I have had the Breville Sous Chef 12 for about a month now and I am really happy with it. Just about everything I didn’t like about the Cuisinart Pro Custom 11 it replaced is solved by this Breville model. Here is why I love it.

STURDY:
Out of the box my first impression was, wow this thing is sturdy. No more wiggling and dancing across the countertop with this baby. It stands still and does it’s job.
It has a sleeker locking mechanism without the small interlocking parts of the cuisinart which were the most common fatigue points for plastic failure. This just snaps closed with a sleeker locking design and helpful front facing markers to align for closure.

POWERFUL:
Next I was instantly pleased with it’s power. I use my food processor most often to rice veggies (you can read all about that here), and with just a few pulses celeriac, purple sweet potato and parsnip were riced to a perfect “grain” size. Boom!
It is also powerful enough to make my hummus recipe nice and creamy.

CLEVER DESIGN:
My favorite feature is the bowl design. Unlike other food processors there is no center hole so when you are ready to clean it you can actually fill it up with soapy water. LOVE that!

I also really like the clever and space saving design of the accessories.
All of the accessories use the same removable stem which slips over the permanent central stem in the center of the work bowl.
The S-blade comes with it’s own safety storage cover so you don’t risk injury when grabbing for it from storage.
It comes with just 2 blades, but they multi-task!
There is one slicing blade that closes completely for storage and has 8 adjustable slicing positions all controlled by one center dial.
The grating blade is reversible with the smaller grating blade on one side and the larger on the other so you flip to the side you need. Clever!
The pusher has 3 interlocking chutes:
5” large feed
2 ¾” mid feed
1 ½” mini feed chute which prevents items like carrots from tipping over and bonus it also serves as a small liquid measure.

They offer a larger model 16 cup model which I purchased first, but it was just way too big for my counter and my cooking needs. It does offer a nice peel and dice feature, so check that out if you have the space.
12 cups is more than enough space for my processing needs and I am very happy with the size and the style of this model.
I bought mine on amazon and it arrived in 2 days with Prime. I will link it here in case you are ready to “add to cart”. 😉

In choosing my new food processor I also purchased and tested out the Magimix 12 cup food processor, but the design was very similar to the Cuisinart and it felt much less sturdy so it was returned. It seemed like it might be prone to the same plastic failure issues as the Cuisinart. On that note I will mention that I plan to only hand wash the bowl.
Here is what they recommend: Processing bowl and lid should be hand washed in hot, soapy water using a mild detergent. Do not use a scouring sponge or pad or abrasive cleaners as they will scratch the plastic surface. The plastic parts may occasionally be washed in the dishwasher (top shelf only). It is not recommended on a regular basis, as prolonged exposure to hot water temperatures and harsh detergents will damage and shorten the life of the plastic.
I have found this to be very true with other appliances.

I opted to move away from buying another Cuisinart as we experienced repeated plastic failure with multiple parts breaking on my machine as well as the one I bought for my son who was away in college. Both of those machines got very light use, mainly for shredding cabbage for slaw, processing hummus or cauliflower mash and ricing veggies, so they should not have failed so quickly. Despite warranty coverage we had to beg for replacement parts from not so helpful Cuisinart customer service. It is a shame as my first food processor was a Cuisinart 35 years ago and it lasted for over 20 years and was a workhouse, but in my personal experience the quality of their newer machines sadly doesn’t live up to their former reputation.

WARNING:
My husband has cut himself twice now lifting the slicing blade out of the machine. There is a center stem for lifting, but you need to make sure you fingers are NOWHERE near the blade! He has started wearing these cut resistant gloves when he handles the blade, just in case.