I had KA previously that did a great job for a number of years. I now have a Cuisinart that does an OK job, but there are things I don't like about how it goes together* and that small pieces have broken. (Now I have to use a handle from an old spatula to reach down and engage the button to run it, because I don't want to pay $40 for a new pusher assembly.)

Both were/are 11-cup, so not exactly what you're looking at. When it came time that I needed to replace the KA, the equivalent KA was so much more ($50 or $100, if I remember right) than I could get the Cuisinart at Costco, that I went for Cuisinart. I'd probably do it again, just because I can't afford that difference, but all things equal, I liked my KA much better.

*To explain more...The Cuisinart requires so many things be in place for it to run, so you can't add anything larger than about 1 1/4" pieces while it's running. The part that pushes large things down is locked in, so you have to stop and take things apart to put in larger pieces. Not as big a deal for pureeing, but does make a difference for those other tasks you haven't tried yet.

Have you also perhaps considered a stick blender for pureeing baby foods? You could steam the fruits/veggies, then puree right in the pot or bowl. I like that better than moving things and having the FP to clean. But I do encourage you to try the FP for chopping, shredding, and slicing, as it can be a great help for larger projects. Maybe more important later, when the kids are older.

We have the KA 12 cup model. When we looked 5 years ago, there was very little performance difference between the KA and Cuisinart. Most reviews on both were positive. There were some complaints about the safety mechanisms on the ultra wide mouth Cuisinart and KA being difficult to get engaged or breaking. Since I mostly use it for pureeing, chopping and biscuit or pie dough, a very wide mouth wasn't important to us. KA has a model with a smaller feed tube that doesn't require an elaborate and potentially fragile feed tube lock mechanism so we got that.

If you have a good blender, that also does a good job on baby food. We have used either the KA food processor or the blender for that and either works fine. What the food processor handles and the blender doesn't is chopping drier mixtures (cilantro chutney, garbanzo beans for falafel, etc.) and making biscuit or pie dough. The blender is best for pureeing very wet stuff like soup because the amount of liquid that the food processors will handle is much less than their cup capacity - put too much in and it leaks around the blade stem. Baby food is usually in between and works well in either.

Rhome, a stick blender might be fine for the later stages of baby food, but for a baby just starting on solids, it tends to leave too many lumps. And in the later stages we tended to just fork mash or cut in small dice for self feeding.

Rhome, I've never used a stick blender. I imagine it would work for softer foods like roasted squash or steamed pears, but I'm not sure it could mulch a large bowl of steamed broccoli. I may need to get one to try.

Cloud Swift, I might not really need 13-14 cup capacity. 10-12 cups is probably sufficient, I just need something bigger than I have now. My blender is not that powerful -- I think I killed it with the ice in frozen drinks. Maybe I just need to get a more powerful blender like the Vitamix to use for both drinks and baby food, etc.

I cannot vouch for the Baby Bullet, because my baby one and only baby is 14. He uses a Magic Bullet to make smoothies all the time. I don't think blending strawberries and bananas with instant carnation mix is as complicated as making baby food. It's worth a look. I see it all the time whenever i go to Bed Bath and Beyond.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baby Bullet

If you're a Costco member, the Cuisinart 12 cup elite is $120 now with a coupon (coupon is $30 off). Not sure how long the coupon is valid for - I got mine about 10 days ago and the coupon had just started.

Oh bummer! According to the costco website, the coupon ended yesterday.

I got the 16 cup elite food processor by Cuisinart about 3 months ago. It replaced my 2 year old 11 cup Cuisinart (which I gave to my mom). I love the feature where you can now nest bowls so that you aren't always washing the largest bowl for the smallest about of mess. I really like this FP, but Rhome has a good point about the stick blender. I got the Kitchen Aid immersion blender that has three attachments. I'm thinking that it would be great for baby food because you can attach the immersion blender, or use the mini food processor, or use the wisk, or the small bowl. I guess it depends if you make big batches or small batches, but I love both of my gadgets Cuisinart elite or KA immersion with attachments. HTH :)

Bummer about the Costco coupon.

When we make baby food, we do it in large batches on a Saturday or Sunday and freeze several days (or weeks) worth of food in ice cube trays. We store the different flavors in large ziploc bags, and put a selection of cubes in the fridge every night to defrost for the next day.

Kay- Williams-Sonoma usually has great deals on these sorts of kitchen appliances in the days leading up to Christmas. You may also be able to get free shipping. No tax from cooking.com always helps if you cant find a deal.

I have a 7 year old KA with the 11 cup capacity, a separate work bowl and small 3 cup bowl. I use it almost daily and I love it. I chop meat, grind nuts, puree veggies, make pastry dough, grate cheese and slice veggies galore.

I find it indispensable, and can't recommend it enough. I have a blender, too, but find the KA does a much better job of pureeing veggies with less liquid.

We made large batches and froze in ice cube trays too. An ice cube is usually a pretty convenient amount.

My son is vegetarian so we were making vegetarian baby food for the grandchildren. A food processor might handle meat better than the blender - I don't have any recent experience there. When our kids were babies, I used a small hand cranked baby food grinder.I wasn't trying to discourage use of the food processor - we have both and used the food processor. I don't remember why since I'm sure either would work.

It can be a pretty brief period that they need ground baby food. Our grandkids started on solids around 6 months and by 9 months were more interested in practicing pincer grasp and feeding themselves diced soft foods. Given wanting to introduce them to a variety of foods, I don't think we used more than one 12 cup food processor load of an item. IIRC, an ice cube is about 1 ounce so 4 ice cube trays is less than 8 cups.

The KA has two work bowls - a 4 cup small bowl that you put in the main bowl to use. The small bowl is useful because the food processors don't do a good job when the bowl is close to empty. So not only do you have a smaller thing to clean, it also does a better job when you just need a small amount. The 14 cup Cuisinarts usually have 3 bowls, so both offer a small bowl.

I love our wide mouth KA food processor. It is so much better than any I have had before. It was the largest I could find, but I forget how many cups that is. I believe I got it on amazon or ebay....
I had previously had smaller, less powerful models. This one has replaced the KA mixer which hangs out in the bsmt and has not been touched in over a year. I like the look of the mixer better, but the function of the fp wins by a landslide.
I have not used a Cuisinart for years, so can't tell you exact differences, only to say that the KA one is well made, functions for so many things well and slices, shreds, purees and makes dough here. I use it for cooking all the time in addition to baking.

I have the 12 cup KA FP. I have had it for about 1 year now. I don't use it daily but I have found everything I have used it for has been done perfectly. I sliced onions finely for onion soup and it completely sliced the entire onion. My sister has a different brand and always has pieces left spinning around above the slicing blade. My FP is the widemouth model. I am really enjoying it. The newest model of KA is 13 cups I believe and has a really nice feature - being able to adjust the thickness of the slices on the front of the machine - a bar that slides (at least that is what it looks like on the commercial). I bought my FP from the Shopping Channel in Canada. They have specials on it quite frequently and also offer rebates on KA appliances.

Rhome, a stick blender might be fine for the later stages of baby food, but for a baby just starting on solids, it tends to leave too many lumps.

I'm no rookie with making baby food. ;-) I made my share for 8 kiddos, and only had a stick blender to do it for the first 5. Adequate cooking, adequate liquid, and straining, if necessary. I do big pots of beans, and pureed soups with it now, too. I just don't like the dumping back and forth of big batches of hot food.

I agree that a good blender would likely guarantee the smoothest results, because I don't find a food processor to be always as thorough and consistent...A few lumps can whirr around for quite a while after I'm sure it's all taken care of.