Review
Posted in: Kitchen > Kitchen Appliances
05 / 05 / 2008
Working in commercial kitchens all over the world, I’m used to using hardcore, industrial strength all metal blenders. The commercial blenders are designed to be durable, reliable and last for twenty years. So recently when I was asked to review the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor I was a little sceptical that it would be as good as a $3500 plus commercial blender.
The first thing you notice when unpacking the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor is how solid yet stylish the unit is and in actual fact I think its better designed than most commercial units being all metal. Built into the blender unit is slide out drawer where you can store all your blades and not lose then.
One of the unique designs of the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor is the bowl and how it attaches to the base unit. In other food processors you can only partly fill the bowl, but not in the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor. You can fill it right to the top without spilling anything down the centre of the bowl and onto the base unit.
Check out the TV commercial for the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor;
To road test the Food Processor I made two recipes, a cauliflower soup and a macadamia nut pesto. For the cauliflower soup I filled it to the top and hit the button. The soup was blitzed very quickly and had a smooth texture given the large cauliflower pieces, potatoes, ham pieces and shallots it had to blend.
The next test was to hit it with a kilogram of macadamia nuts for the macadamia nut pesto. Often when food processors blend nuts they are inconsistently chopped. I was pleased to see that the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor evenly chopped the pieces before I went ahead and added the basil, macadamia nut oil and parmesan cheese.
After I used the unit, I put the plastic bowl, blade and top into the dishwasher as they said it was dishwasher proof. I think that the only way that Sunbeam could have improved the unit would be to have made the bowl made of stainless steel instead of the heavy duty plastic. If this was the case I guess the price of the unit would be much pricier.
All in all a solid performer and I am sure this Cafe Series Food Processor will definitely find its way into small cafes and coffee shops. Given the 10 year warranty on the motor, the Cafe Series Food Processor has to be the top of the range.
To learn more visit www.cafeseries.com.au
Full disclosure : I was asked to review the Sunbeam Cafe Series Food Processor by Sunbeam Australia.