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). Like the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus (our former mini chopper pick), this model runs only while you hold the “on” button down. To operate it, you squeeze a tab on the top of the handle, which we found more comfortable to do than holding down buttons on the base of the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus. Finally, the Cuisinart Custom 14’s work bowl was easier to clean than the bowls of most of the other models we tested.
Contributor Ariane Resnick is a special diet chef, certified nutritionist, bestselling author, and lifelong devotee of her Cuisinart mini food processor. She used market research and her expertise to determine the best mini food processors for every home cook. Most food processors are electric, however, there are some quality manual models on the market, such as the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor. A manual processor is only ideal if you don’t want to deal with cords or batteries or will be using it in a place where there isn’t electricity. For standard everyday usage, an electric model with motors between 200 and 400 watts is your best option.
This mini food processor won’t knead dough like a big food processor can, but it will make quick work of chopping everything from apples to nuts to zucchini. It can also blend small cuisinart toa60 amounts of food into purees or emulsify your salad dressing. We tested it with onions, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, nuts, and garlic, and it worked well with all of them.
The Cuisinart’s slicing disk isn’t adjustable like the Breville Sous Chef’s slicing disk, which has multiple settings, similar to a mandoline. But you can buy additional slicing disks through Cuisinart if you want them. 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 every other task, we don’t think this is a dealbreaker. You can use a food processor for pureeing dips and sauces too, but it will yield coarser textures than a high-powered blender—it’s best for things like hummus and pesto.
The Sous Chef is solidly built, with a hefty base that weighs about 15½ pounds (excluding the bowl). This processor also comes with a limited one-year product warranty and has a 25-year warranty on the motor—by far the longest warranty on a motor of any of the models we tested. Another drawback to the Sous Chef is that it made a slightly looser mayonnaise than the Cuisinart Custom 14 and the mini processors we tested. Also, its mini bowl insert did not chop almonds evenly, so we recommend using its 16-cup bowl for this task. We read a few reviews by people who disliked how the Cuisinart Custom 14’s lid locks with the feed tube in the back rather than in the front (which is standard for most models).
If the blades become dull over time, replacements are available from the manufacturer. Chopping onions is one of the most grueling kitchen tasks, particularly for people who tend to get watery eyes while chopping—not to mention the annoying scent that clings to fingers. In testing, we found that this tool was efficient at cutting onions, and unlike cutters with moving blades, this one made neat, even cuts.
We appreciate that Breville provides a storage case for the attachments, but the box takes up almost as much cupboard space as the machine itself. We recommend the inexpensive KitchenAid 3.5 Cup Food Chopper for anyone who wants to make small batches of dips, spreads, or mirepoix. On top of that, its handled cuisinart air fryer oven jar with push-button activation was the most convenient to use. And this KitchenAid is a great option for people who don’t want to invest in a $250 machine. You can’t knead dough or shred ingredients in it, but you can grind or chop small portions of vegetables or nuts, which is more tedious to do by hand.
Testing was conducted with nuts and garlic, as well as with a variety of veggies. We also made sauces and purees and considered the final texture of the results. The Breville Sous Chef diced tomatoes and onions evenly, and it chopped nuts to a more consistent texture than the Cuisinart. And though we’re not huge fans of the mini bowls on most of the big processors, we liked the Sous Chef’s 2½-cup bowl best among the ones we’ve tried. Deeper than the others, this bowl has a design that seemed to make uniformly mincing fresh parsley easier. The Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro is more powerful than the Cuisinart Custom 14, so it’s the machine you’ll want when you’re cooking for large groups or if you process food several times a week.