Cuisinart does have a couple of stand mixers for which you can buy attachments that run from its power-take-off port. Cooks Illustrated thinks highly of the stand mixers. (Equal to or slightly better than the longstanding Kitchenaid champs, according to Cooks.) The smaller one (5 quart bowl, I think) starts at around $350. I do not remember what the larger one (7 quart bowl) goes for. The attachments, which have to be purchased or ordered separately, into a power take off at the top rear of the machine. If I recall, the blender attachment has something like 40 oz. capacity, so it sits pretty tall. I saw it once and it seemed to blend soup reasonably well. Do not know about its performance with other functions. The food processor attachment I saw was small, maybe 3 cups capacity. More of a chopper. There might be other attachments. A lot of on-line and brick-n-mortar retailers carry these so you should be able to find prices and reviews on-line. You also might have been thinking of the Ninja blenders which can be had as part of a "kitchen system" which is supposed to combine several devices using the same power base. There are several versions of this, I recall that Consumer Reports thought highly of one version and not so highly of the others. Ninja used to ba QVC/Shopping Channel item but it has made the leap into brick-and-mortar stores. I saw one on offer at Costco a couple of weeks ago. Not sure which version it was but Colstco was charging either $100 (coupon) or $120. I also recall some detailed discussions of Ninjas in eGullet and Chowhound threads that also discussed VitaMix and Blendtec. Try searching there. (Just tried a search on "ninja" here at THS and turned up nothing, which seems odd.) The only Ninja I've ever used myself was as a blender at a friend's house. It seemed to be an excellent blender and ice crusher. Do a search for reviews. If you are not budgeting hundreds of dollars, Vitamix and Blendtec are probably out of the question because the least expensive models start at $400. To be sure, both are splendid blenders, absolute workhorses and durable enough for commercial use. By all accounts, they do an excellent job of making hummus. Don't recall seeing anything about pimento cheese, so don't throw away that old food processor. Vitamix offers several types and sizes of blender jars. When the largest one (64 oz. capacity) is on the base, the unit is 20 inches tall. From that comes comments about measuring cabinet heights. My recollection of the Cusinart mixer's blender attachment was that it sat even higher when assembled. If counter-to-cabinet workspace is limited, the Cuisinart blender attachment is not going to fit, either.

I did a lot of reading about mixers this summer, spending waaaay too many hours on the 'net :) Frankly, IMHO, the bottom line is all brands do a good job with cakes, icing, cookie dough, & whipping & creaming. Read the reviews online, visit the forums & it's the same story: most people love their mixer brand; a few people who bought the brand got a lemon & will tell you different. It's when you start kneading multiple batches of stiff bread doughs that a few brands stand out. The Cuisinart has a timer & a fold feature that sounds nice. A caveat I read about is that the bowl is tall & narrow, so when you fill it to its professed capacity, the batter is over the top of the beater.

I have a 7 cup capacity. It makes bread with 4 cups of flour, 2 pie crusts, pesto with 2 cups basil and 4 oz parm 2/3 cup oil. It grates 2 cups of carrots at a time and 1/2 a small head of cabbage. Slices 2 or 3 cukes without dumping, and 3 good sized onions for soup. It's the size that suits me best. I have cooked at other people's houses who have a larger one, and a larger one won't mix a small amount as well......won't ealily process bread of only 4 cups of flour nor just 2 cups or pastry dough. ( I put cubes of frozen butter into the processor with the flour and salt...mix in bursts and add the liquid too...) Ideally, I would like 2!! A 14 cupper for big batches of slaw and a double recipe of pesto....but in reality, one is enough and the small one fits the way I cook better than the larger one....and the smaller bowl fits into my dishwasher more easily. I very VERY rarely use the FP for anything that could be considered "liquid"....for that I use the blender or the "boat motor". Linda C

It's a really useful gadget! Just this last week I made two batches of Date Nut Pinwheel Cookies, and used it for processing the dates into bits so it would cook down quickly. It was also used for pulverizing cookies into crumbs for truffles, and I made fresh bread crumbs, combined with cold butter which I put in the freezer to use at a later time. I'm making pizza later this week and always use it for my dough, along with the crust I use for pie or tarts. I also grate parmesan and other cheeses, make dressing and chop vegs like broccoli, where I don't really care what size it all turns out. It's wonderful for chopping nuts, although I usually also put those through a strainer to get rid of the nut dust. It's been used to turn sugar into fine granulated sugar, and I always grind oatmeal into coarse flour before adding it to cookies or pancakes. I think it's best for things you really want to shred, pulverize, emulsify or turn into dough. Now that I've had one, I'd never be without it and would replace it in a heartbeat.