Recently my husband and I upgraded most of our small appliances and cookware. We opted for the Kitchenaid mixer and Calphalon cookware, and decided to skimp on the blender, figuring a blender is a blender and what difference would it make? It makes a big difference. We bought an Osterizer for dirt cheap at a local kitchen supply store and were not impressed with its capabilities. At this point I thought about buying the Kitchenaid but wanted to wait a little while, since the price was rather more than we wanted to pay for a blender.Around Christmas my husband and I visited back home. His grandparents have the Kitchenaid 5-speed blender. We were quite impressed with its capabilities in making a great mudslide; although there were still tiny ice chips in the drink, the blender did quite well in mixing everything very smoothly and with a minimum amount of noise (for a blender anyway).I was able to find one of these wonderful blenders refurbished through Amazon. Since I had earned a couple of gift certificates through my Amazon Visa card I got this for practically nothing. I must say, this would still be worth it even if I did pay full price. Even though it is refurbished it looks like new, and works great. The past few nights my husband and I have enjoyed the same great mudslides that we had in California, and I'm giving away my old Osterizer.Another impressive thing about this blender is its sturdiness. With the glass and the strong base, I'm not worried about this breaking; I was worried about that with all of the flimsy plastic of the Osterizer. When trying to make smoothies on the Osterizer I always kind of winced, afraid that it might blow up at any second. I don't worry about this with the Kitchenaid; this is very obviously a sound appliance.If you are in a money crunch, it's probably best to wait until Amazon has a refurbished model of this blender available; the only visible difference is it comes in a box that states that the product is refurbished. Also you usually won't have your pick of colors; you'll only be able to choose whatever color they have available. But whatever the price this is a great blender and you won't regret the purchase.By the way, I did A LOT of comparison shopping at other sites before I found the refurbished model here at Amazon; Amazon does have the best price on new models that I found, even without the current rebate that Kitchenaid is offering.
After reading most of the reviews for this blender I decided to add my own. I've owned this blender for over a year now and it works beautifully. I use it mainly for making smoothies, usually for myself, but often for family and friends when visiting. If its for 1 cup or a full container it does a great job. I put 1/2 cup water or milk, ice, frozen strawberries, sometimes bananas, apples and/or pineapple into the recipes. This blender makes them into a very smooth drink in quick time and no chucks of ice or fruit in the bottom. I put everything into the container and just let it run, it pulls everything through the blades on it's own. I've seen lots of these reviews showing theirs don't do the job, as my title states I either got lucky or it really is an excellent product and the ones that did the other reviews have had bad luck. I do recommend this blender (mine is the onyx black with glass container).
If you see this blender in a store, you'll be impressed. It has a very powerful motor. It's heavy -- solid steel, thick glass. Even the plastic top is rugged. It looks like it'll last a lifetime.
But depending on what you want it for, it may be a waste of money, because it is unsuitable for many common blending tasks. Like many other people have reported, I noticed that it left large chunks of food in the bottom, even after running a long time. I examined it closely and discovered the cause:
The cutting blades are NOT sharp. In fact, they're quite dull. There is no way you could cut yourself while cleaning this.
This seems to be intentional. When I emailed customer service, I was told, "Please note that the blade does not have sharp edging, as the blunt blades are designed to maximize superior ice crushing ability." They then went on to describe some ways that might minimize the problems this raises.
It occurred to me that if they included, or even sold at extra cost, another, sharper blade, they would probably make everybody happy. So I asked if there was a sharper blade available as a option. "Sorry".
So, if you want an ice crusher, this is your baby. It probably makes great margaritas. But if you want a blender to, uh, "blend" fruits, vegetables, etc, you'd better keep looking, since, amazingly, this model is not designed to do that.
So back it went, and back I went to my $15.00 1974 flimsy el-cheapo plastic blender, with sharp blades, that still works like a charm.
I'm a little surprised by the negative reviews in Amazon. At consumersearch.com, the Kitchen Aid blender was ranked head and shoulders above all other comparably priced blenders-- which is the reason I chose to purchase one. It IS extremely powerful. The container is little squatter and wider than most blenders, which makes scrapping with a spatula much easier. The touch pad controls make the unit very easy to clean. I cook quite a bit and I've used mine to make sauces, dressings, smoothies, and bread crumbs and I have been very satisfied with the results. - Smoothies - Kitchenaid Blender - Blender - Ice Crusher - Kitchen Gadgets - Gift Idea'
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