Knives & Prep review
Cuisinart Custom 14 Review: Everything but the Cheese
Two independent tests scored the shredding as its weakest function, and one suggested hiding the results in a sandwich. Everything else it does better than most machines twice its complexity.
By Paulo GerchonPublished 2 min read
Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.
Cuisinart
Cuisinart Custom 14
Good · researched from 3 sources
For chopping, slicing, pureeing and dough this is as good as domestic food processors get, and it does the job more quietly than anything else tested. Grate your cheese by hand.
- Buy if
- Batch cooking, doughs, hummus and sauces · Anyone who wants one bowl big enough for a whole recipe · Kitchens where noise matters
- Skip if
- Shredding cheese, on two independent findings · Small jobs, since there is no nested smaller bowl · Anyone who needs adjustable slice thickness
We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.
The one job it does badly
TechGearLab scored shredding 6.0 out of 10. Reviewed put it more memorably, saying the grated cheese it produced was best used hidden between two slices of bread.
The mechanical reason is in the box. One shredding disc, medium, not adjustable. There is no coarse setting to fall back on and no fine one either.
TechGearLab's own testing shows it is not uniform across ingredients: carrots shredded excellently, potatoes came out average. Cheese, being soft and warming under friction, is the hardest case and it is the one most people want.
Grate your cheese by hand and this stops being a problem.
Everything else
Pureeing scored 8.0, with hummus, tomato sauce and applesauce all reaching what TechGearLab called perfect consistency. Nut butter took nineteen minutes and one scrape of the bowl.
Dough tied for the best quality in a group of eight and mixed fastest, which is notable given there is no dedicated dough blade and the standard chopping blade is doing the work.
Reviewed found chopping evenly cut with no ragged edges, almonds ground to a fine even powder, and slices almost uniform with tomatoes coming out very clean.
It is also the quiet one
61.5 dB at three feet, measured by TechGearLab, and the quietest machine in their group. Reviewed describes a soft purr.
Food processors are usually unbearable. This one is not, and on an appliance you run in a room with other people that is worth more than a point of chopping score.
What you have to live with
No adjustable discs. One thickness of slice, one size of shred.
No dough blade, no smaller nested bowl, so a small job happens in a fourteen cup container.
No cord storage and no case for the discs, which is the criticism that matters most practically, because loose razor-sharp discs in a kitchen drawer are a real hazard.
Reviewed also finds the rear chute placement awkward and the discs fiddly to attach.
Size and finish
12.4 pounds and about fifteen inches tall, so it stays on the worktop or it becomes a chore.
Homes and Gardens finds it bulky for smaller kitchens and notes the brushed steel picks up fingerprints readily. Their overall verdict is that it will not shy away from any task, which is a fair summary of a machine with a 720 watt motor and a five year warranty on it.
That warranty is worth naming. Many competitors offer one to three years. Five suggests where Cuisinart expects this to be in a decade, and it is the strongest argument for the price.
How it scored
The overall 8.2 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.
Processing performance
TechGearLab scored pureeing 8.0 and shredding 6.0. Reviewed found chopping evenly cut with no ragged edges and dough emerging as a perfectly elastic ball.
Value
TechGearLab calls it one of the best food processors you can get on a budget and ranked it fourth of eight. Reviewed goes further and calls it the best on the market.
Build quality
A 720 W motor with a five year motor warranty against one to three years on many rivals. Homes and Gardens calls it heavy-duty and notes it smudges easily.
Ease of use
Reviewed found everything but the base dishwasher safe and cleanup a breeze, while criticising the rear chute placement and discs that are fiddly to fit.
Noise
TechGearLab measured 61.5 dB at three feet, and Reviewed describes a soft purr. It was the quietest model in its test group.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- TechGearLab measured 61.5 dB at three feet, the quietest in their group
- Reviewed found chopping evenly cut with no visibly ragged edges
- TechGearLab's pizza dough tied for the best quality and mixed fastest
- A feed tube wide enough for whole potatoes and large tomatoes
- A five year motor warranty where many rivals offer one to three
- Everything but the base goes in the dishwasher
What we didn’t
- Both TechGearLab and Reviewed rate shredding as the weak point
- Reviewed says the shredded cheese is best hidden between two slices of bread
- Neither the slicing nor the shredding disc is adjustable
- There is no dedicated dough blade, and TechGearLab notes mayonnaise did not fully combine
- No cord storage and no case for the discs
- Homes and Gardens finds it bulky for some kitchens and prone to fingerprints
Specifications
| Motor | 720 W |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 14 cups |
| Noise | 61.5 dB at three feet per TechGearLab |
| Weight | 12.4 lb per TechGearLab |
| Dimensions | 10.75 x 7.75 x 15 in per TechGearLab |
| Blades | Chopping blade that doubles as a dough hook, slicing disc and medium shredding disc |
| Feed tube | Dual size, wide enough for whole potatoes per Reviewed |
| Dishwasher | Everything except the base |
| Warranty | Five years on the motor |
| Group result | 66 out of 100 and fourth of eight at TechGearLab |
How we researched this
We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.
3
sources reviewed
TechGearLab tested it against seven other food processors and supplies the category scores, the measured noise level, the weight and dimensions, the specific cooking test results and the ranking. Reviewed supplies the accessory list, the descriptions of chopping, grinding, slicing and kneading quality, the dishwasher detail and the criticism of the chute and discs. Homes and Gardens is the lightest of the three sources, contributing the assessment of size and finish and its overall verdict rather than any measurement, and is cited only for those. The two detailed sources disagree on the overall standing, TechGearLab placing it fourth of eight and Reviewed calling it the best available, and both positions are given.
What we read
Common questions
Is the Cuisinart Custom 14 bad at shredding cheese?
What does it do well?
How loud is it?
What is missing from the box?
Is it too big for a small kitchen?
The bottom line on the Cuisinart Custom 14
For chopping, slicing, pureeing and dough this is as good as domestic food processors get, and it does the job more quietly than anything else tested. Grate your cheese by hand.
More home & kitchen reviews
Knives & Prep
Global G-2 Chef's Knife 8 in
A one-piece steel knife with a sand-filled handle, and all three reviewers say the same thing about what happens when your hands get wet.
Knives & Prep
Shun Classic Chef's Knife 8 in
Rated as sharp as a new razor blade on the same scale that measured our other two knives. One lab also found a chip in the edge under a microscope after a few weeks.
Knives & Prep
ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE
Two reviewers clocked it under a second. The one who tried hardest to measure it properly got about two, and admitted the difference is beyond a home kitchen to prove.