Finally, I've found a food processor I can get on board with - you won't believe its size

Kenwood MultiPro Go Food Processor is one of the newest additions to the brand's impressive range and it's going to take everyone's kitchens by a storm. I've already put it at the top of my wish list.

The words compact and food processor have historically had no business with each other. In fact, the best food processors seem to be some of the biggest, boasting more discs and blades than any other competitors, but that's not the case with this special food processor and I'm impressed.

The whole Kenwood Go range is designed to be compact without compromise. I fell instantly in love with their 30cm tall stand mixer and you’re about to hear a very similar story for their food processor too.

Specifications

Who would it suit?

One of the USPs of Kenwood’s Go range is how compact the appliances all are. As far as ‘compact’ or ‘mini’ food processors go, this is the best. It’s tall (ish) but slim, without that blocky base that is integrated into almost every food processor you’ll see. In fact, you can see that the handle isn't really even a handle, more of a small piece of plastic that sticks on the outside. It's fine to hold, as long as you have good grip, but for those reasons, I’d recommend it specifically to compact kitchens.

Of course, with a smaller model comes a reduction in capacity. This can chop a whole onion, grate a block of cheese, and slice a whole cucumber, which is plenty for a home of one, two, three, or four people. As you move towards family homes where you’re wanting to use your food processor to mix up the filling for a pie, for example, you might find the capacity starts to become limiting.

The simple on, off, pulse controls will also appeal to more simple chefs and bakers who just want a helping hand in the kitchen. There are food processors with more nuanced speed controls and lots more accessories, so make sure to keep that in mind.

Unboxing

Kenwood is one of the best brands for their packaging. They keep the boxes as compact as possible and all of the packaging is recyclable or recycled (even the plastic bags). You’ll be ready to go in a few minutes and your bins won’t be full either.

The MultiPro Go comes with a few useful accessories. Alongside the main, slim body, you get a chopping blade, a mayonnaise blade, and a slicing/grating disc. This covers all the basic functions that it’s reasonable to expect from a food processor, but you’ll also get a 360 chute attachment that neatly dispenses all your food into the bowl. It’s like having your own kitchen assistant, except with less mess and no back chat.

What is it like to use?

The simple controls need to explanation. The base twists onto the motor power unit, and then, once the lid is locked in place, you can flip the switch on top to either run constantly or to pulse. It really is that easy.

Test 1: main blade

The blade attachment is the one that you’ll probably use the most, so I gave this a good few rounds of testing.

The first thing that I check is how well it can hop an onion. I placed the quartered onion in the work bowl, rather than feeding it through the chute — space looked a bit tight — and set this running. Within 15 seconds, I had the results that you can see above. The onion is finely and evenly chopped. It sounds very simple, but I can’t overstate how impressive that is. I tested the Magimix and the ProCook Food Processors alongside this and neither achieved the same precision or consistency as the Kenwood.

I tried again with an onion working on the pulse, because I wanted to see whether I could get a rougher chop. It was more good news. This effortlessly whizzed up the onion into large, again, very consistently sized pieces. So far, so good.

My other test of the blade is how well it can make a dip like hummus. Lots of food processors struggle with consistency over small and big batches, so I’ve eaten more than my fair share of chunky hummus. However, as you might have guessed from the results in the onion test, this whipped up the smoothest hummus I could have hoped for. I had poured in one can of chickpeas, which is enough for a family-sized dip, but I think you could double or even triple the results with the same effects.

The sharp eyed among you may have spotted that single chickpea fragment that’s sitting on the side of the bowl. This fell down from the lid when I opened it, letting down the overall look of my perfect hummus. I actually did push it in and gave the dip another whizz around. In five seconds, it had disappeared. I ate all the hummus in one sitting (should I be proud) and enjoyed every last, silky smooth mouthful.

