Food Processors and Immersion Blenders

The Cuisinart and KitchenAid food processors set the standard. They are indispensable for grinding nuts and chocolate, grinding sugar to a superfine consistency, pureeing fruit, and all sorts of kitchen activities that prior to the processor took much longer to accomplish. I also like the Cuisinart Elite Collection 4 cup chopper/grinder for chopping small quantities of nuts or chocolate, and the tiny Cuisinart Mini-Mate Plus chopper/grinder for producing superfine citrus zest or dispersing vanilla bean seeds (just add a little sugar from the recipe).