Philips Robust Collection HR7781/00 Food Processor, 1200 Watt

We never make a hasty decision, so, with the advice of family and shop assistants, we bought a Magimix. DO NOT GO THERE! Within two washes, (that's handwash - not dishwasher), the large and small blades has rust spots. It went back and a replacement was sent to us. Guess what, exactly the same problem - rust spots on the blades; it also did not like hard cheese when we tried to grate. We contacted Magimix and they weren't interested, so return again for full refund. (Thank you Amazon). We saw the Philips HR7781/00 being demonstrated, (we were looking for kitchen lights!), and were impressed. Return home, look on Amazon, of course it was cheaper, ordered and arrived within two days.

WHAT A MACHINE!

It cannot be compared to anything else, it is in a class of it's own, nothing comes near it. Everything we've used it for, it copes easily and when we used it to make a crumble, (I know this sounds a bit naff), it was the best crumble we've had for years. It grates the hardest cheese with ease, (sorry about that!!!). We used it to make a sponge cake and every ingredient was well mixed, there was no residue around the bowl, like some machines leave.
The machine is a pleasure to use. We put the components in the dishwasher, no problem; Robust by name - Robust by design! All the blades are SHARP, well finished all round and the tools included are enough to be able to do everything you would expect of a good food processor. With the suction feet, it does not move, even when put under load conditions, for example the hardest cheese, it simply does the job.
Yes, it's a bit more expensive than others on the market, but worth every penny

Philips Robust Food Processor

Just the other day I was having a conversation with my mother about whether a food processor would be able to meet her culinary needs and allow her not to unpack her ancient Kenwood Chef (one of the early models). She generally uses it to mix up dough and cake mixtures, and although it's noisy and you have to hold it down with both hands to prevent it from making a leap for the back door to freedom, it's done a sterling job in her household since I was a child.

On reading the instructions of the Philips Robust Food processor, I was intrigued to find that it claimed to be able to mix up cake mixtures and kneed dough with it's dough-hook. Keen to put this to the test, we proceeded to make a nice chocolate cake for the Robust's inaugural use so that we could prove it's worth...

On unboxing it, it is clear that this is a well-made piece of kit. I wouldn't previously have thought of Philips when thinking of Food Processor brands, but this is really very impressive. The colouring and proportions lend itself to a very classy and sturdy device. It has suction cups on the base to help hold it in place - which is a nice touch, and everything fits together nicely. The dough hook and blade attachment have a nice "machined" quality about them that are reassuringly durable in feel.

I'm not sure what Philips are referring to when they describe the polystyrene packaging as the "storage box" for the various parts. The parts have gone in a drawer, and the polystyrene has gone in the bin.

Anyway, on to the use of the machine. Striking it up it was pleasantly not a racket-maker. The suction cups held it in place fine, and generally we nodded to eachother that things were looking good.

However, mixing up a cake was what we were trying to test it in doing, and it was here that the device fell down slightly. The manual states that you should use the double-balloon beater for soft pudding mixes, but if you are wanting to mix up any ingredients that are tougher, such as butter/flour/sugar/eggs cake ingredients, as well as dough, you must use the dough hook. The dough hook is not really cut out for mixing up a cake as we found, especially once you add liquid or crack a couple of eggs into the mix. The hook doesn't get to all the places in the bowl as you might expect, and despite trying to scrape things into it's path every now and then, we eventually aborted the operation and transferred to a good-ol' mixing bowl and wooden spoon. The resulting chocolate cake rose perfectly and tasted lovely, so it wasn't all bad.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is not necessarily the fault of the device, more-so it's just Philips trying to pitch the Robust Food Processor outside it's remit. Dough-making may prove more successful when I get round to trying some bread, but cake mixing in this thing is going to be left off the agenda from here on.

I have since use the main cutting blade, and one of the slicing discs, and this is where the Robust is far more at home, dealing with whatever I threw down it's chute with great aplomb. It really is very good to use and I can't fault it on that front.

Cleaning is the usual convoluted affair with this sort of equipment, with the bowl, lid, pusher and all the other attachments that you use, but if you're in need of a processor you'll be willing to make that sacrifice anyway.

As I said, I wouldn't normally of considered Philips in my list of preferred Food Processor manufacturers, but this Robust has been a bit of a surprise. I can wholeheartedly say that it can keep company with the best of the food processors in this sort of ilk. I would have liked better storage, and I wouldn't have wasted time implying it will mix up ingredients for a cake, but other than that, there is little to fault in this classy unit.

Philips has produced an impressively sturdy food processor. It is big.

The ergonomics are almost spot on, the tools selection is reasonably comprehensive, and the performance when handling food is generally excellent and surprisingly quiet. The warranty is exceptional, fifteen years for the motor, five years for the tools. It has a nice solid feel, and I don't expect to be calling on the warranty.

