ottawa foodies

So this morning, two weeks before Christmas and at the worst possible time, my cuisinart gave up the ghost. I've wanted a bigger one for a while, and It looks like I'm going to choose between the 13/14 cup cuisinart and kitchen aid models. Cook's Illustrated reviewed them and prefers the kitchenaid, but at approx. $300 I'd appreciate if anyone has exeperience with either of them and/or advice. I'm very p.o.'d that I didn't take advantage of last month's shopping channel showstopper - the big kitchenaid was on for 24 hours at $150! Never thought a few weeks later I'd actually need a new one...

Which Cuisinart did you have?

I am not the least bit impressed with Kitchen Aid and have been waiting for an excuse (and $$$) to upgrade to the big Cuisinart model. I have one of the heavier duty models from Costco about 4 years ago.

Here is a simple test - put an egg in the bottom of the bowl and put on the whisk attachment, and see how long you can whisk before the yolk breaks. With kitchen aid you can go pretty long at pretty high speed before it does.

The paddles just do not seem to be engineered properly to get close to the edges of the bowl. I find similar issues with the other attachments. The dough hook gets all gummed up with the dough and then basically stops kneeding it because it is all stuck to the hook and the dough is no longer getting properly folded in on itself.

I busted mine following the whole wheat dough recipe from the book. Got it fixed and it is still a bit wobbly.

The attachments are 2nd rate at best. My grater attachment broke about 10 years ago now. Cracked down the side of the attachment pin from stress in the wrong place. The meat grinder / sausage stuffer is terrible because the plunger that comes with it to push stuff down into it is not engineered to fit the tube very well so if you push on it the slighest bit, everything comes oozing up the sides out the top instead of getting pushed through.

IMO Kitchen Aid are way over rated.

A couple of years ago I was at an event at the Urban Element and noticed they had the big Cuisinarts everywhere and I asked them about it. They said that after busting several Kitchen Aids they finally switched to Cuisinart and have not looked back. They'd been using them a good year by that point with no problems.

Oh, when my Kitchen Aid first broke I opened it up myself and discovered that the gears were nylon/plastic, not steal. Pretty bad if you ask me.

Actually next time I may actually break down and get a Hobart - screw this noise. :-)

EDIT : Costco used to carry Hobart but now they have this one - RAWR!

www.costco.ca

EDIT 2 : look at the ElectroLux DLX

Sorry Zymurgist, Thanks, but I meant food processor not food mixer. I have a big kitchenaid stand mixer and happy with that. Here is a pic of the kitchenaid model.

I prefer the Cuisinart over the Kitchen Aid, I have the Prep 11 Plus and its been perfect. My parents have the beastly Kitchen Aid Architect series food processor and I find it to take longer to do the simple thing that I can easily do in mine. I think there are way too many pieces to muck about with most of which I don't think they've ever used.

When I moved out and stopped using Mom's Kitcheniad, I busted out my Grandmother's old Cuisinart (she used hers lots and died more than 15 years ago). The Cuisinart is old, the base is white, the plastic parts of the attachments are beige and the bowl is amber and see through and not the clear white that is the norm now. Its really not the prettiest counter top thing and I generally keep away under the counter but man does it still work well. I can't justify buying a new and pretty thing.

live4food, I have one of those too. Mine was given to my parents in 1985 and still works great.

We pretty well burned the motor out of our old Braun stick blender making pesto this summer in the little blenderizer thingy that it comes with. Now I have to get a new stick blender AND probably a good food processor. The stick blender just wasn't up to it.

I'd love to get one of those BlendTec things, but I've priced them and can't justify it.

Rizak,

GT has these on sale this week: gtboutique.ca

I bought the one thats on sale at GT (Oster) a couple of years ago for the cottage. The first one broke very quickly and was returned. The Current one is OK, works well, but the plastic casing is thin and tinny. Don't know how long it will last. But for $19 its worth a try.

It does strike me as the opposite of my old Cuisinart. Love that machine!
Like Live4Food I dont think I will ever get rid of it!

I just don't think I can spend ONLY $19 on a motorized blending stick and expect it to work very well. Maybe that's me. I know they're all made in China anyway. I'll check out HomeSense or some place and see if I can find one.

Make sure you get a hand blender that is stainless. I ruined a plastic one a few years ago by blending hot soup with it.