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Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor Review: Is It Worth It?
The 14-cup, 720-watt food processor that shreds, slices, chops and doughs — the one appliance serious home cooks reach for constantly.
Illustrative image — see Amazon for the actual product.
Our verdict
For anyone who actually cooks, a big Cuisinart food processor is one of the highest-leverage kitchen investments you can make — the appliance that gets pulled out constantly and quietly saves you an hour a week. The 14-cup Custom is the specific model most food writers, chefs and home-cook lifers own for a reason.
The short version
If you cook from scratch, a full-size food processor is the single most life-changing appliance you can add to a kitchen — and the Cuisinart 14-cup is the one nearly every food writer, TV chef and busy home cook eventually owns. It shreds a block of cheese in five seconds, turns whole vegetables into finely diced mirepoix, makes pizza and pie dough in under a minute, and blends hummus and pesto smoother than any blender. It's noisy and takes up cabinet space, but nothing else replaces it.
Pros & cons
Pros
- 720-watt motor powers through hard vegetables
- 14-cup bowl handles family-sized batches
- Shreds and slices with reversible disc
- Makes pizza and pie dough in under a minute
- Dishwasher-safe removable parts
- Solid, long-lifespan build with 5+ year track record
Cons
- Bulky — needs cabinet or counter space
- Loud during operation
- Assembly has multiple parts to line up
Why people love it
Swap the blade or disc
Snap the S-blade in for chopping and dough, or the reversible disc for shredding cheese and slicing veggies.
Feed through the chute
Drop chunks into the wide-mouth feed tube while it runs, or fill the bowl and pulse for chopped textures.
Pulse for texture control
Pulse in short bursts to get evenly chopped vegetables, or run continuously to puree soups, hummus and dips.
Who it's for
- Home cooks who cook from scratch
- Meal preppers doing veggie prep in bulk
- Bakers making pie and pizza dough
- Big families and dinner-party hosts
Is a full-size food processor worth it if I already own a blender and a knife?
The 'do I need a food processor' question is real, and the honest answer depends on how often you cook actual meals from scratch. If your typical cooking is 'reheat and eat,' a food processor lives in the cupboard and gathers dust. If you cook two-plus meals a week from raw vegetables, make dips or salsas, bake pie or pizza dough, or shred your own cheese, the food processor is the appliance that changes your kitchen more than any other single tool — it shreds a block of cheese in five seconds, dices a whole onion in ten, and makes hummus smoother than a blender.
A blender is complementary, not a replacement — it can't shred, slice with a disc, or make dough. A knife is faster than a food processor for a single onion but wildly slower for prep-heavy recipes: try dicing three onions, two carrots and four celery stalks for a big batch of soup with a knife versus in one Cuisinart pulse session. Once you have the machine, you start cooking recipes you'd previously skipped because the prep was too much work. That's the real value case, not any single feature.
Cuisinart 14-cup vs KitchenAid vs Breville: the head-to-head
Cuisinart is the reliability-and-durability pick. It's been the standard American home food processor since the 1970s, and 10-year-old Cuisinarts still working fine are all over kitchens. Replacement parts (bowls, blades, lids) are widely available on Amazon and Cuisinart's site, which matters — food processor lifespans are often limited by broken plastic bowl locks, not motor failure. The 14-cup Custom is the model with the deepest track record and the largest owner base for tips and recipes.
KitchenAid ExactSlice processors compete on styling and included attachments (dicing kits, spiralizers, extra sizes of feed tube) and match Cuisinart on power. They tend to have slightly shorter reliability track records but look better on a countertop. Breville Sous Chef is the enthusiast option — near-professional slicing precision with an adjustable-thickness disc, quieter induction motor, more powerful, but at roughly 2× the price. If you cook more than most, love kitchen gear, and have the budget, Breville is genuinely the best available. For everyone else, the Cuisinart 14-cup Custom is the sensible, long-lasting pick.
What to actually cook with your food processor (beyond hummus)
Most people underuse their food processor by treating it as a 'hummus machine.' The real payoff comes from using it for the prep phase of every recipe, not just for finished dishes. Chop mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) for soups and stews in ten seconds. Grate a block of Parmesan in one pulse (spare yourself the pre-shredded stuff with cellulose). Pulse chickpeas, herbs and lemon for genuine chunky homemade tuna salad or chicken salad. Shred cabbage for slaw. Chop nuts. Grate zucchini for bread. Make pesto with fresh basil, garlic and cheese in fifteen seconds.
The other high-value job is pastry. Pie crust in a food processor is a game changer — cold butter cubed on top of flour and salt, ten pulses to pea-sized crumbs, then a trickle of ice water and three more pulses, and you have a perfect flaky crust that beats hand-cutting because your warm hands never touch the butter. Pizza dough in 60 seconds. Shortbread cookies. Streusel topping. Graham cracker crust. Every baker who owns one uses it more for dough and pastry than for chopping — the mixing action develops gluten and cuts fat into flour in ways a stand mixer or hand can't.
See Cuisinart Food Processor on Amazon
Check the latest price, photos and buyer reviews on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon →Sold and shipped by AmazonFrequently asked questions
Cuisinart 14-cup vs 11-cup vs 9-cup: which size do I need?
For a household of 2-3 that occasionally hosts, 11-cup is the sweet spot. For a household of 4+ or anyone who batch-cooks weekly, get the 14-cup — nothing is more annoying than a food processor that requires two batches for a single recipe. The 9-cup is only worth it in a small apartment where cabinet space is at a premium; smaller processors also struggle with pizza dough.
Cuisinart vs KitchenAid vs Breville: which food processor brand is best?
Cuisinart is the classic choice — most durable long-term, best resale value, easiest to find replacement parts. KitchenAid processors are sleeker looking with more color options and often include extra attachments (spiralizer, dicing kit) but tend to have shorter lifespans in heavy use. Breville is the premium option with an induction motor and better slicing precision, but at 2× the price it only makes sense for enthusiasts. For most home cooks, Cuisinart 14-cup is the best value-to-durability pick.
Can it make bread or pizza dough?
Yes — one of its best uses. The 720W motor kneads pizza dough and pie dough in about 30-60 seconds, and it handles bread dough for one to two loaves without straining. Stick to using the S-blade (not the dough blade Cuisinart sells separately unless you already own one) and pulse in short bursts to prevent overheating on thick doughs.
Is it easy to clean?
All removable parts (bowl, lid, disc, blade, pusher) are top-rack dishwasher safe. The S-blade and disc are extremely sharp — always rinse them under running water with a brush rather than reaching into soapy water. The base wipes down with a damp cloth; don't submerge it.
Do I still need a blender if I have this?
Yes, for smoothies and pureed soups. A food processor's shape (wide, shallow bowl) is optimized for chopping and slicing; smoothies with lots of liquid want a tall, narrow blender jar. You can make hummus, pesto and thick dips beautifully in the Cuisinart; smoothies come out chunky. Ideal kitchen: this processor plus a personal blender.
How loud is it?
Louder than a microwave, quieter than a full-power blender. It runs at roughly 80-85 dB for the ~30-60 seconds a typical task takes, so it's a short-burst appliance rather than something you'd run for minutes at a time. Modern versions have improved motor mounts that reduce vibration, but it's not a quiet appliance — plan around it if you have sleeping kids or a shared living space.
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