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Buying a food processor. Recommendations?
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21-06-2010 7:34pm#1
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What's your budget?
I'm going to approach this question from a non-recession point of view, and talk about the big machines in the kitchen bracket - but there's method in my madness.
I'm currently caught undecided when it comes to kitchen gadgets.
As food processors go, in my opinion this is the best thing on the market:
The magimix is a food processing work horse. However, I'm not convinced about the add-ons for this gadget. Most food processors these days have various cutting wheels and blades and bits and pieces. The problem is they're not entirely intuitive to use, and you really need to be organised to get use out of them.
The alternative to buying a food processor like a Magimix (or the equivalent products by Kenwood or Sunbeam or Breville or whoever else) is to buy a stand mixer with add-ons.
The two stand mixer giants are Kitchenaid and Kenwood. Kitchenaid in particular have cornered the 'attractive gadget' corner of the market with their distinctive 'alien head' blenders in a variety of colours.
The Kenwood Chef and other Kenwood stand mixers are an alternative to the Kitchenaid range. They're not quite the eye-candy that the Kitchenaid are, but I think they do the same thing.
The thing about modern stand mixers is that the range of add-ons is pretty spectacular, including food-processor style bowls that you can attach to the same device. You can also buy attachments like pasta rollers, dicing and chopping attachments, juicer attachments, mincing machine attachments with sausage stuffing options, even devices to grind your own whole grains and make flour!
Here, for instance, you see how a food processing bowl with a variety of blades and different cutting and chopping discs attaches to the top of the Kenwood machine:
Or a mincing attachment:
And here's the kitchenaid with a similar mincing attachment with sausage stuffer
...and a pasta roller...
So now on to what you want to use your food processor for.
I have been lucky enough, in my determined and long-term acquisition of kitchen gadgets, to own both a Magimix and a Kenwood Chef stand mixer. Originally a few years ago I had enough money to buy one or the other. I agonised over it, did some research, and then bought the magimix on the basis that I didn't do "that much baking" and thought the stand mixer would be redundant in my kitchen.
The magimix has been doing its thing nicely for a couple of years, and then the kitchen gift fairies bestowed upon me: the kenwood chef stand mixer.
The upshot is I vastly underestimated the range of actions a stand mixer can perform. Take basic shortcrust pastry - I happily drop flour, butter and a pinch of salt into the magimix, blend to crumbs, add cold water and blend until I have dough, ready to decant, work for 10 seconds and refrigerate to rest. It never occurred to me that a stand mixer could do the same thing - and I'm not even talking about using the food processing attachment. The general purpose beater on a stand mixer will 'breadcrumb' flour and fat and then mix it into pastry with the addition of cold water.
The food processing attachment on the Kenwood chef is not as good as a magimix, but it's not a shabby attachment. It entirely depends how much blending you're going to do...
Finally onto the reason for waiting a bit and saving. I reckon if I had to do it all over, I'd buy nothing until I could afford a top-range stand mixer that takes add-ons, and then I'd buy the add-ons I know I'll use - and never bother to buy a separate food processor, electric whisk, bread maker (use the dough hook and the oven - the dough hook takes out the work), mincing machine, pasta roller, smoothie maker, juicer...0 -
Thanks for your reply, I have a headache with all the info
I think I'd be better off with the stand mixer really. I do quite a bit of baking so it'd be handy, and the stand mixer will be able to do quite a lot as you said. Are there any drawbacks to picking a stand mixer over a standard food processor in terms of functions? Those Kenwood ones look lovely0 -
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Hmmmm... Here are a few straightforward processes.
Pastry
Food processor versus stand mixer: Food processer blitzes up a shortcrust pastry in 90 seconds. Stand mixer takes a little longer, and the pastry feels a little more 'worked', but the end result appears the same after refrigeration.
Blending soup
Food processor will let you blend large amounts if you have a large volume processor. The stand mixer won't blitz anything at all unless you have a food processing attachment. The food processing attachment is a smaller volume than a processor, but it's still functional.
