I took Mary Berry's food processor for a spin and, bakers, you knead this in your kitchens

The question “is Magimix worth the price?”, is easily answered by demonstration rather than explanation. If you look in the kitchens of any TV chef or baker, from Mary Berry through to Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, you'll find the Magimix 5200XL Food Processor. It's obviously the professionals' choice, but is it worth us getting in on the action too?

You’ll have no doubt seen the Magimix 5200Xl Food Processor topping lists of the best food processors for years and wondered what enduring qualities have kept it so high in everyone's esteem. The design has remained the same for years, so what's the secret? And why can they charge so much money for it?

I wanted a piece of the pie, so I called in the Magimix 5200XL Food Processor to my kitchen. I donned my Mary Berry apron and worked through all the special features boasted by the Magimix. From three stackable work bowls to an extensive range of accessories, this offers more than any domestic kitchen could dream of asking for. Is it worth £370 though? 

Specifications

Who would it suit?

The Magimix 5200XL Food Processor covers a lot of bases for a lot of kitchens. You'll see from the list of attachments that this can grate exactly the size of cheese that you want, but it can also make doughs, jams, sauces, and soups. It's perfect for chefs who like to get creative in the kitchen, but don't let that deter you if you're not about to open your own restaurant, this has a lot to offer the basic kitchen too.

One of my favourite features of the 5200XL is the different bowl sizes. The smallest bowl (1.2L) can whip up small dips and dressings, whilst the 1.8L large bowl managed to breadcrumb a whole frozen loaf in seconds. That's the kind of capacity that a family kitchen needs and it's one that you'll not find in many other food processors. It's a little explanation as to why this has XL in the name.

Of course, this is expensive, but if you're setting up a kitchen for the first time, consider this. Most food processors last five years at most. In fact, the cheaper ones might barely outlive their 12-month warranty. Magimix offers 30 years of motor warranty, so this is an investment worth making, if you know you'll use this a lot. I understand that big spending isn't what everyone's after, which is why I've offered up some other options below, but it's important to know before you fall in love with the Magimix 5200XL.

Unboxing

Of all the food processors that I’ve tested, the Magimix came in the biggest box. It’s relatively heavy (a hint for what the base feels like) and there are a lot of accessories to pack in. Alongside the main work bowl and base, you’ll get another two sizes of work bowl, a recipe booklet, and a case containing a whole range of extra accessories: three BPA-free bowls, two stainless steel Sabatier blades, two grating discs (2mm and 4mm), two slicing discs (2mm and 4mm), a BlenderMix ring for smooth blending, a dough kneading blade, an egg whisk, a citrus press, a spatula, a storage box for blades and discs, and a recipe book.

That sounds like a lot, but it's actually relatively undaunting. The base and work bowls click into place very simply and all of the accessories come in the case, so you only really have to juggle three key parts of the food processor.

The only downside of this impressive gift of a food processor is the amount of non-recyclable packaging that comes with it. There's a lot of polystyrene, which is successful in keeping this look smart, but it'll fill up your bins and then fester in landfills. I'm hoping that they'll follow suit and switch over to more recyclable packaging soon.

What is it like to use?

There's a really beautiful contrast in the Magimix Food Processor. The base has three, very simple control buttons, all the parts are very straightforward to click and slot into place and yet it's capable of some impressive complexity. For example, those eight blades offer eight different ways to grate and slice. That's almost unheard of for a food processor and yet, the Magimix makes it seem so simple and natural. 

There's plenty more of this (which you'll see in the review), but that's one of the ways in which I think the price can be justified if you need someone aside from Mary Berry and Nigella Lawson to do that for you.

Test 1: main blade

The main blade is one of the most important functions of the Magimix, so I made sure to test it rigorously. The first, simple task that it gets is chopping an onion. I started with just one onion, but this quickly whizzed it into neat, even chunks. So, I threw in another onion to see how this would cope with a bit more scale. The Magimix didn't shudder at whizzing up another into a perfectly sliced onion. It's a great start.

Next, I used the blade to make breadcrumbs, emptying a full loaf of stale bread from my freezer into the bowl. This task sounds ambitious and, as I stuffed the last solid slice into the work bowl, I could already see myself explaining how I was perhaps a little too tough on the Magimix. However, by some miracle (although I think the Magimix team would say it's by intelligent design), this made a whole bowlful of breadcrumbs in 27 seconds. That's ridiculously impressive and a big help for my freezer space and me.

You won't be surprised to know that when I set the blades for their final tasks, making hummus and smoothie bowls, they sped through them. For both of these tasks, I tested out using smaller bowls to see whether the three-bowl concept was genuinely good or a bit of a gimmick. As you might expect, it's really great. 

Downsizing for these wetter, dip tasks kept all the ingredients close together, so big pieces and chunks weren't flung to unreachable crevices and edges. My hummus (made in a small bowl) was velvety smooth and whizzed up into a delicious dip. The smoothie bowls (made in a medium-sized bowl) were just as good. There wasn't a seed, skin, or piece of fibre in sight.

Test 2: grating and slicing

With all the different blades on offer, I could have dedicated a whole review to working through all of these. I might have thoroughly enjoyed grating everything from nutmeg through to parsnips (maybe I have a recipe on my hands here), but I'm not sure you'd stick around for the nitty gritty details. Instead, here's how the Magimix 5200XL Food Processor handled the tasks that I set for every food processor I review.

