I've never been impressed by the chute feature, and I have only used the juicer attachment on my FP once or twice -- I so rarely juice that much fruit.

I have a suggestion for another Cuisinart model your daughter might like: the "SmartPower Duet." It also has a 3-cup work bowl, which is big enough for most jobs and has the advantage of taking up much less space in the DW. It works very well. But the biggest plus is that the motor base comes with both a FP and a blender top, so it's two appliances in one -- really great where storage is an issue. Anyway, at least for me, a blender is a much more useful "plus" than a juicer.

I think the 3-cup size is plenty big for your daughter -- and for more people than who might think so. My first FP was a huge restaurant size one, and I HATED it -- put one onion in there and all it does is bat it around. After that, all I had for years were 3-cup models, and even though I often cook for large groups, it was almost always plenty big. Once in a while I just did two or three batches; no big deal.

When I invested in a big honking FP, my son wanted the Cuisinart Duet, but I still needed it because it is my only blender. I'm glad I kept it, because I find I still sometimes use the FP, too (although less often now that I got an immersion blender that comes with a good mini-mini-FP). I got my son his own Duet for his birthday, and he loves it, too.

You've never used a food processor? If that's not because you never cook, but because you have been chopping and -- shudder -- grating everything by hand all this time. treat yourself, while you are at it! You'll love it. I found the Duet for $40, with free shipping, on one site.

Thanks for the feedback gellchom! I'm assuming that you have actually used the chute attachment and found it wanting. I saw the blender FP combo at a store, didn't look at it too closely but I will now. Glad to hear that the 3 cup capacity is OK.

I cook very simply these days and only for myself, couldn't afford an FP back when I cooked more adventurously. I rather enjoy using a fine knife and wooden cutting board :-) and the only thing I dislike about the grater is cleaning cheese off of it.

Anyone else out there used the LPP?