Cuisinart FP-14DC Elite Collection 14-Cup Food Processor Die Cast

Not an improvement...

I've owned various models of Cuisinarts for many years and have always considered them the Cadillac of food processors. Recently I gave away my DLC-2014 model to a relative and upgraded to the FP-14DC their newest model. I'm beginning to think I may have been too hasty. The most obvious difference between the newer and older model is the design of the workbowl. Cuisinarts have always had straight-sided bowls but the FP-14DC's bowl is flared -- wider at the top than at the bottom. Presumably the company's engineers determined that the newer design performs better -- or at least as well -- as the older design but that hasn't been my experience. One problem is that food seems to collect in the seam between the side and bottom of the bowl much more readily than in older models. I used it the other day to chop about two cups of walnuts. When I dumped the chopped nuts out of the bowl I saw that two or three tablespoons of walnut powder had collected and jammed in the seam. I had to use my index finger to scrape it out. Not a big deal but annoying nevertheless. Another more serious problem as far as I'm concerned is the newer model's dough-making performance. I've been making bread and pizza dough in a food processor for years and it's always worked great -- add the flower water yeast and salt turn the processor on and almost immediately the dough comes together in a ball and gets kneaded as the processor spins it around the workbowl. Well I tried my standard pizza dough recipe which I've made hundreds of times in older models (of the same bowl capacity) and was horrified to see that the dough failed to form a ball. Instead the machine simply plastered the dough sround the side of the bowl while the blade spun ineffectively at the bottom. I had to stop the machine and go in with a spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl and coax the dough into a ball before it would properly "catch" on the blade when the machine was turned back on. And when I finally pulled the kneaded dough out of the bowl there was a lot left behind in the bottom-side seam as noted above. Not good. I also noticed the dough blade has reverted to being made of plastic as it was in Cuisinarts of many years past; the blade on the previous DLC-2014 model was stainless steel. Seems like a step down in quality. I haven't had enough experience yet with the FP-14C to write it off completely but so far I'm not impressed.

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