KitchenAid Food Chopper - White

Comment: The kind of similar hand powered chopper where the outside opens up like a clamshell and the whole insides comes apart is a lot easier to clean.

Comment: We returned this one to the store as it didn't offer any convenience. If you want to chop an onion, you have to cut it up into pieces that are small enough to fit inside and that are manageable by the chopper. If the piece is too large, and these pieces were not very large at all that we tried, it gets stuck and you have to pull it out and start over again. Fine if you want to cut up your food a lot first before putting it in, but what's the point? It's easier and faster to just chop it all with a knife. Worthless junk.

Comment: It minces several garlic cloves in seconds. It's a joke how fast. It's over as soon as you start. The down side is cleaning. If you have a dishwasher no problem. If you don't you'll likely want to fill a small bowl with soapy water and pump the chopper/swirl it around some, then rinse. No big deal. For garlic it's amazing, and a real time saver (and doesn't crush the garlic to a juicy, over-garlicky pulp the way a garlic press does). I love this thing when I have more than a couple garlic cloves to chop.

Comment: I like kitchen gadgets alot and gave this one a try. I had the same problems as mentioned by other reviewers. The container that holds your chopped food is terribly small (barely enough for 1/2 a small onion) and that is if you are lucky enough to get it chopped well. It is to be expected that the 1/2 of the onion you put in to be chopped to get stuck in the blade; so then you have use some strength to pull the lever up to release the onion and do it oh a few more times until it FINALLY starts to chop (UNEVENLY as well). And, in addition...you will not have any fun taking this apart in order to clean it. Someone mentioned about having to cut an onion in half or quarter it prior to to placing it in the chopper. Uhhh, I think the purpose of the chopper is to....CHOP. What good is it if you have to be pre-chopping to smaller pieces so the Chopper can work??
For a few dollars more you would really be SO much better off purchasing something similar to the B&D 1.5 CUP TOUCH CHOPPER. It is electric, consistent, easy to clean and won't cause you to have Popeye arm after extensive use.

Comment: Expectation management is important when dealing with these mini-choppers. I have a Vidalia Chop Wizard which is perfect for large amounts of various vegetables, onions, etc. If you only need a small amount this food chopper is both convenient and useful. However you must limit the size of the food you are chopping to perhaps a one to one and one half inches in length and probably no more than about 3/4 of an inch in height. You must also pound the unit with some force to get it to really work effectively. I have carefully watched the Slap Chop infomercial ($27.95 with shipping and handling and an additional $7.95 S&H for the "Graty") and with camera angles that commercial creates a bit of a false sense of just what these products can and can't do. Several people have commented on how difficult this unit is to clean. The cleaning instructions on the box say "Remove container ring and carefully wash with soap and water." This has to be the most misleading and dumb instruction ever! The unit easily disassembles however the instructions on the box offer no assistance whatsoever.

What you need to do is first separate the food container from the unit by twisting the clear plastic container counterclockwise about one inch then pull down. This separates the food container from the cutting unit. Next depress the plunger approximately 3/4 of the way and then twist the sweeper/cover to the right or left pulling down until it separates from the remaining unit. This exposes the blades. You are now fully disassembled and ready to quickly clean and reassemble the unit.

The unit is dishwasher safe (top of DW only). You can use the unit with or without the base however with the base on the unit the food is all captured in the food container rather than on the cutting board.

From my observation this unit appears to be essentially a quality copy of the Pampered Chef chopper at about 1/2 the price. It uses a W wedge blade that rotates and also includes a scraper for the side of the food container unit so that the food doesn't build up on the side. This does not work perfectly but is a nice touch. With a litle practice and with the food size limitation mentioned above you can quickly learn the various techniques required for each of the foods you wish to chop. With a little more practice and some good camera angels who knows, you might end up doing a "Slap Chop" commercial for your friends only with a unit that costs less and works just as well. Just don't throw it over your back into the sink.

To recap, this is a very good mini chopper so long as your expectations are in line with the product's capabilities. However, KitchenAid needs to do better with their disassembly/cleaning instructions.