I love my Cuisinart. I wore out the first one- it was a wedding gift 32 years ago, now I am on to #2. I use it for pie dough (pour the mix into a bowl then add water, to not overmix), chopping anything like onions or nuts, shredding cabbage or carrots, slicing cukes for pickles, breadcrumbs, shredding cheese. The list goes on. It is a bit of a pain to wash, just be careful of the blade. I would say to buy the better quality unit, if you have a cheap one and it doesn't do the job then you would not use it.