Cuisinart "Mini-prep Plus" White Mini Food Processor 4 Cup Capacity

We bought this item to replace an older, larger food processor from Hamilton Beach which died after many years of service. This little rascal is great! We're just cooking for two, so it's plenty big for most all of our needs. The secret seems to be to pulse the cutter using the "chop" button. (Just like the directions tell you to!) If you let it run, you'll turn your ingredients into a puree. (That's French for mush!) Of course, if that's what you're after, go for it. I've used it for onions for hot dogs, pickles for potato salad, jalapenos for salsa, black beans for soup, etc.

I used to always chop onions with a knife, now I just cut the onion into cubes, throw 'em into the Mini prep, jog the "chop" button a few times, and viola, chopped onions. Clean up is easy, too. The knife lifts out, and there's just the knife, the lid, and the main container to clean up.

It doesn't take up nearly as much precious counter space as my old food processor, either...Read more

I have owned an old 10 cup Cuisinart for almost 30 years. While it still runs perfectly, it's a hassle to move to the counter, so I rarely use it. I also had a mini Cuisinart that I thought would make hummus, but it was too small for almost all useful jobs.
If you are undecided between the three and four cup models, I would strongly advise getting the four cup model over the three cup one, as it's still quite small and lightweight, yet it gives you ample room to make a batch of hummus, or even enough pie crust and filling for a smaller tart.
Happily, they redesigned the blade assembly so it's one piece. This makes it far safer to clean. The mini-prep model has a blade that you remove from the stem--a dicey process.

I have a Kitchen Aid blender which has always been questionable; I nearly returned it but let the return date slip by. Anyway, it did a terrible job on pesto. My daughter had one of these given to her as a gift, and she swears by it. One of the first things I tried when mine came in was pesto, and it did work great. I followed the booklet recipe, pulse grinding first the cheese, the walnuts, the garlic, etc. Anyway, it came out great, with a much better texture. Only complaint is that thing is awfully loud, but that's true of many appliances like my big Kitchen Aid mixer. You can always do shop earmuffs or foam earplugs!