Some people love it and some people swear they’ll never again buy another Kitchen aid product after their experience with this particular model. What could possibly elicit such a response? My KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup food processor review is going to alert you to a common mistake some users are making. This is going to save you the aggravation of having to pack up the whole kit and caboodle and ship it back (if you bought it online) or return it to the store.
Capacity
The 7-Cup Work Bowl is BPA-free and top rack dishwasher safe. It does not come with a mini bowl nor is it an option for this model. I confirmed with the company that the bowl is shatter resistant. Handle this bowl with care because it costs $39.99 for a replacement.
The work bowl cover has an integrated 2-in-1 Feed Tube. Be sure both the cover and the bowl is fitted correctly (read further on in this review to see why) as the machine will not operate if these two parts are not in the correct position.
Size of Feed Tube
As mentioned above, the 2-in-1 Feed Tube is part of the bowl cover. It works in conjunction with the 2-Piece Food Pusher. The food pusher pushes the food through the feed tube. There’s a small and a large feed tube and a small and a large feed pusher. The small feed tube and pusher is used to process small items like garlic or a single carrot.
The small pusher has a hole at the bottom, so when you’re making something like mayonnaise or pesto, you can fill it with your oil or other liquids and it will slowly add it to your other ingredients in the bowl.
The large feed tube is not big enough to fit a whole potato or other large fruits and vegetables, so you’ll need to cut them down to size to fit the tube.
The gap between the feed tube and chute allows some foods to gather in that spot and not get processed so you may have to take the lid off, push that food back into place, and process again.
Knead Dough
A dough blade is not included with this model. I spoke with a Kitchenaid agent and was told the blade is an optional purchase. She provided me with the model #KFP9DB for the dough blade.
Controls/Speed
The KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup food processor has a nice clean looking touchpad controls with three speeds plus the off button.
High speed – this setting is used to slice or shred hard fruits and vegetables as well as cheese and chocolate.
Low speed – you’ll use this stetting for making sauces like pesto or salsa and chopping and slicing soft fruits and veggies like tomatoes.
Pulse speed – pulsing lets you control the chopping of the food in short bursts so as not to over process it. Useful for mincing and pureeing foods.
Since the touchpad control is flush with the unit there are no nooks or crannies for food or junk to get stuck in, so it’s easy to just wipe clean. However, many users expressed frustration about the lack of responsiveness of the buttons. They said you had to press down really hard on the buttons to get them to work.
Power
With only 300 watts of power, it seems rather weak for the price. In fact the Black & Decker FP1600B which you can buy for under $30 has 450 watts. Some users said the motor does not seem to have enough power because it starts up slowly and takes several seconds to get up to speed. However, it is an induction motor so it should last a long time.
I think this low wattage is responsible for some of the complaints people had about this model not being able to handle harder cheeses or harder nuts very easily. It seemed to bog down.
Blades
The KFP0711cu comes with three blades plus the shredding adapter, which is used to connect the slicing and shredding disc to the power shaft.
Adjustable slicing disc – adjusts for different thicknesses from 1 mm to 6 mm. It’s easy to adjust the disc for thin slices, say for homemade potato chips or thick slices of apples. The slicing disc has a built-in shaft or dial that you would use to adjust to your desired thickness, you just need to twist the dial – clockwise for thinner slices, or counterclockwise for thicker slices.
Reversible shredding disc – for coarse or fine shredding of cheese and veggies. It’s very convenient to have one blade that you can just flip over to go from coarse to fine, especially when you need different size of shreds for your recipe.
Multipurpose blade – this multifunction blade chops, minces, blends, mixes, and emulsifies and is great for pureeing fruits and vegetables.
Extra Attachments
Dough blade model #KFP09DB and that’s it. No other attachments are available for this model.
KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup Food Processor Dimensions
Height: 14 5/8 inches
Width: 10 1/16 inches
Depth: 9 15/16 inches
Weight: 10 lbs
Power cord: 3 feet
Additional Features
The KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup food processor comes in 4 colors, White, Empire Red, Onyx Black and Silver Contour. The Multipurpose blade locks down in the bowl, so you can safely remove your food out of the bowl without the blade falling out. The built in safety mechanism prevents the machine from operating unless the bowl and cover are installed properly.
KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup Food Processor Included Accessories
- 7-Cup BPA-free workbowl
- Work bowl cover with 2-in-1 feed tube
- 2-Piece food pusher
- Adjustable slicing disc
- Reversible shredding disc
- Multipurpose blade
- Shredding adapter
- Heavy-duty base
Pros
- Lightweight and compact
- Easy to use
- Easy to clean
- Comes in four attractive colors
- Relatively quiet
- Is the 2-in-1 feed pusher a benefit?Yes
- Sturdy base
Cons
- Controls buttons aren’t very responsive – you have to push down firmly on the buttons to get them to work
- No cord storage
- Replacement parts are expensive
KitchenAid KFP0711cu 7 Cup Food Processor Reviews and Ratings
What a mixed bag of reviews for this machine. There was one major issue that kept cropping up and that was responsible for a bulk of the negative reviews.
Many people returned the food processor thinking it was defective, when in the majority of cases nothing was wrong with the machine, except that the work bowl cover was not attached correctly, so the unit would not turn on. The unit will only power up when the lid is installed correctly. As it turns out the cover will snap into place in more than one position but if it’s not the right one the machine will not operate.
The feed tube has to be at the front of the machine in order to activate the lock. Once most of the users figured that out, the machine worked fine.
Some other negatives I came across were:
- You have to push very hard on the control buttons to get them to respond
- The machine starts too slowly, seems like there is not enough power to do certain jobs
- The multipurpose blade does not reach the corners of the bowl, so it’s easy for food to get in the corners of the bowl and never get processed.
- The machine moves around on the work surface when processing
Overall, some users really liked this machine and they love the Kitchenaid brand. Even some users who were initially turned off because of not getting the machine (sometimes more than one) to work, were eventually won over once they were able to to get the unit to operate.
Price
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Pretty much every retailer has the model for the same price of $99.99. At this price point I’m surprised it does not come with a dough blade and it’s only 300 watts of power. The comparable Cuisinart DLC-10S, which costs the same has a dough blade and has a 600 watt motor.
Summary
Kitchenaid KFP0711cu 7 Cup Food Processor has a few useful features like the touchpad controls, the adjustable slicing disc and the reversible shredding disc. It will cut down on a lot of time consuming food prep tasks like chopping and slicing.
On the other hand it seems under powered for a $100 food processor and it does not come with a dough blade. But if you don’t plan to use it for that purpose, then this machine might work for you.
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Hello, I have the same food processor but I do not know how to use the reversible shredding disc because I do not have the drive adapter (shredding adapter), I wonder if you know how to do it.
Thank you.
Or you can help me telling me where I can get the shredding adapter please? Thank you.
Hi, thanks for stopping by. Both the reversible shredding disc and the shredding adapter comes standard with this model. If the adapter was not included with your model, I would contact Kitchenaid directly. You can reach them at: (800) 541-6390 Hours of Operation
Mon-Fri: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. EST. They also have live chat available on their website http://www.kitchenaid.com/contact-us/. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for this review. You saved me from having to send back my brand new, out of the box, (no receipt), bridal shower gift. Thank you!
So frustrated. My husband bought this for me over a year ago. It never works. We have done our research in “fixing” this machine to work. Doesn’t work. Saved for a year to get me this “gift” 200 down the drain