Food Processors & Choppers (Small Appliances)

Dry resistance is the food processor's territory. A squat wide bowl holds food against an S shaped blade near the base, and interchangeable discs ride at the top of the bowl for shredding and slicing. The machine handles exactly the solid jobs a blender cannot: onions, cheese, cabbage, pie dough.

The bowl shape does the real work. Because it is wide and shallow, chopped pieces fall back onto the blade instead of climbing the walls, which is why no liquid is needed. Food goes in through a feed tube in the lid. A disc can shred a pound of cheese in under a minute without you opening anything. The pulse button matters more than the motor, since short bursts give you diced onion where a held button gives you onion juice.

Buyers weighing this against a blender should sort their cooking into wet and dry: smoothies, soups and sauces belong to the blender's vortex, while chopping, shredding, slicing and pastry belong here. A chopper is simply this machine shrunk to 1-4 cups with a single blade, right for herbs and a single onion and wrong for anything in volume. Against the mixer, both make dough, but the processor's blade cuts a fast rough dough while the mixer's hook stretches a slow elastic one, so bread bakers usually want the hook.

Batch cooks, slaw and salsa makers and households prepping vegetables for the week save the most time here. Sized in cups, a 7 cup bowl fits one or two people, while 11-14 cups suits families and entertaining. Small kitchens should think twice, since the bowl, lid, discs and stems occupy a full shelf. Anyone whose real goal is drinks should walk one aisle over to the blenders.

Sharpness is what you are paying for, so a good shredding disc pulls food through with almost no pressure on the pusher. Hand wash the blades, since dishwasher heat dulls edges, and rinse the lid the moment you finish, because the safety interlock channels trap food where a sponge cannot follow.