, beautifully sliced fruits & vegetables, and the mushrooms & onions were diced just right for my homemade "cream of soup". I am surprised at the speed at which it processes and still has smooth clean cuts without mashing the food. It is also very quiet!

The bowl was large enough to hold the whole 2 lb block of shredded cheese. The 2 openings, large & small, were both used today. Having the smaller feed tube, I was able to stack my strawberries in and keep them from tumbling around which helped provide more uniform slices. Having the larger, I was able to cut my 2 lb block of cheese into 4ths and have the entire block shredded in no time. The larger would not hold my whole tomato set in right side up, but I was able to turn my tomatoes sideways and get beautiful slices anyway.

I did take some pictures/video along the way to show processes and comparisons on the different blade thicknesses. I did purchase some extra discs alongside my gift that included the thin slicing blade as well as the thick. I used the shredding disc & slicing disc that came with the machine for the cheese & tomatoes. I cut the strawberries with all three just to show a comparison and so others could see how it would slice if they were considering purchase of another thickness.

I included the strawberry slicing short video just so you could see how quickly it diced and compare it to the end product. Left to right in the strawberry photo the strawberries are sliced with a thin (2mm), medium (4mm), thick (8mm) disc - the middle one (4mm) is the one that comes standard with the machine.

I am finding this machine easy to handle and a joy to have in my kitchen. It's easy to operate. I now have a feel for how to insert & change the discs, so it really has been an simple yet very efficient machine. I highly recommend.

"Oh, I don't need a food processor. I love to chop things by hand! And really, my cheap, tiny blender does just about any job a food processor could do. It's not worth the money!" This has been my mantra for years.

Oh, what a fool I was. What a fool!

A food processor is such a magical device. You can do things with it that are impossible to do without it!

Have you heard of cashew cream sauce? It's fabulous. You soak about two cups of cashews in water for 2 hours, drain and rinse them well, and then toss them in your food processor with a clove or two of peeled garlic, about 2/3 cup of water, and about a teaspoon or so of salt, to taste. Press the power on, and in seconds, you have smooth-bodied, flavourful dip that is extremely versatile. From there, it's all up to your imagination! Add some nutritional yeast to make it taste nice and cheesy, with just a pinch of paprika to bring out those cheesy notes, and serve it with tortilla chips. Or how about a bit of curry powder and some basil to serve with pita chips as a sweet, curry-style dip? Or perhaps you'll use some herbs and pour it over pasta, for a new twist on "lazy pasta night"?

Maybe you're no fan of that idea. Well then, how about making pesto right in your own home? Those tiny bottles in the grocery are never as good as the stuff as you can get in a nice restaurant, and they can be damned pricey for such mediocre flavour. Make it yourself, and be amazed!

Or what about hummus? You can use a method by Kenji Lopez-Alt over at SeriousEats to make tahini sauce with garlic and lemon that makes for a FANTASTIC base for the best hummus of your life (made with, I suggest, the best on the market, and available also here on Amazon: Soom Foods Pure Ground Sesame Tahini 11oz (2 Pack))! Sabra has got NOTHING on homemade hummus.

There's also the sheer joy of buying nuts in bulk, knowing that you're saving quite a bit of money tossing them into your food processor to get chopped rather than buying them pre-chopped. Or you can quickly chop toppings for a salad. There's a lot of chopping this thing can handle that you might not care to handle yourself!

Or, how about this: the best homemade ice cream you've ever had? It's simple; make your custard-style base (I recommend Jeni Britton Bauer's method, Google it or pick up her book here: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home), freeze it overnight in a big gallon freezer bag laid out flat, and the next day, break it into pieces to throw into your food processor. Then you can whip it to a gorgeous creamy state, add in some flavourings, pour into an ice cream container, and freeze; voila! The best homemade ice cream you've EVER had - guaranteed better than storebought, that's for sure, and a lot healthier, since you're in total control of what goes in it. :)

And I'm sure before I even began to write this review, you had your own ideas. Nut butters? Certainly! How about dough? It can do it! Grating cheese? Well, I prefer an old-fashioned box grater, but if you're tired of washing that ol' beast, absolutely, go for one of these! There's just so many wonderful things you can do with this gorgeous machine; and it's outrageously simple to handle. I've seen a great many food processors in family homes; they're awkward, they're cumbersome, and they're very noisy. This isn't whisper-silent, but I can safely use it all hours of the night without losing a finger or waking my sleeping household.

Now, I must confess I've had precisely one point of frustration with it since I bought it: I opened it up, threw in an ingredient, put the top back on, hit the "ON" button, and.. nothing. I was dumbfounded. Why isn't this brand new machine working?

Turns out, it was a safety feature! I hadn't secured the top, so it didn't come on. And thank goodness! I would've had a big mess on my hands. Knowing that it will simply not turn on if I don't have the top fastened on correctly is a comfort to me; I can get to work and not worry about double-checking that I've put everything back in place just so, and I can trust little ones to put things into it without worrying that they'll get over-excited to turn it on and send ingredients flying around my kitchen! And it's so simple to put together and take apart once you take a few minutes to handle it first-hand.

This is a wonderful machine to aid the home cook, and I believe if you've made it this far in my review, you know I'm right. You deserve this. It'll take a special position in your kitchen, just like a KitchenAid; in fact, a KitchenAid and this food processor have a constant presence on my countertop. If you love to cook, and you love to explore new techniques and recipes, then I beg of you; do yourself a big favour and get this today!

Well, I was a little hesitant to purchase this product for two reasons, one was the complaints about the noise level and the other was the firmness of the suction on the feet. This food processor is no noisier than any blending or processing appliance, what do they expect the silence of a toaster, get real people! Food processing is loud, you can't watch TV while you're doing it but with an efficient product like this any processing only takes a moment. Go get your ear protectors on and while you're at it your reflective vest and hard had too, sheesh! Secondly I noticed that several people complained the suction feet were too firm and you had to wrestle it off the counter. These people need to start eating their spinach! Yeah, the feet suction which holds the processor firmly in place but once you try to pull it up, they pop right off. There are several pieces to the top and, admittedly, I didn't read the instructions. But, there is only one way they can go together and a little bit of paying attention and common sense and you will have it. I haven't used this very many times but it is solidly built and I expect it to be able to handle anything I throw at it. Great purchase.

Still getting used to it. So much more powerful than my last one (KitchenAid). Super fast!!
Larger hopper both good and bad: good for half a large onion, multiple pieces of veggies at once, hunks of cheese.
Less lovely is the problem of a food which does not fill the hopper and tends to fall over, and slices at wierd angles. I like the small inner chamber for carrots. Wish the hopper were taller, since the safety mechanism requires it to be closed and the safety bar engaged for chopper to work. My old KA allowed me to hand feed the food until the hopper plug would fit.
Have owned about two weeks, and have already used for pasta primavera (sliced an entire meal worth of veggies in seconds), salsa, mocha mix, cheese, both shredded and grated, thin and thick sliced meat. All were satisfactory, and very fast.

Wish also that the inner core where a little taller, allowing a larger volume of liquid ingredients.

I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me (and daughter, who already has a Cuisinart food processor) half an hour to figure out how to put it together. Instructions not clear, and the video online was not particularly helpful. I was kinda misled by the way my old KA went together. The parts need to be assembled exactly correctly to work, and they also fit together wrong, but then the top won’t engage properly. Also it would be immensely better (in my opinion), if the hopper were in front, instead of the back.