When it comes to cooking, the food processor is king in Liz Larkin's kitchen.
"I use my food processor for everything, chopping vegetables, shredding vegetables, mushroom, mousse, fancy things that will make people go 'wow, this is so delicious and fancy, how did you do this?'" said Larkin.
Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman of Consumer Reports says that one innovation on some is an adjustable slicing blade.
"That lets you slice thin potatoes for chips or thick potatoes for scalloped potatoes," Lehrman said.
Food processor basics, like slicing, chopping and shredding, were no problem for most. Several processors from Cuisinart did well in Consumer Reports' tests, but none were top-rated.
That distinction goes to the Breville Sous Chef, which aced most of Consumer Reports' tests, including chopping. It has a 16-cup work bowl and an extra-wide feed tube, which saves you from having to cut things like potatoes into smaller pieces. But it comes with at a lofty $400.
For significantly less money, and a lot less counter space, Consumer Reports named a $100 KitchenAid a best buy. It has fewer bells and whistles, but it scored excellent for slicing and very good for shredding.
But the KitchenAid gives you less capacity - seven cups to the Breville's 16.
