I don't know about the discs, but we have both a food processor and a hand-operated shredder. And we make potato pancakes. Guess what? I'd never bother to hail out the food processor, and then wash how many parts/ Bowl, lid, pusher, blade? when a single grater works as well, less waste, only one hting to wash (not including bowl, but I use a paper towel instead.

Why not try some different grating tools first before you pay out big bucks for a processor, if that's all you think you would use it for.

Try shopping at all the specialty store, like Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table before you give in.

I would start with the shredder that comes with it. It should be fine for potato pancakes. Look at the blade in a store and see how the whole compares to the size of the shredding that you do now. I never shred by hand.

I'm with Fairegold -- if grating potatoes is most of what you will do with the food processor, you're spending a lot of money for the convenience (and I put all the pieces in the dishwasher, which is more convenient than handwashing it all). Try some quality (i.e., not Mal*Wart) graters and see if that works for you. Even if they don't work out for you, it's a much less substantial investment.

BTW, on my Cuisinart (old), there are different-sized shredding disks.

I'm with Jean. I do use my Cuisinart often and do grate potatoes on the grating disc that came with it. When I am done, into the dishwasher it goes. Some of the best homemade potato pancakes I ever had were made by a friend who did the egg, onion and forget what else in the bowl w/ the chopping blade, grated the potato with the grating disc right into the egg/onion mixture and then fried it up.

Thanks for this thread--guess what I'll be making for dinner one night this week? Better buy some kielbasa to go with it!

I vote to grate with the Cuisinart too because this is what I do. I throw the parts in the dishwasher. Use the disk that came with it. If that isn't suitable get the shreding disk, not the fine one.

I am the "Qwisinart Qween"...I have owed one for well more than 20 years, use it all the time....even now that it's just me eating most of the time....and I have all the discs...1 MM, 2MM, 4MM slicers, Fine shredding, medium shredding and the 3 by 3 juillienne and the 1 by 1 juillienne.
For latkes...I use the medium shredding disc that came with the machine....the fine shredder I use for grating hard cheeses and chocolate.
It all ( but the motor housing!) goes into the dishwasher....and it makes pie crust, kneads bread, makes slaw in an instant, makes short work of vegetable soup, pesto with little effort, slices semi frozen chicken breasts for stir fry, chops nuts for biscotti, makes onion soup a tear less event...
Go for the cuisinart!!
Linda C

Sure. I have an 11-cup Cuisinart and it's only me most of the time. It might not do as well with, say, half a cup of chopped nuts or a clove of garlic as a smaller processor, but I don't think a 7-cup would be that much better.

As for the julienne question, it sounds like you've never owned a food processor before. One thing you'll learn quickly is that slicing/julienne cutting/etc. is done as the food is fed into the blade, and it is fast. While humans with a knife would have no problem making "more artistic" cuts, the FP lets the chips fall where they may (no pun intended), and the result may well be some less attractive pieces than you would have achieved by hand. I don't know if that matters to you.

Steve, you are right, never had a FP before. But always like to hv one that can julienne vegetables like oriental restaurants. I'm sure they must be using a FP to do it. I will be using FP mostly for shredding, julienne cutting and slicing. I will also like to know which disc should I use for finely chopping onions. Can anyone tell me what additional discs I should buy with my FP to achieve the above?

I have an 11 cup one and a mini one. I use the mini one for things like nuts, breadcumbs, and herbs. I use the large one for everything else. I have never julienned vegetables i the FP. I use a mandoine for that. It works pretty fast and you get perfect, beautiful pieces. I would chose a mandoline voer a food processor if what you want to do is mainly juliene vegetables.

For chopping onions, I use the steel "whirlybird" blade that came standard with my (Cuisinart) FP. I just "pulse" it until I get the fine-ness of cut I want.

I have a couple of thin-slicing disks which I use for slicing, say, cabbage for cole slaw, or carrot coins. I also have a disk for julienne cuts. It gets the job done, better on big chunks like potato or turnip; less so on something like carrots, which end up getting fed into the blade unevenly. No matter how I try, the results look less than optimal. It's either waste a lot of raw material or cut it by hand. For the volumes I need, cutting by hand is a better solution for me.

Hubby loves potato pancakes and also cole slaw & carrot salad. I used my Cuisinart for 25 years, nearly every night, for shredding and it was great. After it broke, I ended up replacing it with a KitchenAid FP, which I also love. It is an 11-cup model AND features a mini-processor inside of the regular one. So, unlike Cuisinart, which would require that you purchase a separate machine for mini-size work, such as chopping garlic and the like, mine was an all-in-one deal. It is hard to describe, so you should do a Google search and take a look at some pics.

We have been very happy with it and like the others, I use it and then throw it in the DW.

L

I can't imagine why you would need a mini processor....mini amounts work well in my 11 cup model.
To julienne veggies for stir fry.....say carrots....you cut the carrots in lengths that will lay sideways in the feed tube ( I mostly use the 2 MM slicing disc for this....but the 4 mm works well too) and slice them int othe bowl. Then ramove the slices from the bowl and stack them on end in the feed tube and run through again....and you have lovely juillenne strips....much better than with the juillienne discs....which I find work best on potatoes for fries.
Linda C

We use our mini way more than the big one. We do a lot of biryanis and I make my own garam masala. For spice pastes in less than 1 cup amounts, I find the mini works way better. Don't have to open it up and stir things around - and I don't want it over pureed. It rinses out under the faucet in a couple of seconds, and is by far our most used chopping tool. Just this morning I diced shallots for omelet and then DH did garlic for his omelet. Etc. Just the awkwardness of wielding the big bowl has made us avoid it...

I would not have bought a separate mini FP, since doing small amounts is easy by hand and does not dirty up an entire FP, but we have a mini, since it came with the KA FP. I do like it because it is like having two in one, since it fits inside of the larger bowl. In the large bowl, for example, I can make batter for coffee cake and then in the smaller top/mini bowl, can make the crumb topping (flour, butter, cinnamon, and walnuts). At the end, both go in the DW.

Lynne

I LOVE my 11c KitchenAid food processor and my KA 3c Chef's Chopper. When comparing the KA 11c with the Cuisinart (similar comparison product), they are basically 'neck and neck' (per Consumer Reports); however, I think the look of the KitchenAid is much better, as well as the color choices. (I have white, but I wish I could use that awesome shade of red in my kitchen!!!)

Another vote for the KA 11 cup FP. It comes with a bunch of discs and a mini-bowl. Mine is that awesome shade of red which I love.

My first FP was a Cuisinart, which I used for about 20 yrs but the plastic on the bowl seemed to get brittle and pieces just started to break off..motor was still good tho....So I replaced it with the KA that has the mini bowl and extra disks and I love it. It has had some very hard use and handles everything very well. Would never be w/o a FP.

Nancy