The machine is sturdy and with four suction-cup feet it clings to the work surface and keeps vibration to a minimum. But even with this steadiness, the motor is extremely noisy. There is a recipe chip included in the price, which gives easy access to tried-and-tested, basic recipes displayed on the touchscreen. There’s also a subscription-based service called Cookidoo that provides access to thousands of recipes online.

Do not, however, dismiss this food processor, it has its place, and for someone who will only expect it to perform light duties and doesn’t want to over-challenge it with large quantities, the Tower delivers good results, even if it does take a little longer than others. litre bowl for mixing and blending bigger batches, and for slicing, grating, dicing and spiralising There is no storage with this processor though and with so many attachments – jugs, bowls etc. – it requires a lot of space. The blades and the slicing discs, as would be expected, are super sharp and with no distinctive safe storage, accidents can happen, as a cut finger here bears testament. The Expert Prep Pro is Cuisinart’s most advanced food processor, combining the very best performance with total versatility to save you endless time and give you perfect results. It comes with a wide range of accessories for all kinds of food prep – use it to slice and dice for hearty stews and casseroles; grate and spiralise for the freshest salads; mix dips, sauces, cake batters and fillings, and even prepare dough for bread and pizzas.The bowl size of the food processors we’ve tested range from 1.9 litres to 3.7 litres, and the bigger they are, the more features the appliances tend to have. It makes sense that a food processor boasting lots of features will likely take up much more space than one that’s limited to chopping, grating and puréeing. We whip cream and blend homemade mayonnaise and, finally, we mix pastry dough and cake batter to see how well the processor kneads and mixes, before baking both to analyse the texture of the finished product. Shredding was a different story, we had mixed results. Cheese shredded well with even medium size shreds, there was a small piece - about 12 percent of the total – that got trapped on top of the disc and not shredded, but overall it was a success. Shredded carrot was fairly even but we did notice some much finer shreds amongst the medium size pieces. Two chunks of carrot were left on top of the disc at the end. We’ve broken down the features worth considering when you’re shopping around for one of these multi-tasking machines. The included booklet will have you prepping like a pro in no time. The bowls, blades and discs are simple to fit, and with just four buttons on the control pad – high, low, pulse and off – it couldn’t be easier to use.

Key specs – Size: 42(H) x 20(W) x 28 (D) cm; Bowl size: 3 litres; Power: 550w; Attachments: 2 slicing and grating discs, mini bowl and blade, dough blade, stainless steel blade, 3-part pusher, large feeder tube, egg whisk, blending tool and spatula; Additional notable features: Touchpad control panel, dicing and spiraliser kits

Stability: It’s vital that a food processor is stable on a countertop because of the speed their blades spin at. All the models above have non-slip or suction-cup feet to limit movement. Key specs – Size: 17 x 21 x 43.5 cm; Bowl size: 1.1 litres; Power: 1100w; Attachments: 1 reversible slicing and grating disc, double dough blade, stainless steel 4 blade knife, 2-part pusher,large feeder tube; Additional notable features: 3 speeds, touch pad control panel, 2.1-litre vacuum blending pitcher, 2.1-litre vacuum blending pitcher lid and valve, FreshVac technology vacuum blending pump, 2 x 600ml lidded drinking cups Chopping onion was easy in the large bowl, resulting in fine, evenly chopped pieces. It also created even breadcrumbs, after we added four slices of bread cut in quarters into the bowl. It took 20 presses of the pulse button until we were happy with the result.