a gem in the kitchen that works out magic (Magimix 4200XL)

Member Name: abcddcba

Product:	Magimix 4200XL
Date:	09/07/09 (283 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: loads

Disadvantages: not too many

Three months back I dropped one of my Kenwood kitchen chef bowls and it split just like that , while I was having a hard time finding a place to buy a replacement bowl , I kept coming across the name Magimix ..and its replacement bits . Instead of spending a £25 for the jar plus postage on top(the cheapest I could find) , I decided to give away my old old mixie/food-processor and invest a lot of dooyoo miles and some cash in a new Magimix 4200 one from Amazon . Here is what I have to say about it...


Whats in the package:
-------------------------



Well the package when it came, was rougly around 12.5kgs .... Not that heavy if you have strong arms. My 3 year old was wondering why the picture of the processor wasn't on the carton and we soon discovered that the actual company carton was within . This pack looked quite compact even before I had opened the box and inside was one of the most tenderly packed home appliance I am yet to come across..every bit of the pack had loads of thermocol packaging providing support to all the parts sitting snug within. This alone must have amounted to a 750gms .

On top was a glossy instruction manual with around a hundred pages worth of easy to prepare recipes. I was impressed at the richly coloured elaborate photographs and diagrams.

There was the base motor unit which is a bit heavy(all the better to sit firmly on your counter is my guess), sturdy and square . It has the power cable and three easy to use buttons namely on, off and pulse... nothing techy , scary or too modern . I would say it has the look of something classy and stylish while it still retains all the ease of use from the years gone by ... my nana would love this .


The three jars are in the sizes of- mini (1.2litre), midi (2.6 litre) and main (3.0 litre)
) .. for a family of two, four and a big one for batch cooking . The jars all fit one into the other for compactness while storing and don't take up too much counter space. The jars are all made of clear reinforced plastic and feel sturdy ...clumsy me..I have already had the opportunity to drop it and its survived the impact. The top of the feeder has a measuring cup that serves as a continuation of the lid too. In the XL model the feeder is really wide and facilitates the insertion of whole vegetables ..like whole large potatoes for making French chips, or whole apples for slicing.



There is a very handy blade-storing box , which clicks shut and would be very secure in a house having very young kids. This box has a clear lid and the base has slots that store the various blades and slicers . The normal simple/basic pack I bought has a dough-blade , a 2 mm slicer( I was impressed at what it did to a tomato , the perfection of the slices was a magic in itself ) and shredder in the same blade on reversible surfaces , a 4mm slicer and shredder -once again on reversible surfaces , a spatula , a 4 inch sabatier blade (it has edges whit corrugations making it exteremely sharp) and an 8 inch sabatier blade , whipping blade , egg blender and a big citrus press .


The jars and the blades were supposed to be washed with warm soapy water prior to the first use.


Placement :
-------------

The Food -processor is very compact , though it appears to look monstrous in the picture it is roughly about 7inchesX 7 X12inches and the blade box takes up a 5inch X 8inch space.

The processor should be placed near an electrical output and according to the manufacturers instruction should be at least 3 inches from the counters edge in case of moving about while in use . Small suction feet on the motor units base anchor the mixer to the work top.


What does it do :
------------------


If I say it has taken over my place in the kitchen , with the exception of stirring things in the pot ... it wouldn't be exaggerating , but jokes apart .. the equipment is really handy and efficient. My partner and myself both love to cook from scratch and this processor has made it that much easier and enjoyable experience for us.

When using the midi or mini bowl you will have to place them within the maxi bowl and fit in the appropriate blade and then turn them till they click into position.

The machine boasts of 28 functions, batch bake or cook for your deep freeze, this model gives you all the scope you need. The functions comprise of pastry (1.4kg), bread dough (1kg), brioche (850g), blending (1.3 litre), choping (meat) (1kg), mincing , grating (carrots) (1kg) and whipping Egg Whites (6).

