PowerBlend Cuisinart Blender Food Processor

The PowerBlend Cuisinart blender food processor comes with a powerful 500 watt motor that can pulse, stir, mix, puree, chop as well as crush ice quickly and easily.

When used as a food processor it can slice, shred or process virtually any ingredients making it an excellent addition to any kitchen whether you love to cook or just want to whip up great smoothies and drinks.

Cuisinart has always been synonymous with high quality, premium blenders and this powerful unit is a little cheaper but perhaps not as good as the SmartPower Duet Blender Food Processor

Features

The PowerBlend Cuisinart blender food processor offers 7 different speeds for pulsing, stirring, chopping, mixing, pureeing, crushing ice and processing food. The unit features touchpad controls with LED indicators that make cleaning a breeze since you don’t have to get the toothbrush out to clean the grime that gathers around conventional buttons.

The food processor attachment is neither too large nor too small; at 3 cups it’s perfect for a four person family. The attachment comes with a feed tube, a pusher, a slicing and shredding disc and a chopping blade, which will make quick work of any ingredients from slicing up vegetables for a salad to chopping meat and vegetables for a stir-fry.

The blender jar is made of glass and is quite large at 56 oz so you can blend smoothies and drinks for more than two people. All of the parts of the Cuisiniart blender processor are removable and can be conveniently washed in the dishwasher.

The unit is large enough to cater to a family but small enough to be tucked away under a cabinet. It also features push-in cord storage to make it easy to put away virtually anywhere.

Advantages

Customers who purchased this blender enjoyed the size of the blender jar as it was quite large compared to other models, so that when liquidizing soup the blender only needed to be filled a few times.

The fact that it does its job quickly and efficiently was also appreciated, especially since it can do the same job in 30 seconds compared to the 5 or 6 minutes it takes for other blenders.

Additionally, another advantage of this Cuisinart blender food processor is the size and design, since it saves on storage space.

If you need more power upgrade to the 600-watt SmartPower Premier Duet Blender/Food Processor that comes in a cast-metal and stainless-steel housing

Disadvantages

It seems that many reviewers had a problem with the motor dying soon after purchase, in some cases only after a few uses while with others it took anywhere from 3 to 7 months.

Unfortunately, this isn’t simply a trend with consumers who used the appliance regularly but for those who are occasional users as well. Again, the ingredients used could not have been the cause either because even users who blended only soft ingredients suffered from the same problem.

Additionally, when speaking to Cuisinart to have it repaired many consumers opted to forego the repairs because they were informed they had to pay for shipping themselves and it would take 4 to 6 weeks to have it returned. Those who did send it in for repairs received a replacement unit which died within a few weeks of using it.

Most consumers who had the motor die on them opted to buy a different brand as they didn’t want to have to deal with Cuisinart’s less than stellar customer support again.

Consumers were also displeased with the base of the Cuisinart blender food processor as it is not chrome but plastic covered in chrome colored paint and quite flimsy as well. Additionally, it seems that it is very noisy compared to other models in the same size range.

Conclusion

Overall, when the Cuisinart blender food processor worked consumers were quite pleased with its performance. They found it to be efficient and offered plenty of features for the price point.

However, it seems to be quite hit and miss with some units dying soon after purchase or after less than a year. This may be due to a bad design or it may have something to do with where the parts are manufactured. The latter is probably more likely because otherwise all of the units would have had the same problem had it been a design issue.

Overall we would recommend the SmartPower Duet Blender Food Processor as an alternative to this machine.