Stand mixer speeds are controlled by a single dial. To use the food processor, turn the dial straight to about 4 - if you ease it up through slow settings, the entire machine shakes and the bowl can leak.
Meringue
Beating egg whites and adding sugar slowly to make meringue: stand mixer wins hands down. A good quality food processor will have an egg white attachment but I don't think the job it does is as good as the stand mixer.
Bread Dough
Food processors don't really come with a dough hook. You can mix a lot of doughs using your food processor, but the clever squiggly hook of the stand mixer does a better job.
Blitzing up marinades
The food processor wins when it comes to blending ingredients for marinades and flavouring pastes for things like spice cooking. The finish on a marinade is smoother using a dedicated food processor. A large magimix is a very heavy duty piece of kit - it copes with a lot of abuse when it comes to dumping in large chunks of ingredients and having it pulp them down to smoothness.
Other gadgets
You just don't get attachments like pasta rollers and seed grinders with food processors. However, how these attachments stand up against a dedicated machine that does the same thing, I can't answer because I haven't done the comparisons personally. If you do a lot of a particular thing (e.g. if you do a lot of mincing, make a lot of pasta, or grind a lot of your own flour), you may be more comfortable buying a dedicated machine.
However, if you're a dabbler who'd like to try these things, it's cheaper to buy an attachment for an existing stand mixer - or food processor, if you can get one - than it is to buy a good quality standalone device.
Cleaning
This is worth a mention. The magimix can be a pain in the arse to clean after use. The stand mixer is an easy clean device. The bowl is a smooth, stainless steel bowl with no internal nooks or crannies for food to get caught in. For any action where one of the three standard mixer attachments (beater, dough hook or whisk) and the steel bowl on the stand mixer will do the same job as the food processor, I'd always go for the stand mixer.
Naturally the food processing attachment on the stand mixer is just as annoying to clean up as any other food processor. 0 -
Nowhere near Blanchardstown at the moment, but the OH is in Sligo this week so I'll get him to look in their one, cheers!I know nothing about the quality but they currently have Kenwood KMix stand mixers on sale in TK Maxx in Blanchardstown if you're anywhere near. You might get a bargain.
I wouldn't do a huge amount of pastry tbh, but if the stand mixer does essentially the same thing, it'd be grand. FP (food processor): 0 SM (stand mixer): 1The Sweeper wrote: »Hmmmm... Here are a few straightforward processes.
Pastry
Food processor versus stand mixer: Food processer blitzes up a shortcrust pastry in 90 seconds. Stand mixer takes a little longer, and the pastry feels a little more 'worked', but the end result appears the same after refrigeration.
Hmmm, I'd like a blender... could I manage with a good separate hand blender maybe? FP: 1 SM: 1The Sweeper wrote: »Blending soup
Food processor will let you blend large amounts if you have a large volume processor. The stand mixer won't blitz anything at all unless you have a food processing attachment. The food processing attachment is a smaller volume than a processor, but it's still functional.
Stand mixer speeds are controlled by a single dial. To use the food processor, turn the dial straight to about 4 - if you ease it up through slow settings, the entire machine shakes and the bowl can leak.
Have made meringue once, and it turned out very very badlyThe Sweeper wrote: »Meringue
Beating egg whites and adding sugar slowly to make meringue: stand mixer wins hands down. A good quality food processor will have an egg white attachment but I don't think the job it does is as good as the stand mixer.
But you never know FR: 1 SM: 2
Big plus to have a machine do the work instead of me, kneading dough is a pain in the bum. The stand mixers usually come with a good stirring/folding apparatus too don't they? FP: 1 SM: 3The Sweeper wrote: »Bread Dough
Food processors don't really come with a dough hook. You can mix a lot of doughs using your food processor, but the clever squiggly hook of the stand mixer does a better job.
