That said, if you only use a food processor occasionally, the Breville’s high cost probably outweighs its benefits. And given that this processor is huge—more than 18 inches tall and nearly 20 pounds—you’ll need a big counter to keep it on. Between your food chopper and your bench scraper, you will save a lot of time with ingredient prep, and you won’t have to worry about chopped food scattered all over your kitchen. These choppers are usually operated by a cutting grid, and the food is chopped into a plastic lid or container. They are ideal for cutting vegetables like onions, peppers, carrots, celery, and mushrooms.
This mini, 3.5-cup processor is too small for making bread dough or coleslaw, but it’s the ideal size for chopping one onion or making small batches of mayo or vinaigrette. There’s no need to worry about any shards of steel ending up in your food and you won’t have to replace your blade for a long time because they can really withstand the test of time. Great for prepping ahead, this compact chopper has a 3/4-cup capacity, although the chopper cup has measurement marks up to one cup so you can measure ingredients without needing a separate measuring cup. Even better, there’s a cover for the cup, so foods can be prepped ahead and stored in the same container. A little spoon hangs on the side of the chopper, so you can use it to scoop out a little of the chopped item or to scrape all of it out and into your pot or bowl.
The included slicing disk makes approximately 5-millimeter slices, which is fine for most tasks, but you’ll probably want the 2-millimeter slicing disk for making homemade potato chips. Most were evenly chopped, but there were a handful of nuts that remained in large pieces. Since the Cuisinart mastered cuisinart toa60 every other task, we don’t think this is a dealbreaker. This is one of Cuisinart’s most basic models, but it consistently chops, slices, and kneads better than any other food processor we’ve found for under $250. Ham has a great texture for easy chopping, with either a manual chopper or an electric one.
The Cuisinart Complete Chef chops, slices, and cooks food all in one 18-cup stainless steel bowl (it comes with attachments and built-in recipes for cooking things like risotto or beef stew). We were eager to see how it would compare to the Thermomix (a wildly expensive blender that cooks, and which has something of a cult following outside of the US), but we weren’t able to get it to work. We probably just got a lemon, but that doesn’t bode well for a $700 appliance (at the time of this publishing). An error consistently appeared on the screen each time we attempted to run it, even when the correct lid and blade attachment were in place. The customer service representative we spoke to wasn’t able to offer much guidance since they weren’t familiar with the model (they even confessed it doesn’t sell often). In terms of pure performance, the Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro was hands down the best food processor we tested.
Unlike full-size food processors, electric choppers are much smaller, only have one blade option, and cannot process as much food. Electric choppers can cut up small amounts of produce, while food processors can make purees, doughs, and sauces. Unlike manual cuisinart choppers choppers, though, electric food choppers can also make salad dressing, mayonnaise, and other emulsified sauces. This little chopper has a 3.5-cup bowl that is big enough for serious food prep when a full-sized food processor is too big for the job.