Cuisinart DLC-2007N Prep 7 7-Cup Food Processor

Product Dimensions: 14.5 x 13 x 9.3 inches ; 12.5 pounds
Shipping Weight: 15 pounds
Item model number: DLC-2007N

- Lexan work bowl virtually shatterproof, dishwasher-safe
-Speed automatically adjusts to ensure proper dough consistency
-Includes spatula, recipe/instruction book, and how-to DVD; dishwasher-safe parts
-One-piece Supreme wide mouth feed tube holds whole fruits and vegetables
-Spatula, recipes, how-to video included

Equipped with an extra-large feed tube, a small feed tube, a dough blade, and slicing and shredding discs, this 600-watt, 7-cup, midsize food processor provides all the power, versatility, and capacity needed by most households. Cooks experienced with Cuisinart food processors will welcome the new feed tube and pusher assembly, which are easy to use--at 4-1/4 inches by 2-3/4 inches, the large, oval feed tube accommodates whole fruits and vegetables. The small, cylindrical tube is located inside the pusher assembly and has its own hollow pusher, which removes with a twist. On the bottom of the small pusher is a pin-hole for dribbling oil into the bowl while making mayonnaise.

We chose this model because we don't want to move really heavy appliances around on the countertop, but the mini-choppers are too small for our recipes. The 2007 weighs about 13 pounds and uses the same wattage motor and most of the same disks as the 11-cup model in this line, although it lacks the extra slow-speed control button for dough processing, and it uses the old-style plastic dough blade. (In this size, it's probably a pie-crust dough maker, not a bread dough maker, anyway.) It's the biggest motor we found on a food processor this size.

Good stuff:

Easy wipe-clean base--no crevices to catch food. Hurray!

Stable and relatively quiet during use.

Easy top-rack dishwasher clean-up (power-saver no-heat drying)

Easy to add small (or liquid) ingredients during processing. Small inner pusher piece is removable, giving access to a small feed tube. There's also a drip hole for liquids in the bottom of the small pusher piece.

Not so good stuff:

Very fiddly mechanism for locking down the workbowl before processing.

The large outer pusher piece, that goes into the main feed tube, has a metal rod that pushes down another rod on the lid, that pushes down another rod on the bowl, that finally pushes a control on the base.

If you have to remove the large pusher to add more big stuff to the bowl, the mechanism stops. Probably just as well, since a child's hand could easily fit through the large main feed tube.

I do wonder how sturdy the locking mechanism will be in the long run, but so far, so good.