Breville Sous Chef® Food Processor, 16-cup

High Hopes Destroyed by Significant Design Flaws

I really wanted to like this. Breville is usually great at thoughtfully designed small appliances. I am seriously considering returning the Sous Chef 16. On the positive, the bowl is easy to attach to the base, the bowl has a generous spout and is water-tight without the blade, meaning one does not need to awkwardly hold the blade in place while pouring. The timer control allows for both a timed shut-off and quantifies pules times, which is convenient. The base seems designed to last and the motor has a 30 year warranty. Onto the negatives: The attachments are finicky to assemble and are no longer color coordinated as displayed in the user manual. There are two spindles used to attach blades and discs. Again it is not always immediately obvious which one to use when. the blade for the mini bowl twist locks into the spindle and is difficult to remove without getting fingers on the sharp blades. The mini bowl is a bit smaller than I'd like it to be. The feeding chute is clunky, difficult to control, rattles. It also gets a little jumpy with large pieces of food. Shredding cheese was quite awkward. Cleaning is a nightmare. The user manual recommends not using dishwasher. Good luck getting anything oily off. I am also not a huge fan of the attachment organizer. It is large and does not have drain and vent holes and the bowls, lid, and attachments are difficult to dry. Overall it gets the job done and seems built for longevity. Several major flaws

Love this unit!

Breville’s quality is fantastic, and this unit is great as usual!

My pride and joy!

I use my processor everyday. It has out performed every kitchenaid I have bought. Tough machine. As long as you treat it right in not dropping parts. You OK. I bought one for my daughter, she has really taken to the kitchen. Great blades.controls are pretty straight forward. Love the dining attachment for pick de gallo. It has the biggest capacity that I know of only shy to the 20 cup cuisart which is no longer made. I Love ❤️ this thang.

If you have the money to keep buying replacement bowls and lids then this is your machine

About every two years, I must buy a new large bowl and lid (typically at separate times). The bowl tends to crack where the gear and spindle connect; the lid tends to melt where the spindle meets the center stabilizer. I cook for a total of three people but use the machine about every other day to predominately slice and shred salads or make mayo or dressing in the small bowl (note that the liquid from the small bowl will splash into the big bowl and you will have two bowls and a lid to clean.). Occasionally, I'll make peanut butter or pizza dough, but I never let the machine run for over 3 minutes; peanut butter only takes 2.5 minutes and is hands-off if you put in 4 cups of nuts in the bowl, and pizza dough takes about 45 to 60 seconds for two balls.

Not for the price

It’s okay, but so far has struggled to do what I need it too… so not very impressed for the price.

Motor burns out ! Don’t buy!

After burning out two units making buttercream frosting …..YES BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. Breville tested my recipe and stated that in fact the motor on this very expensive food processor can’t handle it ! So imagine bread dough ! It was brand new when the motor started to smoke and burn . They sent a new unit and it Halle ed again. That time they made me send it in for repair and sent it back scratched and a mess ! I use to live Breville products , but they lost this customer forever!

Good machine

Works as expected. Quality is good. I like that it has a smaller inner container for smaller jobs. Better check that you have lots of storage room for the accessories container. I also like the adjustable slicing blade.

Makes terrible noise

Makes a very loud rattling noise. I bought it for its presumable quiet running feature. Very disappointed

POOE SERVICE

Huge problems order did NOT come in time NO communication

Proven combo of valuable features and functions!

I bought this food processing system with many accessories a few years ago, but we misplaced all of it during a remodel. It was so good that I had to buy another.