Consumers love the Cuisinart DLC-10S-Pro-Classic-7-Cup Food Processor because it makes short work of slicing, dicing, shredding and kneading dough. It’s fast, efficient and reasonably quiet and will significantly cut down on your prep time.
My review shows it’s all of those things and more. However, because of its size it might not work for everyone. Let’s get into the details so you can decide if this will work for you.
Capacity
The first decision you need to make when buying a food processor is deciding on the capacity. This model comes with a 7-Cup work bowl, which is considered mid-size and is the perfect size for the average cook. Now just because it is a 7-Cup bowl does not mean you can put seven cups of ingredients in it. The capacity of the bowl is for dry ingredients, it is essentially halved for liquids.
The bowl is shatterproof and is both heat and cold resistant. It is also BPA free which means that you are not leeching any harmful chemicals into your food.
Size of Feed Tube
Cuisinart DLC-10S-Pro-Classic-7-Cup Food Processor comes equipped with a wide mouth feed tube for slicing and shredding whole fruits and veggies. It is also expandable, so that you can fit a whole tomato or potato in it without first having to chop them into smaller pieces.
Knead Dough
The DLC-10S comes with a dough blade for those of you who like to bake. It does an excellent job of mixing dough. Using this function will cut your baking time roughly in half and with far less mess.. It’s great for making pizza dough, pie dough and really any other kind of dough that suits your fancy. If you like to bake, this feature will save you so much time.
When mixing dough you need to follow Cuisinart recommended maximum amount of flour, which is 4 cups of all-purpose flour or 2 1/2 cups of whole-grain flour. You need to be careful not to over process your dough. Add water slowly and do not whirl the dough around too much as doing that will heat up the dough, which can make it too soft. But the blade does work well.
Speed
There are only two speed settings: On and Pulse
On button – Use this setting to run the machine continuously when you need a fine consistency, such as when you’re making breadcrumbs, pureeing fruits and vegetables or making your own preservative-free nut butters.
Pulse button – allows the machine to go on and off in short spurts and pulses foods that do not require much processing. The way you use the pulse button is by pressing it on and off every other second until the food is chopped to your liking. Using the pulse feature gives you more control over the outcome so you get the texture you want while at the same time it prevents you from over processing your food. Mixing dough is one function where you’ll use the pulse speed.
Power
The DLC-10S comes with a powerful 600 watt Induction motor. An induction motor is extremely reliable, maintenance free and is fairly quiet in operation. The benefit to you is a quiet processor with the horsepower needed to tackle heavy loads like kneading dough and grinding meat without stress.
Blades
The following blades come standard with the Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic Food Processor. Each disc gives you different food preparation options.
1. S Blade (chopping blade) – it chops, minces, mixes and purees and is used for mincing garlic, chopping herbs, nuts and making breadcrumbs. This is the blade you’ll use for most grinding or chopping jobs.
2. Stainless steel shredding disc – great for making fermented vegetables and shredding cheese. If you normally buy store bought shredded cheese, try shredding your own in this machine. You’re in for a real treat when you savor just how good freshly shredded cheese taste.
3. Stainless steel medium (4mm) slicing disc – great for making coleslaw or slicing veggies
4. Dough blade – used for yeast based dough like pizza and bread. Can knead up to 2 lb of bread or pizza dough.
The stainless steel shredding discs are very sturdy and balanced, they have little weights on one side which keeps the discs level or balanced while in use thus resulting in more consistent slicing and shredding. Since these blades have very sharp edges, I highly recommend you also spring for the Blade and Disc Holder ($25.80) or at least the Disc Holder ($15.99) to store and protect the blades. I think it is worth it to keep you safe and keep these parts out of the way when not in use, especially so if you have small children.
Extra Attachments
For most people the discs that come standard with the DLC-10S is sufficient for their needs. Cuisinart has other attachments in case you need them though. There is the:
1. Cuisinart DLC-835TXAMZ Fine Grater Disc – it is excellent at grating hard cheeses like Parmesan and Romano, nuts and coconuts
2. Cuisinart DLC-893 3-Piece Specialty Disc Set – includes a thick slicing (6-millimeter) disc, julienne slicing (3-millimeter) disc and a fine grating disc.
