Cuisinart Core Custom 4-Cup Mini Chopper

It ranks #12 of 16 on our food processors tier list, in D tier. That placement draws on 2 independent outlets.

Anyone who wants a small chopper for garlic, herbs, nuts and sauces and wants it to last. It won Food & Wine's mini food processor testing outright, has a proper reversible blade and dishwasher-safe parts, and our research calls it the small-chopper ownership pick. It sits in D tier, twelfth on our board, only because a mini cannot compete with full-size machines on a full-size board. If you need slicing, shredding or dough, buy the Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor (DFP-14BCNY) in S tier instead.

Because the board ranks food processors of every size together, and a four-cup chopper cannot do what a fourteen-cup machine does. Among minis it is the best on our board: it beats the KitchenAid 3.5-Cup Food Chopper (KFC3516) on capacity and chop quality and has no recorded cons. Read its tier as its place among all processors, not as a verdict on how well it chops.

Years. Our research notes that small Cuisinart motors have a long history of surviving years of garlic, herbs and nuts, and this is the current version of that line. It carries no listed cons on durability. Treat a cracked bowl or a dull blade as a part to replace, not a reason to retire the machine.

Yes. Dishwasher-safe parts are one of its listed strengths. The bowl, lid and blade go in the dishwasher, and the motor base wipes clean with a damp cloth. Never submerge the base.

The Cuisinart Core Custom 4-Cup Mini Chopper, without hesitation. The Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus 3-Cup Food Processor (DLC-2ABC) is the design the Core Custom replaced in Cuisinart's own lineup, with older blade geometry and a smaller bowl at nearly the same price, which is why it sits in F tier. The only reason anyone still buys the Mini Prep Plus is that it is still on the shelf.

It gives you two cutting actions from one blade. The sharp edge chops and purees. Flip it and the blunt edge grinds, which suits nuts, seeds, breadcrumbs and hard cheese without turning them to paste. Our research lists the proper reversible blade as one of the reasons it beats other minis.