The base has a cast metal outer casing to house the motor. Semi-circular rubber pads front and back take the weight, and a couple of suckers hold it down to help prevent it walking away. I've not taken it apart to see better if the casing is the main chassis, but it has that reassuringly cold, rigid and solid feel to it. It has two speeds and pulse. The pulse can be used when in the slow speed or from standstill. When using the steady speeds the acceleration is gentle, giving one enough time to react and turn it off if the food is wrong for the chosen tool or speed. However, I would have liked to see a variable speed, like on my electric drill; it should be possible, especially when considering the duty cycle on the processor is much less arduous than that for the drill.

Although the most powerful, it is the quietest of our three food processors by a good margin, you only realise how quiet when comparing the noise made by the blades on the different types of food - nuts - carrots - chipping etc. They all have different loudnesses; whereas with some processors the harsh motor and grinding gears dominate everything, swamping the sweeter chopping noises.

The mixer bowl has a 3 litre capacity and feels reassuringly more substantial than those on my other two processors, an elderly Morphy Richards Compact Food Processor 48430 White, still the most ergonomic but slowly falling to pieces, and the deafening Jamie Oliver Food Processor. The bowl locks in securely by pulling the handle towards oneself, at between the 4 and 5 o'clock position relative to the controls on the front at 6 o'clock. The filler spout in the lid sits above the handle, locking in the same direction. And so, after some experimentation, I've set it on the worktop with the handle and spout just to the right of the centre line and the control buttons just to the left, as the most ergonomic compromise.

The selection of tools is useful and varied, and includes a dough kneading hook and a novel (to me) two-rotor whisking balloon beater. All seem to work as expected, and we've been experimenting with them for the last few days. The chipper disc produces small Julienne chips very quickly, a potato just vanishes! The graters are fine and coarse, two sides of the same disc, and the coarse and fine slicer/shaver use the same trick.

We have not had any problems with clogging yet, but then we've only been using our normal foods, apples, carrots, potatoes, eggs, flour, butter, yoghurt, cream, etc. No bread yet, but the first pizza had nice dough. In three days we've also made chips, scones, cup-cakes, shortbread biscuits, breadcrumbs, apple charlotte, apple strudel, etc, and all have turned out as expected.

I could not help but laugh out loud when reading the instructions where Philips suggest that the massive 39cm x 42cm x 47cm polystyrene block it came in should be used to store the processor and its accessories. Surely they are taking the Michael? Just how big do they think my kitchen is? Also, the protective cover offered for the chopping blade is a flimsy joke, especially when compared with the excellent and durable hard cover offered by MR, or the storage drawer in the space-efficient JO. Satisfactory tools storage could have been a problem, but I already have some wooden dowels stuck in the side wall of the kitchen, and all the sharp items fit over these nicely, conveniently just to the right of the machine itself.

My daughter ran a small restaurant in France for a couple of years, and she reckons that this machine would have coped well in that semi-professional environment, although maybe the disc tools might have needed replacement through the usual wear and tear. For normal domestic use this processor and its tools should see me out quite happily, barring vandalism or clumsy storage.

Conclusion? Recommended. Serious cooks will love it. Just be aware it takes up quite a lot of space, and might not be welcome in a bijou kitchen.

Addendum 29/11/09.
Best stuffing in ages; slice in an onion, some mushrooms, then chop them with well-toasted granary bread crusts, garlic, rosemary and parsley and a little cold butter, and a tiny hint of five-spice, for rolling inside a belly pork roast.
However I later failed with sort-of-Julienne carrots, it needed a slotted ram assembly to stop them wandering away. So I have since made one from some scraps of wood, and it sort of works, with resulting carrot bits 5mm square up to 20mm long and almost no left-overs.

Addendum 29/01/10
We fire this up four or five times a week. Reliable, easy, so quick. Cakes, cupcakes and soups are fantastic, and we've just fiddled through four batches of marmalade. The temptation is to do too much, because at 3 litres it is a large machine. So I now use a hand blender/chopper/whisk for some smaller items when I used to be able to use the MR (given away and still, somehow, working).

Addendum 31/10/2010
It still works very well with no signs of wear and tear. BUT, there is one big niggle, the lid is not a tight fit on the bowl.
This means that even if the lid is held down to the bowl, it leaks when blending something with more liquid in it, such as a soup. The quantity in the bowl is not significant; even when just a quarter full it is still spun up the sides and oozes out all round from under the lid. We have found that a very thin long rubber-band used like an o-ring makes a big improvement in reducing the leaks, but, alas, the bands only have a short life before they perish and break, and the grip of the rubber makes it awkward sliding the lid into lock.