Test 2: grating

The second, but equally important, accessory that comes with the MultiPro Go is the grating and slicing disc. On one side, you get a standard-sized grater and on the other a slicing blade. I love having these in the kitchen because they’re fast, but they’re also just so easy to use. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve accidentally grated my finger when making a cheese sauce or a vegetable salad. With all the safety around this, you’ve got skin in the game in only a very metaphorical sense of the phrase.

The first side that I tested was the grater. I used a carrot first, to see how consistent the grater would be with a firm, quite tough vegetable. Before I could even start the timer, the blade had whizzed through my whole carrot. All the pieces were consistent and there wasn’t any pieces of carrot left on top of the grater, this is a surprisingly common, but big bugbear of mine.

Next, I tried the opposite textures of a carrot, cheese. I had a little snag in that I didn’t use the pusher on the cheese initially, so the grater almost spun the cheese into crumbs. Once I was applying pressure to the cheese, the pieces were really consistent. It’s worth keeping in mind and also an explanation for the inconsistencies you can see.

Test 3: slicing

On the other side of the grating disc, is the slicing function. As I did with carrot and cheese, I tested out how well this could slice both a cucumber and a sweet potato. Even though these have completely different textures, the Kenwood didn't bat an eyelid at slicing its way through the different textures.

All the pieces were even, cleanly sliced with a good depth. Depending on how hard you push, you can get slightly slimmer slices than I did.

The one thing to remember is that the feeding chute determines the size of the slices that you get. You can see that it's big enough for a cucumber to be sliced whole, but I did need to halve the sweet potato to be able to feed it through safely. I don't mind this and it's very rare that you don't have to do some prep for large potatoes and veggies, but there are some food processors that can handle different sizes.

Cleaning

Luckily for you, all of the parts are dishwasher safe, so you can stack everything away and let the appliances do your dirty work. My piece of advice would be to clean the blades by hand, whilst being very careful, because pieces of fibre are bound to get stuck on these. Then, if you put them in the dishwasher, they’ll almost dry on. I actually cleaned all of the Kenwood by hand, because it puts less wear and tear on the food processor (which means it’ll last longer for you). If you’re going to do this, having a small brush that you can use to get into all the nooks will be really useful.

How does it compare?

There are two very different food processors that are worth considering before you jump into the MultiPro Go. The first is for people who like the look of this because of its size. The Magic Bullet Kitchen Express is even smaller than the MultiPro Go and it’s still really speedy. You get all the same attachments and I think the performance is almost identical. The MultiPro Go is possibly ever so slightly better when it comes to finer chopping (and it’s more consistent there too) and when you’re grating, you’ll get a little nub left behind on top of the grating disc if you use the Magic Bullet (which you don’t have with the MultiPro Go). The Magic Bullet is smaller too, but that’s reflected in the price tag. All in all, it’s a better space-saver, but can’t cater for bigger families and you don’t quite get the quality either.

On the other hand, if you like the idea of Kenwood quality, but you were hoping for something a little more diverse and family-friendly, you’re in luck. Kenwood’s MultiPro One Touch Food Processor has you covered. It’s much bigger than the GO, but you get digital scales, a juicer, a blender, and (arguably) a lot of stand mixer functions too. It is space saving, in its own huge way.

The big capacity, as I said works well for families. I actually wouldn’t recommend it to solo dwellers because you won’t get the same good results when chopping half an onion in the big Kenwood compared to the smaller Kenwood (GO).

Should you buy it?

If you want a food processor that’s compact quick and efficient, this is perfect. I would put it down as a must-have for small kitchens, a good buy for new homeowners, and a handy assistant for busy chefs. However, if you think of yourself as quite a creative cook, it might be worth making space for something a little more substantial.

How we test

At woman&home, we have a rigorous process for how we test food processors. I take you through every aspect of each model that we test, from unboxing and sustainability right through to the clean up. By the end of my review, you should have a clear idea of what it’s like to own one of these, but if you don’t, you can email me with any questions that you still have.