The cutter itself comes in four main sections. The main body of the machine is a compact motor-unit that includes built-in cable storage (nice and tidy) and is small enough to easily stow away when you're finished. Next there is a feeder unit into which you slot one of the three blades included for different cutting tasks. Food is pushed into position for cutting with a closely fitting prodder much like you would find on a traditional food-processor. Chopped, sliced or grated food then spills directly out of the front of the machine onto a waiting plate or into a bowl (not included). A spatula is provided to assist in the removal of excess food from the blade once you have finished chopping.

The whole unit is exceptionally well-designed and there are no unhygienic food-traps. With the exception of the main motor unit (which never comes into direct contact with the food you are chopping) everything can be popped straight onto the top shelf of the dishwasher for cleaning and won't take up excessive amounts of space.

The machine does have a couple of drawbacks, including the fact that some softer ingredients (eg: apples or pears) can become slightly mushy as they are chopped (firming them for a short while in the freezer is one solution to this problem). Also, the position of the on/off switch at the rear of the unit can be awkward to use.

Overall, however, the Kenwood Gourmet FC100 is a great tool for cutting preparation time for a whole range of foodstuffs and beats bigger multi-function machines hands down when it comes to convenience, size and the amount of washing-up it generates. --Adi Himpson

The food doesn't seem to want to come out and has to be scraped out with the spatula while its running - so far I've resisted the urge to tilt it over to see if it works better.

I don't know what the folks who liked this were doing with it but I'd really like to know becuase unless all you want to do is grate carrot and cheese (which I haven't tried yet) it's hopeless. And be prepared for the noise!


"Grate" Gadget   May 13, 2004
 11 out of 14 found this review helpful

This is a great gadget. The grating tool is excellent and provided perfect grated cheese and carrotts in no time. The slicing attachments are also useful - better if you're preparing larger quantities. There doesn't seem to be much difference though between the "thick" and "thin" results. However, overall, a great time saver in the kitchen. One other thing, the picture on the website led me to believe that the Kenwood Gourmet FC100 Electric Food Cutter was smaller than it actually is.


Another useless gadget   May 11, 2004
 41 out of 43 found this review helpful

I bought this after I saw Rick Stein on TV cut his finger on a Mandoline.
Having already been fooled into thinking a food processor could replace several kitchen appliances I should have known better.
My vision of instant julienned carrots was quickly dispelled - there is no such cutter and the motor rapidly grinds to a halt on the smallest so although you can fairly easily cut carrots into "school slices" you cannot even make "school salad".
Oh, and the icing on the cake - the feed chute is so small you might as well save your money and finish the job using the knife you used to cut the vegetables to make them small enough.


Food prep made easy!   April 19, 2004
 14 out of 19 found this review helpful

A great item for the kitchen the Kenwood cutter is a great time saver for cutting and shredding vegetables and fruit. I chopped one carrot in 3 seconds! Also it can be put in the dishwasher so there's no mess.