About Cuisinart® Cookware

Carl Sontheimer and his wife, Shirley, found themselves mesmerized by the demonstration of a restaurant food preparation machine in France. Intrigued by the machine's capabilities, the Sontheimers determined to create their own useful home appliance for Americans. Carl, a retired MIT-trained physicist and accomplished cook, refined a prototype of the food preparation machine and launched a housewares company called Cuisinart.

In 1973 the Sontheimers unveiled the "Food Processor at the National Housewares Exposition in Chicago. Carl improved the machine's discs and blades, and instead of taking 15 minutes to mix eggs into a puff shell dough, the food processor only took 15 seconds. The amazing new machine also chopped a pound of meat in less than 60 seconds.

In 1975, a confident Carl took his new machine to food experts such as Julia Child, James Beard, Jacques Pépin, Craig Claiborne, and Helen McCully. These culinary pros praised the food processor in such publications as Gourmet and The New York Times. Cuisinart was now considered a noteworthy investment for serious home cooks.

The Cuisinart food processor business soared and more than a dozen other food processor brands soon joined the expanding market. Within a decade of the introduction of its original food processor, Cuisinart introduced seven new models each with a larger capacity work bowl and a stronger, more efficient motor.

After shaping Cuisinart into a leading housewares brand, the Sontheimers sold the company to a group of investors in 1988. The following year, the Conair Corporation, a top American manufacturer of consumer appliances, personal care, and consumer electronics, purchased Cuisinart.

Over the years Cuisinart continued to introduce several other small housewares products including cookware, coffeemakers, blenders, toasters, waffles makers, ice cream makers, and much more. Today the company's mission remains to introduce people not just to products but also to a passion for good cooking. Providing culinary education through cooking tips and techniques is at the heart of Cuisinart. The company sponsors

several public television series including Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way and Lidia's Italian American Kitchen, hosted by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, regarded as "the First Lady of Italian cuisine and restaurants in the United States.

Since its simple food processor beginnings in 1973, Cuisinart has turned the art of great cooking into an American lifestyle and remains committed to helping professional and home chefs "savor the good life® through a variety of culinary tools and culinary education.