My partner is Indian and she regularly uses the bakery standard dough blades( they are not hooks ..but rather curvy thick blades ) for making chapatti/ various flat-bread dough... it can be done in the maxi jar and can knead a max of 1kg flour at a go. It takes roughly about 3 minutes for the entire process. The difference in this function in comparision to my kitchen chef is that there is a dough blade instead of the dough hook you get in other food-processors... the dough blade scoops away the flour more efficiently while folding in which is fab... I always found some untouched flour along the sides when using my kitchen chef.

She has also ground various batches of soaked lentil and made ginger-garlic , onions to paste and dry whole spices and was chuffed with the outcome.

I have had the luck to come out with perfect sliced cucumber, tomatoes, carrot match-stick and , blended baby food , ice-slushies, smoothies , garted cheese ,minced/ground meat for pies and meat-balls...took 2 mins, fairy cakes and meringue ( I didn't know I could even make them with my kids) and even ground almonds for a cake.



Efficiency of Work:
--------------------


Pros:

====

Available quite widely in most electrical shops , mine was from amazon.

Replacement parts very reasonable and easily available which is a good news for clumsy experimenter .

It is a top class processor that does everything and a bit more than what its competitors do and at half the price... mine was £161 from amazon( usually costs around £150-215 when I had bought my kitchen chef it was £300 ish a 4 years back). Very professional in its work, I no longer convinced that Kenwood is a superior brand in anyway.

The motor has a guarantee of 12 years and all the parts a warranty of 3 years from the manufacturer.

The motor is a 950w induction motor and seems very powerful.


My little one is scared of loud sounds , but the low hum of this appliance took us all by surprise . It manages to grind cinnamons well while its humming... a happy gadget for a happy home, what else can I say.


Like I have said before , it is an old age processors with the added frills of being disguised in a modern look and speed.

It does not move about when switched on .

It comes in a range of colour like cream, white, silver, red and black to suit most kitchen background.

The three bowls come in excellent sizes for different sized families and is handy when entertaining people for a meal.

The bowls and lid are easy to clean. You just need to wipe clean the base and use bottle-brush for the blades.

The lid doesn't click shut unless the blade and jars are properly fitted thus preventing a splatter.

There is scope of upgrading or adding other additional blades from the same range ..like mincer , french fries blade, pasta sieve etc. If you choose the XL model you get an extra lagre (XL) feeding tube on the lid , which is great if you are keen on making home made chips(yum with steak) , or using whole fruits and veggies.

Excellent instructions-cum-recipe booklet supplied with the pack.

The sabatier blades in comparison to normal blades have fine ridges that make the blades extra sharp and retain their sharpness for a longer time.

It is better than the last model 3200 and the updated model 5200 and amazon shows a 5 star rating based on the nearly 300 pieces it has sold so far .

Buying this and writing this review is just going to get me some more dooyoo miles..yooohooo, what can be better .



Cons:
====


The blades are very sharp and you need to be careful while cleaning them , but it isn't really a big deal .

As you need to place the smaller two jars within the largest bowl while working with smaller quantities at times the maxi bowl gets dirty too .

Real baby amounts cannot be blended as the mini jar is 1.2 and then you need to add loads of liquid to compensate if not properly filled.

The mini and midi bowls are more like mixing bowls and have no handles , which can be a pain if you've blended/ grated slippery stuff.

You can't really grind wet/soaked stuff ..it simply gets chopped into very fine pieces instead of a paste.



Price and Availibility:
----------------------

Mine cost £161 from Amazon . You can get them from £150-£215 from most shops that sell kitchen appliances.

The point to note is that every colour comes with a different price tag, the silver one is priced at the most . I was happy to save £40 on a not so popular white, which suited my kitchen fine, the creams are even cheaper , so just browse through the options available.


As a note :
--------------


Its apparent that the pros outweigh the cons and who knows when and if you decide to buy one of these yourself , you would be able to add more to the above list and share it with us too. I love the name magimix... it does what it says, it whips up magic in my kitchen , even making a boring salad has become fun now.

Magimix4200 is an excellent must have kitchen appliance that is reasonably priced , efficient , classy , flexible and robust all at the same time and I would definitely recommend it to my family and friends and anyone who wants to learn about food processors before taking the plunge.

Summary: If it ever breaks down I am going to replace it with the same

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Cleaning/Maintenance:
Noise: