Food Processor Features From Consumer Reports

Food processor buying guide

Plugs by celebrity chefs have helped to make food processors the fastest-growing small kitchen appliance. But celebrity cachet doesn't guarantee a meal ticket to the top of our tests. Nor is more power or higher price a sure bet. Some fancy models we tested actually made more work than they saved.

Food processors

Food choppers

Features

Standard equipment includes a clear plastic mixing bowl and lid, an S-shaped metal chopping blade (and sometimes a blunt blade for kneading dough), and a plastic food pusher to safely prod food through the feed tube.

Capacity

Bowl capacities range from about 3 to 14 cups (dry), with most models holding 6 to 11 cups. (Mini-choppers hold 1 to 3 cups.) For processing smaller quantities, some models come with a mini-bowl that fits inside the main container. One of our tested models offered three bowls, with 15-, 11- and 5-cup capacities.

Speeds

Food processors typically have two settings: On/Off and Pulse. The latter setting runs the machine in brief bursts for more precise control. Choppers typically have one or two pulse settings (high and low). Those are all the speeds you really need. Some machines have a few extra speeds (a dough setting on some high-end processors, for example), but they don't necessarily work any better.

Feed tube

A wide feed tube saves you the trouble of cutting up potatoes, cucumbers, and other large items.

Multifunction accessories

A shredding and slicing disk is standard on full-sized processors. Some models come with a juicer attachment or interchangeable blades to handle a variety of jobs.