For our final assessment, the Cuisinart again delivered a disappointing performance. It has by far the hardest to clean blades out of the entire bunch and is almost impossible to get a sponge into all the little nooks and crannies to adequately clean the chopper. It is a bit of a balancing act to hold the plunger down and keep the blades out all while avoiding being cut when trying to force the sponge in between them to clean them. Needless to say, we weren’t fans of cleaning it and even though it is listed as dishwasher-safe for the top rack, even then we don’t think this chopper gets particularly clean. Food gets lodged way up in the chopper and it ends up being almost impossible to clean.
That said, the exact size and shape of the five models we tested varied, so we paid attention to their countertop footprint and height. That’s worth keeping in mind when removing the contents and hand-washing. Most have dishwasher-safe parts, but you’ll want to confirm that before making your purchase.
Simply place your ingredients inside and press the single button to take them anywhere from a rough chop to thoroughly pureed. The drizzle basin will slowly incorporate liquids, and the tall base keeps the contents of the basin closer to eye level than many other mini processors. After each use, you can place all the parts in the dishwasher for a fuss-free cleanup. As for cleaning, The New Food Processor Bible’s Gilletz recommends putting water and a few drops of dish soap into the work bowl and running the machine.
We’ve been long-term testing the Cuisinart Custom 14 since 2013, and it remains a workhorse in the kitchen. Year after year, we’ve made slaws, grated cheese, blended dips, chopped nuts, and kneaded pizza dough in it—and it continues to work well. The 14-cup bowl doesn’t leak, and the controls are exactly what you need. The bowl has scratched a bit (because we’ve stored the sharp blades inside it), but otherwise it looks like new.
It had the most consistent sized rough chop of onion after about 8 pulses and we easily could have continued going if we wanted a finer dice or even a mince. I always believe and still do that Cuisinart products are excellent, durable and very reliable. However, my husband and I were very disappointed with the food processor that we bought recently. And cuisinart air fryer oven it happened twice; we bought same brand of food processor twice, thinking that there was just something wrong with the first one we bought. It was very unfortunate that it broke down and it had to happen on the day that we had guests. Maybe it was just coincidence but hopefully it won’t happen again when we decide to buy another Cuisinart product.