A few weeks ago we had a look at the disappointing Black & Decker CG100. Even though that particular model was made 10 years ago, it still left a bit of a sour taste in our mouth when it comes to the Black & Decker brand. Today we are going to be looking at a somewhat more promising Black & Decker food processor called the FP1600B, which will hopefully change our opinion of this brand. Lets take a look at it in more detail below.
Product Features:
With a retail price of under $50, the FP1600B is quite an economical choice. This model has an 8 cup capacity, so it should be more than sufficient for your everyday cheese grating tasks. The unit is powered by a 450watt motor, which is a little less powerful than we are used to seeing. Still for tasks like grating cheese it should be more than sufficient. This model is a nice compact size so it doesn’t take up too much space on your counter top. The base of this cheese grater machine can be secured in place using the suction cups. These provide a strong anchor for the unit, and help to keep it immobile when in or out of use.Aside from that the design of the unit is nice enough. The lower base and food pusher come in a stylish black, while the upper part of the base comes in a silvery black color. The machine is operated by the two buttons on the front, which are the pulse/off button and the on button.
Assembling the unit is fairly easy, and all the parts slide and lock into place. This can be a little tricky to do at first, as the user guide included with the product is not very helpful. However once you get the hang of it you won’t have a problem. It is important to note that the machine will not switch on until the lid is locked into place, which is a great safety feature. There are two blades included with this model, the stainless steel shredding/slicing disc and the stainless steel chopping blade. The shredding disc is what we are interested in, and it is a medium sized grating disc. It doesn’t seem like you can buy any other sized discs, so if you want finely or largely grated cheese then you will have to look at another model.
So how well does it actually perform? The good news is that the performance is quite good when it comes to grating cheese. The 450watt motor does a great job of slicing through the cheese in fast time. You need to put a little pressure on the cheese with the food pusher to help it along a little, and you are always left with a little bit of cheese afterwards as the food pusher doesn’t go all the way down to the slicing disc. This is usually just a tiny bit of cheese though, so this isn’t a major concern. We tested it with a variety of hard and softer cheese, all with more or less the same promising results. Harder cheese tend to go through faster as they provide less resistance against the shredding blade, but softer cheeses aren’t any problem at all. Since this is a versatile machine, we also did some really brief tests with slicing some potatoes and a cucumber. The potatoes needed to be sliced in half to fit down the food chute, and the cucumber went straight in. These both shot through in a few seconds with no hassle. We then switched over to the shredding blade, and threw in two onions. Using the pulse setting, these were nicely shredded in a couple of seconds. The processor powered through vegetables with relative ease, so it seems to do a great job aside from grating cheese. It is a little loud when in use, but this is to be expected as it is a cheaper model.
Cleaning the machine is very simple and straightforward. All the removable parts are dishwasher friendly, and there aren’t any nooks or crevices where the food can get stuck. Once you have finished with the machine, you can unplug the cord if need be as there is a cord storage section in the back of the machine. This has certainly restored our faith in the Black & Decker brand, and for less than $50 it is a good investment. It is easy to put together, works well and easy to clean. What more do you need? This model comes with a two year limited warranty.
Pros:
- Well priced
- Easy to assemble
- Works well
- Easy to clean
- Small profile
Cons:
- Little noisy
Summary:
The Black & Decker FP1600B is a good economical choice. It is easy to setup and clean, and does a good job as a hard cheese grater or a softer cheese grater. At the time of writing this model was heavily discounted on Amazon, and you can see if it is still on sale using this link.
| Our Rating: |
|---|
| 4 |
