KitchenAid KFP1318BM 13-Cup Food Processor

I love my food processor but it has a few annoying design flaws. First, the top rather than twisting off has a right hand hinge. First, unless you take the top off the hinge it is in the way when adding product. Second, unless you have your hands on them, the smaller plungers go flying across the room. I have broken corners off the middle plunger twice. Both the bowl, the top, and the plungers are made of a brittle plastic. I anticipate having to replace them in fairly short order. As a slicer, shredder and processor it preforms like a champ. I have made a total of 20 pounds of pimento cheese and prepared and Italian sausage dish as an appetizer for 350 for a fundraiser. All the slicing, shredded, grating and processing was done quickly and efficiently. The fact that shredding or slicing blades can be attached above the processing blade saves time by combining two processes into one. Except for the design limitations. Except for the design limitations I mentioned it is the best processor I’ve owned. This is my third generation.

I love th I s. Use it for composting. I would have given it a five-star but I can't find a replacement for the lid plug for a 48 oz size.

Short version: This KitchenAid KFP1318 is a powerful, versatile, and effective food processor. However, I do NOT recommend purchasing it due to a design flaw which causes the lid to break under normal use. The replacement part costs almost as much as the entire device, so sadly it's not worth fixing. Long version: I've owned my KFP1318 for just over two years. Across that span it's seen light use, maybe 2-3 times per month. Before this, I had relied on less expensive smaller food processors, but my wife and I were ready to spend the money on a nicer processor. As far as food processing is concerned, this works great. I got the most use out of the slicer which I've used on veggies and potatoes. I've used the shredder to make zucchini bread. The chopping blade works well for soups and chili, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could use the dicing blade to mix dough - I don't do enough baking to need an actual mixer so I'm glad I can use this. The problem is the lid, which broke after 2 years of light use. Specifically the clasp, but I can see cracks in the hinge side of the lid as well, only a matter of time until that part breaks. I classify this as a design flaw for two reasons: 1) in order to create the seal, there is constant upward pressure being applied on the lid when it is latched, and 2) as an individual part, the lid contains several components critical to the processor's operation. Despite the lid being a single point of failure, it's simply not made from high-grade plastic. In my opinion, it's quality is enough to cover the 1 year warranty period but not much beyond that. Worse is the cost of a replacement lid. First, good luck finding one. I called KitchenAid (Whirlpool) customer service and they told me the replacement part is on "severe backorder". Apparently many folks are having the same problem with the lid breaking as me. What is available is well over $100 for the replacement part, which is about 66% of the total cost of the processor! Why would I shell out $120 for something that's just going to break again? Despite this being a useful, versatile food processor, I do NOT recommend purchasing this because you are likely to have the lid break on you as well. KitchenAid needs to either make the lid out of stronger material or find a way to not apply so much pressure to the latch which is the weakest point, preferably both. I'm sad because I had hoped spending nearly $200 on a food processor would mean that this was the last food processor I ever purchased. Don't be fooled - this is no BIFL appliance. It still works if I manually hold the lid closed so I'll keep using it in this fashion until the hinge breaks, which looks like it will happen within the next 2-3 uses. After that, I'll either go back to cheap, throw-away food processors. Or I'll continue my quest for a BIFL food processor, and I will not be considering KitchenAid.

My older model broke and while I don't use a food processor all that often, the times I do make it worth it to have one and I'd prefer a decent model over some cheap version that won't perform. My older model was a 13 cup bowl that actually had several bowls nested inside so you could either do the whole 13 cups or size down. These new configurations just have the one bowl. The older models had a box for the accessories; this one has everything stored on board. And that's nice for storage, but it is like a puzzle putting it all back together. They do give you several diagrams showing you how to put it all back, but it is slightly tricky at first. Instead of sliding around to come on and off, the cover pops open and can be taken off the base by pulling on the hinge side. I've used it twice so far, once to pulverize cookies to use as a pie crust and another time to chop roasted vegetables to make salsa. Both turned out great. The pulse is nice and steady and did both jobs equally well. There was no leakage and I think part of that is due to the new design where the bowl snaps down into place rather than sliding back and forth to lock. Also, the new "nut" in the middle of the bowl to hold the chopping blades is sealed so it would be harder for liquids to get inside and eventually leak out. I wasn't unhappy with the older model but this is a nice upgrade. Most of the parts go in the dishwasher but you wash the blades by hand (as always). Takes up vertical space in the cupboard but since all the accessories are on board, you're only taking up that space.

I had an old 10 cup KitchenAid processor handed down fromy grandma that was an absolute work horse for our kitchen. So when it finally burnt out it only made sense to get another KitchenAid. Well, unfortunately they don't make things the way they used to. The workbowl and lid are made from thin plastic. The lid had some small pice of plastic break off after a short while, but it didn't affect the functionality so we continued to use it. It doesn't handle pizza dough as well as the old 10 cup did, but gets the job done. It's was great for salsas and sauces although I liked the previous model's optional small bowl to make sauces which this one doesn't have. I appreciated that the blade design made cleaning them easier. However, the other day I was removing the lid and it slipped from my hand over my wooden counter. Little bits of plastic from the locking mechanism broke off and went flying. Without the lid the processor is no longer functioning. I went to order a replacement lid and found that is currently costs $104! Nearly half the cost of the brand new unit with accessories? I will buy the higher rated, recommended by testers processor (from another brand) brand new rather than spending so much on a replacement lid. I'm incredibly disappointed in KitchenAid for their lack of quality and care. They couldn't make it anymore obvious that they would rather take advantage of consumers and add to landfills than take pride in their products and reliability.