Don't do this very often so it wouldn't be a deal breaker. FP: 2 SM: 3The Sweeper wrote: »Blitzing up marinades
The food processor wins when it comes to blending ingredients for marinades and flavouring pastes for things like spice cooking. The finish on a marinade is smoother using a dedicated food processor. A large magimix is a very heavy duty piece of kit - it copes with a lot of abuse when it comes to dumping in large chunks of ingredients and having it pulp them down to smoothness.
I do like to dabbleThe Sweeper wrote: »Other gadgets
You just don't get attachments like pasta rollers and seed grinders with food processors. However, how these attachments stand up against a dedicated machine that does the same thing, I can't answer because I haven't done the comparisons personally. If you do a lot of a particular thing (e.g. if you do a lot of mincing, make a lot of pasta, or grind a lot of your own flour), you may be more comfortable buying a dedicated machine.
However, if you're a dabbler who'd like to try these things, it's cheaper to buy an attachment for an existing stand mixer - or food processor, if you can get one - than it is to buy a good quality standalone device. and not having to shell out for another new machine if I can get an attachment is a big plus in my books. FP: 2 SM: 4
I think that makes it FP: 2 SM: 5The Sweeper wrote: »Cleaning
This is worth a mention. The magimix can be a pain in the arse to clean after use. The stand mixer is an easy clean device. The bowl is a smooth, stainless steel bowl with no internal nooks or crannies for food to get caught in. For any action where one of the three standard mixer attachments (beater, dough hook or whisk) and the steel bowl on the stand mixer will do the same job as the food processor, I'd always go for the stand mixer.
Naturally the food processing attachment on the stand mixer is just as annoying to clean up as any other food processor.
So basically, if I can get my hands on a good stand mixer with a variety of attachments, and maybe buy a separate hand blender, or even a free standing blender, I will be better off?
Thank you so much for your detailed post, I didn't expect I'd get such long responses - I was just expecting 'Oh I have Machine X, its great'
So thank you for that!
Any particular model recommended for a stand mixer? Was looking at the Kenwood ones, some of them are lovely0 -
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You sound like you use it similarly to how I would use it myself. Having a food processor but no help with dough when baking hardly seems worth it imho. And the 3 in 1 sounds ideal also. How much is it gonna set me back for the 2?I would highly recommend the Kenwood KMix stand mixer. I bought it recently and have not had the food processor out since. I have a decent hand blender with a whisk attachment and a little bowl attachment. This is brilliant for breadcrumbs, pesto, garlic butter etc. These are relatively cheap but would definitely recommend getting the one with the bowl. I have the Kenwood 3 in 1 Wizard System Hand Blender and get a lot of use out of it. I use the whisk a lot, use the blender for soups and mashing potatoes, use the bowl for lots of things. Well worth the money. The K Mix does everything the Kitchen Aid does. You are just paying extra for the look with Kitchen Aid and to be honest, the K Mix is pretty stylish too. Mine is out on the counter and gets plenty of compliments. I will build up on attachments over time but for now, I find the two of them more than adequated. However I do a lot of baking and I guess the stand mixer is more for that side of things ... I'm half afraid to hear the answer, but I know it'd be money well spent, and its something I'd have for years.
Thanks for the feedback!0 -
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Nice looking machine, but a bit more than I budgeted forMy girlfriend who happens to be polish was astonished when we first met that I did not know what a thermomix was....anyway, it's a food mixer and more. We've had one for the last 2 and a half years...check them out online. Very expensive, about €1000 but one hell of a machine.
http://www.ukthermomix.com/
thanks anyway!!
