We have plenty of experience using food processors of varying ages (ancient to wedding registry brand new) and price points ($30 to a $1,000 commercial unit) at the homes or businesses of our family members and friends.

After we each spent hours researching the extensive variety of food processors available on the market, we both agreed that the Breville Sous Chef seemed to be the absolute "best" one, even considering the very high cost.

The more we read about the Sous Chef's features, the full set of accessories with a storage box, its wide diversity of capabilities, the twenty five year warranty on the motor and its sheer power, the more we were convinced that it was well worth the money.

The Breville Sous Chef weighs a whopping 26 pounds with most of that weight being the very hefty and solid feeling base that has a 1200 watt induction motor, die cast metal base and stainless steel exterior.

It also comes in a very attractive red color or glossy black so you can match your other appliances. We had been buying the red version of our small appliances for a while but we're starting to switch over to a more silver metal look for everything to match our refrigerator.

Since the base is so heavy and has rubber feet on the bottom, I knew it wouldn't be dancing or vibrating around the kitchen counter until it fell on the floor like we've seen happen with some of the inexpensive models at friends' houses.

The accessory storage box and all of the accessories themselves definitely make you feel like you could tackle any complicated recipe with ease. It is made out of very thick plastic just like the processing bowl and I love how everything tucks away neatly. You can even store the storage box on its side so it will take up less space in your cabinets.

A very smart safety switch feature on the Sous Chef is contained in the top lid of the bowl. The blades will only spin with the large food pusher at least partially inserted in to the feed chute. If the food pusher is not present, the motor will not turn on.

I might be repeating myself, but I can't get over how nice and thick all of the plastic components feel. The lid and large 16 cup mixing bowl are especially sturdy. I wouldn't be surprised if they last for many years of constant use.

To keep the plastic pieces in pristine condition, it is recommended that you hand wash them. I was a bit worried about this at first, but it is actually quite easy. There aren't any hard to reach surfaces on the lid, bowls or blades like we've encountered on other food processors. I remember one friend's food processor developed mold due to the lid having a recessed area that she complained couldn't be cleaned out easily and required soaking in vinegar or even bleach!

For example, here are some of the replacement part costs for the Breville Sous Chef: Mini Processing Bowl $13.99, Large Food Pusher $4.99, Dough Blade $4.99, Reversible Shredder Disc $11.99, Large Processing Bowl Lid $16.99 and the Large Processing Bowl itself is only $34.99.

I think those prices are very reasonable considering how heavy duty all of the accessories seem to be. If we ever need to buy a replacement part it will be because of a rare kitchen mishap such as dropping the mixing bowl full of liquid from chest height or if our dog decides to chew on the cleaning brush.

One of the accessories that my wife was most excited about was the adjustable slicer disc. She often makes really hearty soups in the winter and is very particular about how I chop her vegetables. Some vegetables she likes to be paper thin such as celery and others she wants to be thick such as carrots. This slicer disc is going to save the two of us so much time and effort and carpal tunnel arthritis pain over the next few decades.

The Sous Chef is thinner than an old Keurig coffee maker but about the same width as a Vitamix.

You'll need cabinets that are at least about 18" above the counter top to have enough room to slide the Sous Chef under the cabinets.

Since the base is so heavy, you probably won't want to have to move it from your cabinet or pantry closet every time you want to use it. We plan on keeping the base and bowl on the counter at all times and just placing the storage box in to the pantry or in a cabinet when not in use.

We use our largest pot and tons of vegetables and chicken to make a large batch of this soup. About half of the soup will be ladled in to Tupperware containers and placed in the freezer for enjoying later.

I peeled off the outer layer of some onions, sliced them in half and tossed them in the large 16 cup bowl with the "S" processing blade installed.

The lid twists on easily and solidly. The larger pusher has to be inserted in to the food chute in order for the processor to turn on.

Next up, we used the adjustable slicer blade to slice some celery stalks. My wife wanted the celery slices to be paper thin, so I moved the dial to the smallest 1mm setting.

The Sous Chef sliced up those celery stalks in to hundreds of even little pieces. I was impressed by how quickly the machine worked and yet it wasn't obnoxiously loud like some of the food processors we have used in the past.

There are no odd rattles, vibrations or hopping around on the counter. All dozen or so of the celery stalks were in 1mm slices within about 15 seconds.

