Cuisinart Elemental Small Food Processor, 13-Cup, Gunmetal

The dicing kit works!I have KitchenAid KFP1642OB Onyx Black Pro Line 16-cup Food Processor, it has dicing kit also, but it was driving me crazy. It is huge, and heavy, and all accessories and the storage bin were huge, and worst thing - the dicing kit was huge pain to use because it has very weird system where it has to be locked inside, and it has very tight fit and very hard to use. I bought it for dicing kit, and was so frustrated about it. Also if I tried to dice something which is too soft, the processor would mush it and send the mush into the center shaft all the way down to the gears. It was pain to clean, and eventually food residue made it impossible to adjust the thickness of the cut for their adjustable slicing blade.Now, Cuisinart made their own food processor with dicing. Yay. I just had to try it, and I am glad I did. First of all, it is much smaller and lighter, it fits under cabinets (you will still have to pull it out to use it, but it is so much easier to move). The light weight does concern me some, as well as it having all plastic gears, but we will see. The dicing kit is very easy to use, I do not have to lock anything - just drop pieces in place in the correct order, and you ready to go. Removing it is as easy. Unlike Kitchenaid, Cuisinart dicing kit does not get stuck if potatoes are unpeeled. Nor does it make a total mess out of boiled potatoes - those do not come out as perfect as raw potatoes do, but it makes excellent potato salad with very little waste - some of the potatoes do mush and spread over the blade and the shaft, but it is nothing compared to Kitchenaid, where you get 95% mush.To make dicing work, you need to push on the food down, it would not dice under its own weight. That means that the very last slice will no be cut through completely, and will have to be pushed down with the dicer cleaning tool. Overall the dicing kit works, and works much better than the other one, and really worth it for me.Other things I like - the main processing bowl is sealed both in the middle and around the top - you can process runny batter or soup or whatever you want and there will be no mess outside the bowl. That sealed design means that there is one more gear set - from the base to the bowl, and from the bowl to the middle stem adapter and then to the rotating blade. The slicing blade is adjustable, the adjustment is on the blade itself, not on the outside of the unit as with Kitchenaid. All of the blades have hefty plastic insert indie and easy to grab by it, so they are much safer to handle. I was surprised that when Cuisinart is turned off, it does not stop right away - my old Cuisinart has brakes to stop it immediately.. Kitchenaid continues to spin some after turning off, too, so no dice here.

I don’t leave many review but ......This is a fantastic machine, I LOVE it and use it several times a week. I especially like the dicing option and make dressings in it every week. The dicing blade is very hard to clean but because it’s so awesome, I am ok with the trade off. It works great for cauliflower rice, sweet potatoes, carrots etc. I also purchased the spiralizer and it’s awesome. I’ve even made spiralized beets! They are so great mixed with the diced cauliflower rice. This machine will not make diced tomatoes, no matter what the advertising says. It destroys the tomatoe, but who cares, I have resorted to zipping, garlic, cilantro, tomatoes, a can of roasted tomatoes, jalepanos, onion, salt and pepper and it’s perfect. The only MAJOR complaint I have about this machine is that the gasket that is around the lid is NOT replaceable and I have not found an aftermarket gasket yet. A few days after I got the machine the gasket snapped and I called Cuisinart, and the only way to replace the gasket is to replace the lid. Luckily they warranted it for me and sent a new one. Here is a hint: if this happens to you, the lid that comes with the dicing blade is much less expensive, buy this lid and use the gasket. EVEN with this issue, the machine is amazing and I can live with this. I’ve learned to be very careful with the lids and blades and clean immediately and not to stack in an attempt to protect them from damage.

I used this Cuisinart 13 cup Food Processor for 6 months before I am writing the review. I gave my old Cuisinart to my son, the BIG 14 cup Pro with all the blades (12) because I wanted something that diced vegetables. If that is all you use it for it is worth it! Follow instructions, there are some things that cannot go through the dicer they will turn to mush.I love that it has a smaller work bowl, and I don't have to purchase a mini one for small jobs. It sits on my counter with the small bowl ready, just need to plug it in.The storage is unique, and I am impressed with how clean it all fits together in one place. Yes there are some things that are not perfect as I read in professional reviews but I am not a professional cook and just because it doesn't stop on a dime doesn't mean you can't compensate. Stop processing sooner, use shorter pulses.I have owned a lot of Cuisinart Food Processors over the years and I can say I this is my favorite machine yet!