Not in Dublin, but will have a look around anywhere I can get to. Will probably order the 3 in 1 later from Amazon. Have to 'chat' to the OH about shelling out €300/400 in one go though... I can only imagine what he's gonna say!The 3 in 1 is showing up as £23 on Amazon, just searched for Kenwood 3 in 1 Wizard System Hand Blender. I got mine in Power City, pretty sure they have them anywhere. The K Mix is under £300 on Amazon. I reckon between €300 - €400 in the shops. Well worth the money and lots of reviews on Amazon if you want to read up on it. It's very sturdy. My boyfriend's mother has one (or the equivalent) for 40 odd years. Kenwood are known to last which is why I went with it over the Kitchen Aid. As well as it being cheaper! Try Harvey Norman, Arnotts etc and you should get both no problem. And I also saw the K Mix in TK Maxx in Swords so assume they have them everywhere! Didn't see the price though!! If you are using it for baking the Thermomix will be way more than you need and mostly wasted. 0 -
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I'm thinking the credit card may get a workout later... and he likes my cakes as is lol how can I prove they'll be better?Tell him it makes the nicest cakes :-) My OH loves all the baking I am doing since I got it!! No, I know what you mean. I waited a while to get and kept trying to convince myself it was a good buy. Now I'm just raging I didn't get it sooner! I think it works out cheaper to get it on Amazon, even with delivery.
It is expensive though, but even with the bad sterling exchange rate its still very good. Arnotts online have it reduced from 499 to 329! Still a lot of money for something that twirls dough and mixes things
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The stand mixer and the 3 in 1 work out around 331 euro from Amazon altogether329 is a good price. I got it for 299 in the Arnotts warehouse sale. You can experiment a lot more and try lots of new stuff. I found there are a lot of Kitchenaid recipes on the web that can be applied as well. Let me know if you get it! Would be great to have someone to compare recipes with etc. It's a once off buy and will last forever. It's an investment ;-):D I think its gonna happen...
So excited!!0 -
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Looks good.
If I were you, I'd pay a quick visit to an electrical shop to have a look at what you're buying before you buy it. There are a few different Kenwood stand mixers - some are being discontinued but you can still buy them cheap and all the add ons will fit them. You want to make sure it isn't too big or too heavy for your kitchen.
Then go home and order it online because you'll pay less. 0 -
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I've got a Kenwood Chef KM002
The two metal plates on the top clip off and reveal different speed motor fittings - e.g. the food processer sits on the high speed motor of the left plate, or you can use a glass smoothie blender jug on the right hand motor which is a medium speed.
The shiny metal piece on the front of the arm comes off to reveal a slow speed motor, used for mincers and pasta rollers and so on.
This model has been discontinued I believe - but it's still available in the shops. I love it of course - powerful motor (1,000 watts) and so far I've got both the food processor and glass blender jug attachments for it. I'd also like the mincer and a pasta roller.
It's worth noting that my Chef came in one great big box with the food processor and glass jug blender as freebies in the box. That model is also offered in different places with the mincer attachment as a freebie. That's the last thing that is definitely worthy of consideration - sometimes these things DO come with attachment freebies. (All stand mixers should come with three mixing attachments; a beater, for heavy batters; a whisk for cream and eggwhites, and a hook for doughs.) If the version in the high street store is 50 euro more pricey online, BUT comes with some freebie attachments, you should weigh up the value versus buying a model online and having to pay full whack for any extras you want.
Edit to add:
The KMix range have a 500 watt motor, but they're more stylish in presentation, up there against the KitchenAid in appearance.
Try www.kenwoodworld.com for the different versions of mixers - you can click and compare products on their site to find out what might suit you.0 -
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I ordered the 3 in 1 last night, just to tide me over with a few bits. Still iffy about shelling out big money on the credit card when I am a tad broke...That's great value. All excited for you. Keep me posted!! Good luck.
That's what I'm thinking I'll do on Saturday, have a nose around and see what there is, and then if I can't see anything suitable I'll probably order the kMixThe Sweeper wrote: »Looks good.
If I were you, I'd pay a quick visit to an electrical shop to have a look at what you're buying before you buy it. There are a few different Kenwood stand mixers - some are being discontinued but you can still buy them cheap and all the add ons will fit them. You want to make sure it isn't too big or too heavy for your kitchen.
Then go home and order it online because you'll pay less.
Thanks guys!0 -
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