I inserted the small 2.5 cup mini bowl and the mini chopping blade.

I pulsed the garlic a few times and it was minced perfectly. All of the garlic pieces were contained within the mini bowl with a few pieces stuck to the lid.

The strong yet flexible spatula that was included with the accessory kit has a long blade edge that makes it really easy to get all of your ingredients out of the mixing bowls.

We adjusted the slicing blade to the maximum thickness of 8mm.

The powerful 1200 watt induction motor really displayed its power when we jammed in 3 or 4 carrots at a time in to the feeder chute. We couldn't even hear the motor slow down at all as it chopped perfectly even discs.

I cut the cabbage in to four quarters and tossed in two at a time in to the processing bowl with the large "S" blade.

Just a few pulses of the motor was all it took to turn the cabbage in little shreds.

We finished browning the chicken thighs and emptied the pan in to the processing bowl. Once again, a few pulses of the motor tore apart the chicken in to perfect tiny bits for the soup.

I could definitely see us using the Sous Chef in the future for making our own meat balls, ground beef, sausage fillings, meatloaf or mixing up some raw bacon and chuck steak for hybrid pork and beef hamburger patties.

We have a vegan and some vegetarians in our circle of friends, so I have plans to also try making homemade hummus, spinach and artichoke dip, black bean burger patties, sweet potato fries and lentil or nut based "power" snack balls

While the soup simmered, I quickly hand washed all of the bowls and blades. The blade and bowl that had touched the mostly cooked chicken was washed twice to avoid cross contamination and food poisoning.

I thought I might be annoyed by having to hand wash the bowls but they were very easy to clean with the included brush, dish soap and some hot water. I've read that you could place the bowls and blades in the dishwasher, but only on the top shelf and avoid using the "heated drying" setting.

We tossed some almonds, peanuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, honey and coconut oil in to the mini processing bowl to make some fresh nut butter.

I had read that the motor has a built in overload protection system that keeps it from becoming overheated, but I still wanted to avoid running the motor for too long while grinding these thick and sticky ingredients.

We used the handy, very bright and easy to read digital LCD display timer to mix the nut butter for about 30 seconds and then let the food processor rest for a minute. This process was repeated for about 15 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher. At the end, we had a very smooth and tasty nut butter perfectly tailored to our exact specifications with no added preservatives or extra salt.

I'm really looking forward to making some bread dough for pizza, bagels or just a loaf of hearty wheat bread. We have some experience making dough for bread and bagels by hand when we were younger and it can definitely be a labor of love that takes a lot of effort. I do intend to give the motor plenty of breaks while kneading the dough to prevent from heating it up too much or heating up the dough blade and causing it to melt. The plastic might be high quality and very thick, but it can still melt if abused.

Tomorrow morning, I plan on whipping up some light and fluffy eggs with cream and the whisking blade for a tasty omelet filled with bell pepper slices and sautéed minced onions. If we get some blocks of hard cheese like Italian parmigiano reggiano, I'm sure I can easily shred them with the shredder disc for my beloved cheesy scrambled eggs.  My wife has requested that I learn how to make hollandaise sauce with the food processor for her favorite breakfast of eggs benedict.

After having lived with the Breville Sous Chef for the past few weeks and using it at least every other day, I can wholeheartedly say that it is by far the best kitchen appliance we have ever used or owned.

Perhaps the commercial grade $1,000+ food processor at our friend's family owned restaurant was more powerful, but it would be major overkill for our needs and not fit nicely in to our small kitchen.

If we had to make our purchase again and decided to go for a lower price point, there were some clear winners in the tiers of high end, middle ground and basic low end food processors.

For the around $150 to $200 range, I would choose the Cuisinart DLC-8SBCY Pro Custom 11 cup processor. It has the best and most reviews for that price range and includes the basic accessories for most food processing tasks. If you want a larger capacity unit, go for the bigger sibling in the family which is the Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14 cup processor.

For the under $50 price point that would have appealed to me when I was a thrifty college student on a shoestring budget, I would have chosen one of the two very well reviewed Hamilton Beach models.

The larger Hamilton Beach 70730 10 cup food processor or the slightly cheaper 8 cup Hamilton Beach 70740 are both excellent choices for the simple chopping and shredding of taco Tuesday ingredients such as a block of cheddar, lettuce or mixing up refried beans or fresh guacamole.