KitchenAid KFP740CR 9-Cup Food Processor with 4-Cup Mini Bowl, Chrome
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of KitchenAid KFP740CR 9-Cup Food Processor with 4-Cup Mini Bowl, Chrome
Customer Review: Meets expectations
Summary: 3 Stars
I received the mixer as a gift after complaining about my old cheap-y for some time and overall I'm happy with it. Pros and Cons both.
Pro:
- Looks really nice
- Blades are sharp and chop everything I've tried very well
- Powerful
- Super quiet (so quiet my family didn't even know I was using it!)
- Sturdy. The machine holds to counter and doesn't move around like my old one.
- Can use the small and large size bowls both (the reason I wanted this one)
Con:
- It's heavy. I keep it on the counter because it's too heavy to be moving in and out of the cabinet every time I want to use it which is often. Being it looks nice I guess this con is a wash...
- The blade doesn't pull down all the ingredients to the bottom to chop or mix like my old cheapy did so I find myself often taking the top off to scrap the sides and re-mixing.
- When using the large size the middle piece (where the blade fits into the bowl) is so short that if I attempt to take the bowl off the machine to dump into whatever it is I'm cooking/baking the contents end up spilling through the middle. Attempting to take the bowl off while keep the blade inside by placing my finger in the middle while dumping the contents is just plain annoying and cumbersome. If they had just made the middle taller so that contents would not spill into the middle utilization of the larger size bowl would be much easier.
- When using the large bowl while even ensuring the blade is snugly fit inside the bowl, the a small amount of the contents end up spilling through the middle even though I haven't even removed the blade or bowl from the base yet. Dry contents like bread crumbs are fine, but if making something liquid like a salsa it's messy. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?? Hasn't prevented me from using it by any means, but I still find it annoying to clean up a mess.
All of these make it a little more difficult to fully use the large size bowl which is why I wanted this model in the first place. I am happy with the product and keeping it, but since the cons outweigh the pro I'm giving it 3 stars. I would still recommend it as a good product with just a slight tweak in design.
Customer Review: I hate to cook, but...
Summary: 4 Stars
this food processor definitely makes it less tedious for me.
Stir fry, for example - chopping vegies and meat by hand would take 20 minutes or more. The other day I chopped up a ton of meat and vegies in literally seconds. Others have stated that it's quiet, and it is...although the day I chopped chicken gizzards "en masse" to freeze up for my dogs' dinners, it did manage to whirl itself completely around on my countertop...but perhaps that was because I was so entranced by the whole chopping process I dropped too many gizzards into the feeder tube and may have overloaded the large bowl.
I did find that the 2mm slicing disc that comes with the machine cuts the veggies so thin that they nearly disappeared when I stir fried them, so I bought a 6mm slicing disc, and it sliced vegies and chicken tenders into pieces that cooked well and didn't disappear. So I would say that the 2mm disc is probably best for vegies that are meant to be eaten raw, say in potato salad or something.
The clear plastic bowls and cover look delicate, but they're really quite hefty, all things considered. No problems locking or unlocking them.
The only thing I would change on this machine would be to make the part in the middle of the large bowl (that goes over the turning stem) a little taller so when the large bowl is removed from the base, it's not necessary to hold the chopping blade from the underside to prevent stuff from falling through the hole.
The parts and pieces are easy to clean, and, like someone else said, caution is needed because the blades are very sharp.
No complicated controls to figure out...On, Off, Pulse. That's it.
Because it's larger and heavier than, say, a toaster, it has a permanent home on my counter, and I bought a cloth cover to protect it.
Haven't gotten around to using the dough blade or julienne blade yet, but I imagine I'll be just as happy with their performances as I am with the chopping and regular slicing blades.
Gave my old Osterizer blender to my stepdaughter, and I'm not sorry...hee hee.
Customer Review: wonderful upgrade for the price, effective processor
Summary: 4 Stars
I've only owned a small cuisinart blender/food processor combo prior to this kitchenaid. I did a lot of research on cuisinart vs. kitchenaid, and finally settled on this model thanks to a great amazon deal plus a rebate.
I am extremely pleased with this processor. It is so much quieter than my mini cuisinart (which sounded like a blow dryer and seriously had me considering purchasing ear plugs). This is more like a significant hum as opposed to an ear blasting motor.
