Reliable Brand Name

I have had the same Cuisinart food processor for over 25 years and felt it was time for a new one. I was a bit disappointed at some of the changes they made over the years. The biggest problem is the VERY short power cord. I cannot use this machine now without an extension cord. It is also so much heavier than the old one. Maybe it has a bigger more powerful motor? It has many more little pieces that lock and click but do nothing different than the old one. Just more things to snap and break.
On the old one, the slicing blade and shredding blade came pre-assembled with its own stem. You just put it on the base and away you go. This one has one stem for both those blades that has to be installed each time you want to use it. Why? What was the advantage of that change?
The first thing I made was a brownie batter. Using the steel blade, it performed like a charm. I was comfortable with how smooth and powerful and quiet it was. However, when i went to pour the brownie batter into my pan, I noticed that a bit of batter got in to the chamber which houses the spring that locks the main bowl on the base. It took me so long to get the batter out of that area. It seemed to be in a spot where the water just couldn't get to it. This has never happened in the old model and I've made that recipe about 100 times.
I was very tempted to put the whole thing back in the box and retrieve my old one as it still works, but I thought I would use it again today and see if I just had a bad first experience. I have to get over the ridiculous design changes (I would call them flaws) and move on with this new machine. Hopefully i will get used to it. I just have to wonder if the people that design this stuff actually use it on a day to day basis. What were they thinking?