Breville Paradice 12

Best fit: Home cooks who want a full-size food processor with a dicing kit supplied in the box and enough room for family meal preparation.

Skip it if: You only chop a few herbs or onions, need several sizes of diced vegetables, or are shopping for a smoothie blender.

The quick answer: Breville's Paradice 12 occupies a useful middle ground. Its 12-cup bowl, adjustable slicer, reversible shredder, chopping and dough blades, and included half-inch dicing kit cover a wide range of vegetable prep. If dicing isn't part of your weekly routine, those extra tools may be more to wash and store than they're worth.

Who it fits

Some households mainly need a food processor to chop onions. Others use one throughout meal prep: slices for a casserole, shredded vegetables for slaw, diced potatoes for a soup and chopped ingredients for a sauce. The Paradice 12 is aimed at the second group.

Breville lists the exact US BFP738BSS1BNA1 with a 12-cup bowl and a Paradice kit for half-inch dicing. It also includes an adjustable slicing disc, reversible shredding disc, S-blade and dough blade. Each tool has a different job. A blender might break food into uneven pieces, but it can't produce controlled slices or cut cubes with a dicing grid.

This can be a good fit for a family that cooks from fresh ingredients several times a week. But if you already own a capable processor and use dicing only once a year, a new large appliance may not make the cooking experience different enough to justify its cost.

What changes the decision

Real half-inch dicing is the standout feature

Breville's included Paradice kit uses a blade and grid to make roughly 0.5-inch pieces. That is useful for foods where consistent chunks matter, such as soup vegetables, home fries or salad ingredients. It isn't the same as pulsing a chopping blade and hoping all the pieces end up alike.

There are practical limits. Soft tomatoes, wet ingredients and unusually shaped produce may behave differently from firm potatoes. The manufacturer's description of precise dicing establishes the purpose of the tool, not a controlled test proving identical cubes in every situation. Wash and clear the grid according to the manual rather than trying to press food through by hand.

If you want multiple dicing sizes, don't assume they are all included with the Paradice 12. Breville's larger Paradice 16 has separate 8, 12 and 16 mm dicing accessories in its US package. The 12's included half-inch kit is a focused option, not a complete collection of every die size in the family.

The feed chute saves prep time in the right recipes

Breville gives the 12 a wide 5.2-inch, two-in-one feed chute. Being able to insert some ingredients with less preliminary cutting can be more useful than a higher motor number. It's particularly helpful for repeated slices of vegetables that you would otherwise trim extensively before feeding.

You still need to size food safely to the actual chute and use the pusher as directed. A wide chute is not permission to insert fingers or force an oversized vegetable into the mechanism. It can reduce work, but not eliminate preparation entirely.

The adjustable slicer and reversible shredder make the 12 more versatile than a fixed-thickness-only processor. For shoppers who switch between a salad and a gratin, those tools may deserve more weight than an extra batch-capacity claim.

Twelve cups is enough for many families—not every crowd

The bowl holds a nominal 12 cups. That is useful for common cooking batches, but it isn't a guarantee that twelve cups of a liquid mixture can be processed without spills. Respect the actual liquid and dough limits in the owner's manual.

Breville lists the machine at about 8.66 by 11.02 by 16.73 inches and 23.15 pounds. It's a substantial appliance. Before you imagine storing it in a top cabinet, think about lifting it repeatedly, removing the lid and finding space for the cutting tools.

The onboard storage caddy helps keep core blades and discs together inside the bowl, which is handy when cabinets are already crowded. Dicing tools still take cleaning and storage, though. Check where the entire setup will go, not just where the base fits.

Motor ratings are not an independent processing test

Breville lists a 1,440-watt, 120-volt US specification for the Paradice 12. Those are electrical specifications, not proof of neater carrots, quieter onion chopping, or better dough than another machine.

The important technical questions are how the feed chute positions food, how the discs cut under real loads, and how much cleanup follows. Independent head-to-head evidence for this exact US model is not sufficient to declare it universally better at those tasks than another processor.

For most shoppers, the useful evidence is the confirmed in-box tool set. You can safely distinguish a machine that includes a dicing grid from one that doesn't, without claiming laboratory superiority.

Cleaning and long-term ownership

Breville describes the bowl and lid as dishwasher-safe, but cutting accessories and motor components must be handled according to the actual instructions. Dicing grids can collect small pieces of food, while multiple discs create more sharp edges to clean and dry. A good meal-prep tool can still leave a busy sink afterward.

Breville lists a two-year product warranty and a separate 30-year limited motor warranty. This isn't a promise that every disc, bowl or plastic part lasts for thirty years. If you intend to keep the processor for a long time, check current accessory availability and exact warranty terms.

Who should choose something else

Choose the Paradice 9 if your kitchen is small, your prep volumes are moderate and the included half-inch dicing tool covers your needs. You lose bowl capacity, but may gain a more manageable storage setup depending on how you arrange the parts.

Choose Paradice 16 when batch volume and multiple dicing sizes are important. Its 16-cup bowl, 8/12/16 mm grid options and French-fry disc support different jobs. Those additions are only valuable if you will use them; otherwise you pay for and store equipment you don't need.

Cuisinart Custom 14 is worth considering if you want a large bowl for chopping, slicing and shredding but don't need dicing. Its fixed 4 mm slicing disc is a meaningful functional difference, not simply a competing motor rating.

If you mostly make smoothies, a blender is the correct starting point. A large food processor cannot take the place of a pitcher intended for liquid blending.

PIQSY conclusion

The Paradice 12 is a strong middle-size food-prep option for a cook who wants a genuine dicing system alongside adjustable slicing and shredding. Its 12-cup capacity and included half-inch grid make sense for repeated family cooking, while the size, weight and extra cleaning are the costs of that capability.

Buy it if vegetable preparation is a regular part of your week and the half-inch dice is the size you need. Skip it if a mini chopper would do the job, or if several dicing sizes and much larger batches justify looking higher in the range. Verify the precise US BFP738 package and the current seller terms before ordering.