Introduction
A couple of years ago my Cuisinart 11 cup Food Processor which was over 20 years old finally gave up the ghost. It had served me well. Now, a prudent move given the longevity of this appliance would have been to go out and purchase a new Cuisinart. That makes sense, right? But did I do that? Nooooo! When I saw that a replacement might now cost me over $200, I flinched. Let’s see $200 over 20 years equals $10 a year! What was I thinking?

Walking through the kitchenware section of the local Target I saw a Black & Decker FP1400 8 Cup Food Processor with a continuous output chute for really big jobs. What’s more, it was priced at a ridiculous price of $29.95! It looked muscular. Sold.

Features

The FP 1400 is an 8 cup capacity food processor with a continuous output chute useful for big jobs.

The motor is rated at 350 watts (a little on the slim side) and it has 2 speeds and a pulse feature.

The clear lexan bowl (it is lexan isn’t it?) fits over the motor shank and spindle and locks into operating place with a counter clockwise twist. A clear top with a normal feed tube fits onto the top of the bowl.

The FP 1400 comes with a serrated chopping blade and a reversible shredding and slicing disk made of stainless steel. Also include is a solid plastic disk to be used with the slicing/shredding disk when the continuous output chute is used. When it is not in use a small plastic dam is inserted into the top of the bowl to prevent discharge.

The unit is heavy, at almost 9 pounds and has an extremely large footprint on the countertop since the motor is side mounted rather than situated directly under the unit as with my original Cuisinart. The unit measures 13”H x 16”W x 9”D.

My Experience with the Black & Decker FP 1400

For light duty chopping the unit produced results similar to that of my old Cuisinart. Maybe the food was a little more ragged due to a blade not quite as sharp or perhaps due to the serration. But the results from a culinary point of view were generally satisfactory.

However, When the bowl is loaded, particularly with dry ingredients the machine labors. This machine under ordinary conditions is loud, but when stressed, it groans.

Shredding and slicing under light conditions again was satisfactory. But when taxed with ingredients such as white or sweet potatoes the unit shows its lack of power. With these ingredients, the continuous chute clogged often.

Clean up, while not awful is also not particularly quick owing to the side mounted motor design and the weight and size of this unit. Food also has a tendency to find its way into the spaces surrounding the speed controls.

After about a year, while shredding a particularly large batch of potatoes, the plastic insert on the shredding disk and spindle both stripped in mid preparation.

Attempts to get replacement parts from Black & Decker were to say the least frustrating. It took repeated calls to B&D for them to advise me that they had sold their small appliance business to a company named Applica. Once I contacted Applica at their web-site www.applicainc.com I found a telephone contact number to call. After a couple of calls to the number I received a call from a customer service representative who after taking down all the relevant information assured me a replacement disk and spindle would be shipped to me at no cost. At least this is a bright spot.

Summing Up

Sometimes cheap is just that, cheap. While the FP 1400 is fine for light duty work, it has several shortcomings that argue aginst its purchase.

Its large size makes it a counter top hog. And, it’s considerable weight makes it a little unweildy to be dragged out from storage under a counter.

For the light chopping chores it handles well, frankly I prefer to use a manual food processor such as the Norpro Manual Salsa Maker and Mini-Food Processor that I reviewed here months ago. Manual food processors such as these are readily available for about $10 - $12 and are easy to clean and store. With a manual processor such as this I can whip up a batch of the Barefoot Contessa’s Gazpacho (excellent recipe) in as little as a half an hour, including clean up. That impresses me.

For heavier duty chores, I’d recommend a Food Processor with a heavier duty motor. Something in the range of 600W – 750W would make more sense to me. Considering that Cuisinart and KitchenAid offer units with this much power and a much smaller footprint, their offerings would seem to be more practical and counter top friendly.

Regards,

Rudi

©Rudi Xeno 2006

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 29.99