Cuisinart Elemental 13-Cup Review

Chopping

The Elemental ranked about average in our chopping metric. It did very well at chopping onions, earning the second-highest score of the group.

Unfortunately, performance plummeted when chopping carrots, with this model tying for the lowest score. The carrots weren't very uniform, and we could not chop the large residual pieces without over-processing a significant portion of the carrots.

The Elemental was about average at chopping almonds, similar to the Black+Decker 8-Cup in chop quality, but created much, much less pulverized almond dust. This model took a brief moment for the blade to cease spinning when the button was released.

Mixing

The Elemental tied for the second-highest score of the group in our mixing metric. It successfully made our one cup mayo recipe without difficulty and produced a high-quality finished product, earning it full marks. This model also did a great job making pizza dough, only shaking a tiny bit while mixing. It did well at making pie crust, though not quite as well as pizza dough. The pie crust actually got thrown against the side of the bowl and stuck there, resulting in a dough that had some dry spots and some overly sticky spots when we rolled it out.

Pureeing

The hummus produced by the Elemental was some of the best of the group, but the applesauce produced by this model featured some large chunks and was overall coarser than that of other models.

The tomato sauce wasn't great and was chunkier than other sauces we made. The Elemental also had a less than stellar performance grinding nut butter, taking around 25 minutes and receiving the second-lowest score.

Shredding

Shredding was another metric in which Elemental scored very well. This model has both fine and medium shred settings. It performed well at shredding cheese, with a finished product that had very few crumbles and was primarily cheese strands.

We had to do some minor trimming to the two-pound block of cheese to get it to fit in the feeding tube, and no chunks were left behind in the gap between the lid and shredding disc. The Elemental continued its solid performance when it came to shredding potatoes, producing some of the highest quality shreds we saw during testing.

The shredded carrots weren't too shabby either, and we were impressed during this test. The carrots didn't have any large chunks in them, but they weren't as crisp and as structurally sound as the shreds made by some of the higher performers.

Slicing

Delivering an above-average performance, the Elemental earned an above-average score. The slicing blade was easy to adjust, with the numbers corresponding to the desired thickness in millimeters. It did a fantastic job slicing tomatoes, though the feed tube wouldn't fit the largest tomato we had.

Quality dropped when it came to potatoes and zucchini, both ranking about average. There was a small degree of taper on all of the potato slices. The zucchini slices exhibited a wide variation in size, and there was some tapering, but it did alright.

Cleaning

This model was one of the more difficult to clean. The discs, blade, bowl, and lid are all dishwasher safe, though recommended for the top shelf only. The blade was easy enough to clean, especially with its longer length, which made it easier to hold onto when washing manually. The bowl had some small raised points to act as stops for the smaller bowl that would catch food and be very problematic to clean. The lid was even worse, with some even smaller spaces that would trap food and cause endless frustration to clean.

Should You Buy the Cuisinart Elemental 13-Cup?

All in all, you probably wouldn't be disappointed in this model, but you might not be thrilled. It comes with a dicing attachment, which is a nice perk unique to this model. All in all, though, we think most people will be better served by models that scored similarly but were significantly less expensive.

What Other Food Processors Should You Consider?

This model scored on par with a couple much cheaper processors. The Hamilton Beach 10-Cup is our favorite inexpensive model, if you're hoping to stretch your dollars but maintain good performance. In the same price range as the Elemental, you can get the Cuisinart Custom 14, a higher performer. And if money is no object, the Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro takes the cake as the best overall food processor we tested.