Blenders (ingredients, frozen, healthy, coffee)

[ivanabacowboy]

Looking for a new blender. My Cuisinart dual blender/food processor has served me well for many years. Now I live in Phoenix. It will most likely be above 100' for oh about the next 5 months or so. So I want to be able to do a lot of cool slushies and iced type drinks. So I am hunting for a new blender.

I don't need huge capacity. I saw some blenders coming with a gallon container? On a regular basis there are only 2 of us.

I see KitchenAid has a "commercial" line out now, but it doesnt appear to be much more than regular KitchenAid made to LOOK commercial?

Had my eye on a 3 hp motor (wow! maybe i can drive it aside from make drinks and smoothies lol!) Waring commercial. And there is always the ungodly expensive Vitamix.

I dont look to do juicing-not my thing. Mainly drinks, slushes, smoothies-that kind of stuff. So I want something that is powerful enough to crush ice and frozen stuff. My Cuisinart did an ok job with ice, but I know it is by no means the most powerful out there.

My sister has one of the lower end Vitamix. Um lower end meaning the $400-$500 or so models. I was reading in the manual that with its 2 hp motor, it can get hot enough to actually MAKE soup in it and had recipes how to do it??? I dont want to broil my smoothies.

Or are all the high end blenders highly over-rated for just regular home use, and my best bet would just be a new regular retail line Cuisinart, Breville or Kitchen Aid?

I also thought those Margarita concoction maker things were cool-until I saw the price tag! At least $200 on up to the one I wanted with was stainless and priced out at around $400. If I am going to spend $400 on something to crush stuff, I will just move up to the Vitamix.

Thoughts?

[Claire_F]

I have this KitchenAid (in black) and absolutely love it.

[Ira500]

I'm a fan of the Classic Beehive Osterizer blender. It crushes ice without a complaint, lasts almost forever, and is very cool looking.

[sskkc]

I have an Osterizer, but since I received a "Magic Bullet" for my bday last year, I never use it. Most of the time, I'm making just one or two frozen drinks (strawberry daiquiris, shakes, smoothies, slushes, frozen coffee), so the Bullet works great. I have the blender attachment, but haven't used it yet. I've also used the Bullet for whipping cream, but I still haven't gotten around to playing with it for all the stuff they did with it in the infomercial.

I'll be donating my Osterizer to Goodwill at the end of the week.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I really want a Waring Blender, you can check out at least what they look like on Amazon. I am over time switching everything from plastic to metal small apliances. Waring usually has a couple colors available as well.

[ivanabacowboy]

Thanks! I ended up going with the Vitamix. This is one serious kitchen appliance! I love it. You can throw in many fruits and veggies with their peel which is where a lot of the vitamins are.

I made an awesome Tortilla Soup in it as well. It does get warm. Not boiling hot, but what I think is perfect "serving" temperature. My son even loved the soup. Notwithstanding that he would not have eaten 90% of the ingredients had he seen them in one piece. Now he will eat his veggies. ;-) It cuts through ice and whatever else you put in it like it is butter.

Tho a me bad. Inside the container jar when I unpacked it there were some fliers of the "do not use in the bathtub" kind of variety. I wasnt paying attention to where the on/off switch was and plugged it in. Those fliers were PULVERIZED to paper fiber in about 1 second flat lol!

This thing entirely puts the Cuisinart to shame. It came with a 7 year warranty. Tho at this price point, I hope it lasts much much longer than that. There are many smoothies and healthy foods and juices in my future. ;-)

One thing I didnt see with any of the others. Most blenders you have to sometimes stop and push stuff down inside if it is thick or whatever. Vitamix comes with a "plunger" thing that fits right through the top that you can use as the blender is running to push stuff down. It has a "collar" so the plunger stops just right above the blades and doesnt get chewed up or anything.

You can even buy a separate jar that will do dry grains and make flour. I am not quite that domesticated. Tho I may fork out the $100 or so for the 32 oz container (it comes with the 64 oz).