( 37 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 24 2009
I've had this unit for two years or more now, and as a single person living in a studio apartment, it is nice to have a compact, blender/food processor unit that doesn't take up a lot of space on a tiny counter. Unfortunately, it is certainly loud enough to warrant considering ear protection. Also, the user should be aware that running the machine at high speed will cause a small amount of the rubber driving gears to pulverize somewhat, causing a residue of black powder under the container and a "burning" smell. It seems harmless. The food processor is a bit small for cooking larger batches, but depending on your situation, it may be a sacrifice you're willing to make to save space. It works well enough, although what comes out may not always be an even consistency. Stuff may be flung to the sides and not get chopped up as finely as the rest. Using it to chop, slice, or shred may result in more fluid out of vegetables than using a knife. On the other hand, I've had good results using it to grind my own meat. Using the food processor means, however, that one has a lot of parts to wash up after use, many of which are not designed for easy hand washing, so it is always a cost/benefit analysis of whether the superior quality from one's knife or grater is worth the extra time involved. If you have good knife skills, you may not finding yourself using this as often. I mainly use the blender to make myself smoothies. It's no "will it blend" powerhouse here; getting evenly crushed ice isn't always easy. Using a slower speed first and adding some liquid helps. It blends frozen fruits just fine, though. I'm not sure how this compares to other blenders or food processors, but from my experience, I would feel that it is appropriate for certain circumstances but not universally ideal.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 9 2009
How interesting that I would recieve an email inviting me to review my new Cusinart Duet Blender/Food Processor while I'm drinking my berry smoothie that I just finished making in it! I can honestly only write about the activity of making a smoothie for this review. If making smoothies is why you need a blender, please don't purchase this one. For some reason they have designed the blades to be more than halfway below the bottom of the glass pitcher and ice, larger fruit (like strawberries) never get chopped up and if the concoction that you're making is a frozen type, it will just spin and spin and nothing actually makes it down into the blade area. Opening the top and stirring every 20 seconds to get the mix down to the blades is very frustrating and time consuming.
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Posted: Mar 30 2009
I have had this Cuisinart product for several years. I have used it mostly as a blender and had no problems. The blender is no better, but no worse that my old Osterizer. A few months ago, I decided to start using the food processor assembly. Suddenly, one night while using the food processor bowl the gear on top of the motor assembly started to shred with the motor on. I believe that I had everything lined up properly as the instruction manual states that "The food processor will not start until the collar, work bowl and work bowl lid are locked into place." When I called customer service they told me that the 3-year warranty period had just ended 3 weeks ago, but that it was covered within a 2-month grace period. I was instructed to mail back all of the pieces with a $10 check for return shipping and the unit would be repaired. However, customer service insisted that all the pieces including the food processor work bowl, blender jar, blades and lids all be shipped back. I suspect that the insured shipping cost of this is going to be close to the cost of a new unit. I may try to replace the gear myself.
