You Really Don't Need A Large Food Processor. Here's Why

Food processors can look like kitchen superheroes, both in cooking shows and on your Instagram feed. Armed with powerful motors and an arsenal of attachments, they promise to transform your culinary life at the push of a button. Marketing works overtime to paint them as the Swiss Army knife of modern cooking — capable of chopping vegetables in seconds, kneading dough in minutes, grinding nuts into butter, shredding cheese, and even making pastry crusts.

But just like that Swiss Army knife gathering dust in your junk drawer, large food processors are on the list of kitchen appliances that you don't need, ones that become expensive countertop ornaments."There's no doubt that the best food processors can be incredibly helpful in streamlining meal preparations," says Suraiya Fardous, a food appliance reviewer at Dinegear, "but large models frequently take up more space than they're worth."

Most food processors in the market today come with a wide range of attachments: a processing bowl, feed chute and pusher, chopping blade, dough blade, adjustable slicing disc, reversible shredding disc and more; the odds of all of these being used consistently are slim, especially in home kitchens. "Large food processors are awesome for big jobs," Fardous continues, "but most of the time, I only use them for small stuff like chopping or slicing — stuff I could easily do with a knife or a smaller gadget."

However big or small your kitchen is, and no matter how much countertop space you have, appliances have a way of filling it up when you look away for a second. There are two things you can do to avoid this.

The first is to treat your countertop like absolute prime real estate. Use it only for appliances that you use as part of your daily routine. The most likely ones to make this cut are a toaster, coffee machine, and microwave oven. A knife block? Sure, if you really use more than one or two knives regularly. Otherwise, it's better to save that space and keep your collection in a drawer.

The second is to invest in smart appliances that are actually worth it. These might be smaller appliances that do different jobs, and can easily be put away in their designated space in your kitchen storage. For example, instead of a large food processor, you could invest in a powerful mini-processor that can take care of your chopping and slicing needs, or a handheld blender for making smoothies, pureeing soups, and blending sauces directly in pots and bowls. In the long run, you can save money (and space) purchasing small kitchen appliances over one big food processor.