So far I've used it to make biscuits, chop onions (just to see how it would do), dice ginger in the mini bowl, and dice bok choy stems/leaves. Using the pulse button the processor did a nice, regular job on all materials. The mini bowl does a much better job dicing ginger and garlic than my mini cuisinart.
Cleaning isn't a problem. I didn't have an overflow from minibowl into the main bowl as mentioned by others, though bits tend to get stuck on the bottom edge of the lid, but not in a spot that's difficult to clean. So far handwashing, I really only have to do a quick rinse to clean out everything. I haven't thrown anything in the dishwasher.
A past review has mentioned cheapness of materials in terms of plastic. I wonder if there's some inconsistency in how each product is made, because the one I received seems just fine. I did some banging around with everything when it first arrived, just to see how much man-handling the bowls could take. Honestly, the bowls feel just as sturdy if not more so than the cuisinarts I looked at. I played around with the lid, and it doesn't feel flimsy, or like it may break if I do something wrong (as mentioned by some previous reviews).
Also, my mini cuisinart either didn't chop things, or pureed them into gel...there was no in between even with the pulse. The mini bowl in this kitchenaid doesn't have that problem. Great control.
It is hefty. But I think it's worth it. Very pleased with this product.
Customer Review: Replacement parts may be a problem
Summary: 2 Stars
I own an older version of this product, and its performance has been stellar over the years. However, I have needed a replacement bowl cover and bowl for many months because the bowl cover is coming apart at the rim (something that happened fairly early on, I might add) and the bowl's safety mechanism is missing the appropriate stop making it a matter of having to hold the lid in place with one hand while pushing food through the chute with the other, otherwise the cover slips out of place and the processor shuts off. Worse still is when the bowl cover slips past the broken off stop, making the lid impossible to remove without inserting a small screw driver and manually pushing the safety lever in the handle of the bowl down while sliding the lid back into place. Since they are no longer actively manufacturing my version, which is less than seven years old, I have found it impossible to find a replacement for the bowl cover, which I know has been on back-order since at least May of 2007. Kitchenaid promised replacements by January of 2008, and now has revised the date to April 2008. You should be aware, if you purchase one of these products, that replacement parts may be exceedingly difficult to obtain as your processor gets older. This may be true of other brands as well, I don't know, but I have finally decided to give up waiting for my replacement parts to come and have purchased another food processor OF ANOTHER BRAND. I know one thing, I will NEVER buy another Kitchenaid product, based on how poorly they have handled this backorder issue. And I am not alone. There is a huge backorder for the bowl cover, so it is a design flaw they cannot overcome and will not admit to, in my estimation. Instead they leave their customers hanging in limbo with no answers and no way to make full use of one of their products, and a fairly expensive one at that. Beware.Customer Review: Leaks
Summary: 3 Stars
We bought this Kitchenaid food processor recently and returned it. For many years, we had been using a Cuisinart food processor, but eventually it started to crack and needed to be replaced. We were planning on buying a Cuisinart replacement, but when I read the reviews for the 11-cup model, many people claimed it was not as good as the original and recommended the KitchenAid 9-cup processor. My wife uses the food processor to make pesto. When she tried to use it for pesto, she found that the top did not seal to the work bowl as well as our former Cuisinart model. This resulted in pesto leaking out around the joint where the top joins the work bowl. The liquid level in the work bowl was well below the maximum as indicated by the line on the work bowl. This happened even when we processed flour and no liquid. For example, when making dough for scones, flour and butter are first placed in the work bowl. As this mixture was pulsed in the KitchAid, a dusting of flour escaped at the same joint between the top and the work bowl. In looking at the KitchenAid design, it is evident why this happens. The top that attaches to the work bowl simply fits over the edge of the work bowl and does not make a good seal. This is a definite design defect. In the new Cuisinart, the top fits inside the work bowl and there is a rim around the top so that a good seal is maintained during operation. We now own a 7-cup Cuisinart processer and are very happy with its performance. If we need a larger work bowl in future, we will buy the larger Cuisinart as well. If you do buy the Cuisinart, be sure to watch the CD for helpful suggestions on how to use it and clean it properly. We found many of the complaints about the Cuisinart were not justified, and once we watched the CD, we knew how to use it properly.