Hamilton Beach 58163J Blender and Food Processor Combo Review

One motor and one footprint cover blending in the glass jar, single-serve blending in the travel jar, and chopping, slicing or shredding in the 3-cup bowl. Nothing has to be unplugged and put away between tasks beyond swapping the attachment.

The processor bowl earns its place for small jobs

The bowl is sized for the quantities a small kitchen actually preps: a can of chickpeas for hummus, a couple of onions, a block of chilled cheese, a batch of salsa, breadcrumbs. The manual sets the working loads with the chopping blade at 2 to 3 cups of fruits and vegetables cut into 1-inch cubes, 0.7 lb (350 g) of meat, 5 oz (140 g) of Parmesan or Romano, 8 oz (226 g) of chilled cheddar, Jack or mozzarella, and up to 10 cups of crackers for crumbs.

Slicing and shredding

The reversible disc gives one slice thickness and one shred size. Firm, well-chilled cheese shreds cleanly, and the pusher reaches the blade in shred mode, so short pieces still get processed. The manual's trick for julienne strips is to slice once, restack the pieces upright in the chute and slice again.

A glass jar that handles hot and cold

The 40 oz jar is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, so it takes both a cold smoothie and a warm blended soup. Glass does not stain or hold onto the smell of onion or curry the way plastic does. The lid has a no-mess pour spout that also works for streaming oil into a dressing or mayonnaise in a thin, steady thread.

The travel jar is not an afterthought

The 20 oz blend-in jar takes the same base and comes with its own lid, which makes a shake or a smoothie a one-container job: blend, cap, go.

Easy to live with

The jars, lids and blades are dishwasher safe, and the base has cord storage. The Easy Clean routine, a short run with warm water and a drop of dish soap, loosens sticky residue before the parts go in the dishwasher. The Wave~Action system and 12 blending functions, pulse included, cover the blending side. The warranty runs three years, limited, in the US. Buyers on Amazon most often praise how simple the machine is to set up and clean.

The 3-cup bowl is mini-processor territory. Standalone food processors run from 7 to 14 cups, so this machine is built for small batches and nothing else. If a recipe starts with 6 cups of flour or a pile of vegetables for a week of meals, the bowl fills before the job is done.

What the processor will not do

The manual's prohibited list is the clearest buying filter. The chopper bowl is not for grinding grain, coffee beans or spices, not for slicing frozen meat, not for kneading dough, and not for crushing ice. Those are jobs for other machines, and no technique gets around them here.

No speed dial and no tamper

There are 12 preset functions and a pulse button, but no variable-speed dial to dial in a slow stir or a fast puree. There is also no tamper, so a thick paste such as nut butter is impractical in the small bowl: the food sits above the blade and there is no tool to push it down while the motor runs.

Run limits to respect

Every run is capped at 3 minutes, with a rest of about 4 minutes after extended continuous processing. Hot liquids go in the glass jar only, up to 3 cups (710 ml), with the vent open and the machine started on low. Hot liquid never goes in the travel jar.

One slice, one shred, a small chute

There is one slice thickness and one shred size, no spiralizer and no dough blade. The feed chute is small enough that a whole potato has to be halved first. There is no bowl scraper either, so you stop the machine, unlock the bowl and scrape down the sides by hand.

It is loud

The processor attachment is the noisiest part of the machine, and reviews at other retailers mention a loud motor as well.

Durability is the real caveat

Buyers on Amazon are divided on quality and value, and the durability topic skews negative, with some buyers reporting a unit that failed early. Blending and ice-crushing performance also draw mixed reports. Treat those as the pattern buyers describe rather than a verdict on every unit, and give the machine its best chance: keep runs short, do not overload the bowl, and use the three-year warranty if the base fails.

Disc orientation trips people up

The word SLICE or SHRED has to face up, and the adapter flips over for the other side. One specialist review notes that a slicing disc "did not slice anything" for one reviewer (cabbage, peppers, cucumber), likely user error on disc orientation, but a real usability signal: the disc must be flipped so "SLICE" or "SHRED" faces up, and the adapter must be flipped too.

The numbers below are the ones that change how the machine fits a kitchen. Peak power of 700 watts means the draw in the first seconds of operation, not a sustained output, so read it as a startup and heavy-load figure rather than a constant rating.

• Type: blender and food processor combo, covering countertop blender, personal blender and mini food processor in one base.
• Power: 700 watts peak, 120 V.
• Controls: 12 blending functions including pulse, with the Wave~Action blending system and stainless steel blades.
• Containers: 40 oz glass blending jar, 20 oz travel jar, 3-cup chopper bowl, three containers in glass and plastic.
• Size: 6.8 inches deep, 7.8 inches wide, 15.2 inches high, at 7.7 lb.
• Cleaning: jars, lids and blades are dishwasher safe, and the base has cord storage.
• Warranty: three-year limited, US.
• Color: gray and black.

The model numbers 58163J and 58163 refer to the same machine. The suffix is a packaging and sales-channel difference, so either listing is the same appliance.

A full-size food processor brings a bowl several times larger, a wide feed tube that swallows a whole potato or a block of cheese, a dough blade, a scraper and often a speed dial. The 58163J brings a 3-cup bowl, a narrow chute, one disc, preset functions and no scraper. The gap is not quality; it is capacity and control.

That makes the machine a light-prep tool rather than a batch tool. It handles the small jobs that come up several times a week, and it blends, which a standalone processor does not. If most of your cooking starts with a big batch of chopping, a full-size machine is the better fit. If most of your cooking starts with a smoothie and a handful of vegetables, the combo covers both without a second appliance on the counter.