3. Cuisinart DLC-846TX 6mm Thick Slicing Disc – this disc also comes in the 3-Piece set, but you can buy it separately if you do not need the other 2 discs. It cuts uniform 1/4-inch-thick slices, perfect for slicing your fruits and veggies.
These discs are a nice add-on to the standard set of blades that come with your DLC-10S and will greatly expand the capability of your food processor, plus they are dishwasher safe which makes clean up a breeze.
Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic Food Processor Dimensions
Height: 13.8 inches
Width: 7 inches
Depth: 11.25 inches
Weight: 15.63 pounds
Additional Features
In this section I’m going to highlight some of the helpful features that make this model a worthwhile contender.
1. All of the parts (except for the base) are dishwasher-safe, which makes for speedy cleanups.
2. Four suction or rubber feet at the bottom of the processor keeps the base from moving around from the vibration of the motor when processing heavy loads like mixing dough and grinding meat.
3. You’ll find the compact flat cover that comes with this model to be invaluable in preparing your food. You’ll use the flat cover instead of the feed tube when you’re say, mixing dough or making hummus or spreads. It has a “pinholes” which allow you to drip or drizzle oil or other ingredients into the bowl. This is a great feature if you’re making pesto or mayonnaise.
4. The detachable disc stem is used to put the slicing and shredding discs into the food processor. You mount it on the disc, then lock it into place and place the blade in the processor.
5. This model comes with two food pushers. Depending on the size of your food, you’ll use either the small or the large pusher. The pushers are used with the wide mouth feed tube, to you guessed it, push the food down the tube.
Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic Food Processor Included Accessories
These items come standard with the DLC-10S:
- S Blade (chopping blade)
- Stainless steel shredding disc
- Stainless steel medium slicing disc
- Dough blade
- Compact flat cover
- Small and large pushers
- Detachable disc stem
- Flat edge spatula
- How-to DVD
- Manual and recipe book
Pros
- Easy to use
- Small footprint
- Wide mouth feed tube
- Easy to clean
- Very quiet
- Great Value
- Performs well
Cons
- Base is heavy
- Replacement parts are expensive
Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic Food Processor Reviews and Ratings
There are hundreds and hundreds of reviews online and lots of high ratings for this food processor. One site alone has over 800 reviews with lots of 5 star ratings for this product!
Overall I found very, very few negative reviews in comparison to the number of reviews written on this product.
A lot of reviewers like the Cuisinart brand, bought DLC-10S as a gift for a family, replacing an older model or first-time buyers who purchased based on the number of positive reviews.
Some of the negatives that I came across is that after buying and using the DLC-10S for awhile, some people realized that the bowl was too small for their needs. However, Cuisinart does have larger size models to choose from.
Others complained that it leaked if you added too much liquid. This most likely happened because they added so much liquid that it went over the top of the unit while it was processing. Keep in mind this is a food processor; it’s main objective is to chop food. Unlike a blender a food processor is not meant to handle a lot of liquid anyway.
If you need to do lots of liquids, either step up to a larger model or just divide what you are making into smaller batches for processing.
While a few mentioned that putting the thing together and taking it apart can be a bit cumbersome, but I think that is because of the built-in safety features.
If you’re new to food processors, then you should definitely watch the included DVD to learn how to properly use the product.
Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic Food Processor Price
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In my review, I’ve seen prices for this product in the $100-$129.99 range, which I think is reasonable for all you’re getting in the box. Amazon usually has the best deal online in my opinion.
Summary
You’ll find the Cuisinart DLC-10S-Pro-Classic-7-Cup Food Processor to be a huge time-saver and since it has a small footprint it requires a fairly minimal amount of space for storage, especially important to those of you with a small kitchen and limited storage space. It’s a versatile kitchen tool that once you use it, you’ll wonder how you ever cooked without it before. From pureeing baby food to chopping nuts, grinding meat or kneading dough, this machine makes short work of all these tasks. All in all, I think this food processor is a great value for the price.
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