Magimix CS 4200 XL /18404 Cream

When our 20-year-old Braun finally gave up shortly before Christmas, it was time to buy a new food processor. I mainly used the Braun for making pastry, as I'm hopeless at it by hand.

I'd've been perfectly happy with another Braun Multipractik, but they don't make them anymore, so I had to look into the market. Broadly, food processors of this type are either cheap-ish £30-£50 Moulinex et al, or you have the Magimixes coming in at £100+. That's quite a leap, so you want to feel that you are getting value for money.

The Magimix comes with a 12-year guarantee on the motor and 3 years on the parts, so you expect it to be quality. The main thing that sold us on this one, however, were the claims about being dishwasher-safe. This is important, as those blades are very sharp, and I still have a scar on my hand to prove it.

The Magimix 4200 is actually 3 bowls stacked inside each other. You use the main blade or dough blade in the big bowl, use the medium-sized bowl for slicing or shredding and the mini bowl for mini-chopping. You can't use the shredder in the main bowl, for example.

The Magimix says it has dishwasher safe parts, but once you get the box open and read the instructions, basically, you can put it through a very low temperature wash with mild detergent, then remove the parts before the drying cycle. Given the number of ifs and buts, and the hefty price tag, you are unlikely to risk it and end up washing by hand. If you are buying solely for this reason, go for cheaper Moulinex.

The main bowl blade is good, as is the dough blade once you get used to is. The slicer is also effective, but the midi-bowl does tend to spin round inside the machine while working. The lid of my Magimix has already got grooves in it from the Midi and Mini bowls, inspite of being apparently toughened plastic. This is due to the design - the inner bowls just sit on a spindle and are not firmly anchored.

Overall, it's okay, but not at all easy to clean. You cannot just swap the tools into the smaller or larger bowls, so be careful to get the correct size for your cooking. The Magimix doesn't cope with small amounts that well (1 egg, for example), so go for the smallest model you can manage with.

Would I get another? Well, I have gone from what was an expensive and good quality product of 20 years ago to the latest equivalent. You can pay a lot more than this for a food processor, although I honestly wouldn't bother. Perhaps if I had compared it direclty with a cheap model, I'd better see where the extra cost goes. I do a lot of cooking and leave it out on the worktop. Even then, once I've cleaned it, I often may as well have chopped things by hand. If you don't do a lot of cooking, get a cheaper food processor, or a decent handblender and set of kitchen knives.