Hi All

Sorry I have not been around much - the cooking around here has been very repetitive.

My Food processor blade has broken (the top part) and the actual body of the processor is also deteriorating. It is about 11 years old - a Breville.

I am considering a new one.

I own a Kitchen Aid Cake mixer and I do not own a blender. I want something I can leave in my appliance cupboard plugged in (I pull it out when I use it). The most common tasks are making hummus, pesto, soup, grinding nuts, biscuit base, pastry, smoothies. We are a family of four.

What would you recommend? A combined blender/processor, or just a processor? My cousin showed me her thermomix and she loves it?

Interested in your opinions.

Thanks in advance.

I have an OLD Kenwood food processor and blender thats done me proud for about 15 years. Its not huge either and to be honest, does everything I need it to do. I use the food processor much more than the blender but its just a blender attachment that can easily be changed. It has lots of different attachments - grater, slicer, even a mixer for cakes BUT I really need it to bigger if Im going to do cakes with it. I just use the hand (electric) mixer that sits in a drawer for cakes though.

Id love a Kitchen Aid but havent got room to have things on my bench.

Vanessa

I have a Cuisinart, and would buy another tomorrow if I had to. This one is fairly new, and was because I felt like treating myself. I'd had the other one, also a Cuisinart, 25 years or so. The plastic bowl had deteriorated from being in the dishwasher, but the motor was still fine. I toyed with the idea of buying a new bowl, but then thought why not have a new one - if it lasts as well as the other one, it will see me out. I also have a stick whizz that I sometime use for pureeing in the pot. Otherwise I use the whizz, which has a seal so does not spread it around the kitchen or leak. I don't miss my blender which I gave away. Emma has a thermomix and loves it, but says it doesn't replace a whizz or mixer. She's currently living in China, so it's her main appliance.

Thanks Vanessa, I like my Kitchen Aid but am not in love with it (they are a bit messy when adding in flour etc I find) A combo could be great as my 12 year old loves smoothies and a food processor does not do as good a job as a blender!!

Thanks Janet - I am not sure about the Thermomix either. I am thinking a gutsy decent sized processor - I tend to make things in bulk like pastry, soup, hummus and freeze them. I could get a stick blender too - while not a minimalist I do have limited storage and don't want to have too much stuff. Reliable, gutsy and easy to clean (the Breville handle had a gap and never looked clean so I would look to avoid that feature).

Brand names are hard - we did a good amount of research with our coffee machine and ended up with a Breville and have been really pleased with the decision. Compared to machines double or triple the price the quality of the machine and coffee is great.

I am happy to pay for a more expensive one if it is worth it - and that is the hard thing to know isn't it.

I have a 5100 Magimix - it's probably 14 years old now and still does everything I need it to do. Who was it who said 'Make your first expense your last expense?'

Both of my food processors were/are Magimix, the first having lasted me for about 20 years and the present one still going strong after about 15 years. My present one is a 5100, which I think has been replaced by the 5200. It has a large bowl big enough to make double batches of pastry and hummus, and has a number of grating and slicing blades and the usual array of accessories. It was fairly expensive but I foresee it lasting me out as it has never given the slightest trouble despite much use.

Yes I have the 5100 magimix as it has 3 bowls and very handy. Magimix or Cuisinart would be my pick

I also have a Magimix and have had it for many years. I am very happy with in.

If budget allowed, I'd get a Magimix. If not, then a Cuisinart. I have a large 14yo Cuisinart and it obliterates anything I put in it, and the motor never strains under pressure. It's a fantastic machine.. I think the newer ones have had issues, but that may have been resolved in recent years.

I did have a KitchenAid at one point, and was quite disappointed with it. The grating attachment jammed when I was grating a block of cheese, and the resulting pressure damaged the spindle that you drop the blades onto. It still worked, but it shouldn't have damaged that easily. And it was incredibly messy when adding flour - the whole kitchen looked like I'd jumped on a flour bag.

I have the 5200 3 bowl Magimix and I would replace it with another as the three bowls are so handy. (I mix large things in the big one, small things in the small one and grate/slice things in the middle one.) It also has super-handy extra discs you can buy - parmesan did for my old Kitchen Wizz (I know they say don't grate parmesan in them but I am stupid) but I have a wonderful parmesan disc for the Magimix and also a 1 mm slicer which meant I could throw away my terrifying mandoline. However, I also have the Magimix blender as we have kefir smoothies every day and I don't think anything does smoothies properly but a blender (maybe a Thermomix? Don't know enough about them).

Interesting it is looking like Magimix is popular. I will do some research into this and the Cuisanart.

My Cuisinart is over 30 years old and has never missed a beat. The motor is very strong. I understand though that the quality and durability is not the same any longer. I am very disappointed in my mini Cuisinart that I bought to deal with quite small quantities. The plastic is flimsy and the plastic that holds the cutting blade has cracked despite my being very careful in using it. Should I need another food processor I'd go for a Magimix if I could swing it.

Not sure if you got a new food processor for christmas but here is a link to the Homestore sale [www.thehomestoreonline.co.nz]

Jenna. I haven't had any trouble with my new Cuisinart. Think it's probably about 3 years old. It has three bowls of varying sizes that nest inside each other, and smaller blades for them. To be honest, I generally just use the big one! It has a powerful motor and does everything from grinding frozen meat to hummus. It's a pleasure to use. Janet

Glad to hear it, Janet. I thought I'd read that the quality issues had been resolved. Thinking about it now, by newer I suppose I meant about the time they dramatically changed styles and manufacturing process, which is probably around 12 years now *time flies*. I believe the first few years of those were the ones that had problems - those would hardly be considered newer now though!

Haha, Jenna. I agree about time flying. I was pretty shocked to think my new one might be about 3 years old!

I love my Thermomix. I only use my 20+ year old food processor when I want to have nicely diced vegetables or sliced potatoes for specific recipes. Apart from that I use the Thermomix for everything.