My food processor also has that "short" spindle. I didn't notice until I was making frozen yogurt a week or so ago and the mixture ran over and down the spindle.

I just make it in two batches now...

Annie

I have the Kitchen Aid and it does have a short spindle but like Annie said some times I have to make two batches of a mixture because it will run down the spindle.

Linda

Yes, this has happened to me at some very inopportune times as well -- have to watch the level if the mixture is more liquid than solids.

I have the same problem..........same solution. :+(

Deanna

I have a cuisinart and the tube where the spindle goes is about 2 1/2 inches tall. I can fill it to the brim with non liquid stuff but if I am making something very liquid, I make sure not to put so much in there that it will overflow.
But...one "cheat" that does work...if you are making something where you add liquid to the processor with the motor running....you can over fill it and it won't overflow as longa s the motot is running....you have to be really fast to get it out of the bowl before it runs over!!
I can put 3 cups of liquid in my 7 cup processor without any danger of overflowing....and more than that of something like hummus or bread dough.
Linda C

We have that problem when DH tries to make margaritas in the food processor instead of the blender! :-)

We also have the Cuisinart and I just have to be careful with how I use true liquids.

Cameron

Yes! I pureed soup and it leaked. I'll try doing it in smaller batches next time.

I have a older Cuisinart, gee it must be 18 years old. It was new in the box until last summer when I finally decided I really needed it to do peach butter. It intimidated me a little! I do smallish batches of really wet stuff.

I also have the 9 cup KA. It sits in the pantry and never gets used because of the leaking. I use the Bosch 5 cup FP that I got with my Bosch mixer. It is only 5 cups, but that is big enough for us and no more leaks.

Linda

Blenders are the appliances optimized for liquids thin enough to pour. It is possible to do other things in either blender or food processor, but in both cases you have to work harder, such as do smaller batches.

My larger Cuisinart food processors (7 and 11 cups) also hold far less liquid than solids, but the center wall of my mini-prep is almost as high as the outside. Very likely tall spindles, especially in the larger processors that have to do harder jobs, would be more likely to break from stress.

Some of the "leakage" may actually be liquid creeping up the inner walls. This is a function of the surface tension of the liquid and can occur no matter how high the walls are. Processors seem to be designed for this as the spindle areas are sealed so that liquids cannot get into motor.

I gotta disagree with you. Our 20 year old food processor had a tall spindle and it lasted a long time. The mfrs have gone to these low spindles to allow these food processors to hold multiple sized bowls. The 9 cup kitchen aid also had a smaller bowl that fit inside of the larger bowl and it sat on top of the short spindle. However if I want to chop up a couple of cups of something I can do it almost as fast with a knife with little setup and cleanup.
I think the food processor mfrs gave up on the ability to process liquids to add multiple bowls. They are all this way now.
PS: Have you ever tried to make hummus or salsa in a blender? It doesn't work very well.

And now you understand why I got a stick blender for liquids. Pureeing 2 batches of hot soup was a PITA!
My cusiinart works fine for hummus-- and I have the 7 cup model.

Javaman, is your hummus a pourable liquid? Mine isn't. And salsa, at least the kind I like, is more solid than liquid. I could make them in a blender but getting all the hummus out would be time consuming, and avoiding pureeing the vegetables in the salsa would require care.

I got my first FP about 30 years ago. I'm currently using four different FPs ranging in age from a couple of years to over 20. None but my Cuisinart Mini-prep has a center wall anywhere near the height of the outside. And none of the models I'm using now came with, or tried to sell me, smaller bowls.

Given the competitiveness of the small appliance market, the usefulness of a feature like this, and the fact that it was tried and then abandoned, I can't help thinking that there's a non-marketing reason that it didn't sweep the industry.