I like to grate two different foods with opposing textures, so I picked up a carrot and a block of cheddar cheese. The carrot is tough and dense to grate up, whilst cheddar can be too soft and crumbly to get any impressive results. However, the Magimix, as you may have guessed, did a beautiful job of grating both of these. I actually marvelled (don't judge me, this is my job) at just how consistent each grating of cheese and carrots was. It looked almost fake they were so good. The best part is that there weren't any stray bits of carrot or cheese sitting on top of the blades, which is a really common problem for lots of food processors.

The slicing task was just as impressive. I managed to consistently slice a whole cucumber into pennies in 11 seconds. It was actually less than that, but in my first attempt, the Magimix was so fast that I couldn't get the timer running before it finished. So I had to start the timer, pick up the cucumber, and then feed it in. With or without my little foreplay, 11 seconds is seriously impressive.

When I tried a tougher texture, the sweet potato, the results were just as good. Each clean slice was an identical thickness to the other. The sharp slicing was so satisfying that I think it could be classed as ASMR. I should have had our videographer there for you, because it was a speedy, but stunning sight.

Test 3: bread blade

Bread blades aren't a given with food processors, but they're really handy to have if you don't have a stand mixer. I used the biggest bowl for making my bread dough, because I wanted to give the Magimix a proper challenge. I filled it with 1kg of white flour and added my normal 600ml of warm water, with a little olive oil too. Within seven minutes, the Magimix had spun my bread dough into a gorgeously springy, elastic dough. It baked and rose well, so I have nothing left to conclude except that this was a roaring success.

My only note would be that I think the blade works much better with wetter, high-hydration doughs than with tough or dry options. It has the power to handle your rye, bagel dough, and pretzel doughs, but if you're making these, a stand mixer might be more your bag anyway.

Test 4: other functions

The one final test that I simply had to do before writing this up was making a cake. The all-in-one cake method is often whizzed up in a food processor and the Magimix is famous for doing it well. You can see that I have whipped up a raspberry cake in the Magimix here. The 5200XL was speedy and quiet, mixing up a light, fluffy batter. My cake tasted just as good as it would have if I had used a stand mixer, which is saying something.

Had we but world enough and time, I'd talk you through all of the accessories, but rest assured, each is as good as the other. The cookbook that Magimix offers is a great way to explore some of the more unusual uses for your food processor, including making crab cakes, tomato chilli jam, soups, cocktails, and much more.

Cleaning

You'll be pleased to know that the dishwasher can do all your dirty work here. All the accessories and bowls are safe to stack away and your kitchen appliances should return them to you in a brand-new, sparkling clean state. My only word of warning is that food can get everywhere in a food processor, which can make it tricky for the pre-programmed movements of the dishwasher to respond to. For example, I often wash blades and grating discs by hand (but with a big dose of caution too). This stops any pieces of fibre from the vegetables from being blasted and then dried onto the stainless steel blades. Similarly, I'd recommend using a brush to give all the nooks of the lid a quick clean. Lots of food can get stuck here too.

How does it compare?

Of all the food processors that I've tested, the Magimix wins the award for the best design. The sheer versatility of the attachments and different bowl sizes are a testament to how much thought has gone into what the every day kitchen needs. Of course, the four different blades aren't quite what the average person will use, but that just means that you'll have scope for some creative cheffiness if that's your bag.

If you're happy with the cheffiness, but you've got a baker's dozen of thoughts about alternatives, I'm with you. There are food processors that do a better job of amalgamating all the whisking and kneading into a food processor, namely the ProCook Food Processor. Whilst this doesn't have three different-sized bowls (a genius Magimix feature), it has better whisking and beating attachments for when you want to whip cream or make some cake. I imagine some homes would turn to a stand mixer for this, but if you're trying to keep things compact, this is where you'll want to be.

Alternatively, if you love the idea of versatility in your kitchen, but you want even more, the Kenwood MultiPro One Touch Food Processor is amazing. It's a food processor (with all the baking and cooking attachments, including a juicer), but it's also a set of digital scales, a full-sized jug blender, and a single-serve blender. That's one of the most hard-working appliances you can buy and, whilst you might be sacrificing a few of the Magimix's attachments, you get a lot of extras offered up. It's actually even cheaper than the Magimix too; the Kenwood retails around £200.

Should you buy it?

If you want a robust, versatile food processor that will live out its full 30-year warranty (I've seen them last longer than this too), the Magimix 5200XL Food Processor is the best investment that you can make. It might seem more expensive than other models on the market, but you're paying for a quality and versatility that's yet to be rivalled. It's no surprise that fistfuls of celebrity chefs and bakers use this in their kitchens.

How we test

At woman&home, I am meticulous in my food processor tests. Each model goes through a standard series of tasks, from chopping onion and making hummus to grating carrot, slicing sweet potato, and making bread dough. I aim to give you a thorough and holistic idea of what the food processor is like to use, so that you know exactly what you're investing in.

I'll also talk you through all the extra information that you should know. From unboxing through to the clean-up and how the food processor compares with other models on the market. By the end of the review, you should have a good idea of whether the food processor is good value, any alternatives, and if it suits you. If you still have questions, don't hesitate me to email me. I'm always happy to chat about foodie bits and pieces, especially the Magimix 5200XL.

If you want to find out more, you can read all the details on our page for how we test food processors.