$100 to $200 Blenders

quick, clean, fast, and tough, December 10, 2003

After tearing through 2 stick blenders in 6 years, I tried this one — and let me tell you — the KitchenAid takes the prize. The motor (the highest powered I found on the market) is tough enough for batters and heavy mixing, and still with the multiple speeds and whisk attachment, is light-handed enough for making fast work of whipping cream, and egg whites.

The chopper is worth the upgrade from the stick alone as it will do everything the old counter-top hogging food processors ever dreamed of doing, but with half the clean up time. It also makes it easy for chopping just enough for one or two servings without breaking out the heavy hardware.

Unless you use a mixer for tons of cookie dough or to knead bread (in which case you want the biggest and toughest counter-top kitchenAid stand mixer you can afford…) then this is the best I’ve seen. Stick this blender down into a bubbling hot soup pot full of veggies, beans and meat — it will puree the whole pot into a smoothe and beautiful soup in a matter of 2-3 minutes.

A great product (and a great gift.)

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Whips like a pro!!!, July 25, 2005

By

Carolyn Rampone “Carolyn D’Amico Rampone” (Plantation, FL USA) – See all my reviews

I learned a long time ago, if you go KitchenAid, you go for life. They make the highest quality, longest life products I have ever seen. This hand mixer is the third of its kind I’ve owned. I’ve had two of the Braun models and they died out after about a year of average use. I finally got the KitchenAid and it has been going strong for a few years now. I really like having the ability to go down to the bottom of a large pot, a full 8″. Even though it is of substantial weight, it fits your hand like a glove. I found it far superior to the Braun, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t even compare.

The plastic cup with lid makes an excellent accessory since you can mix and store without wasting time. The chopper is the most efficient I have seen, does a better job that a food processor. I especially like the multi-speed dial. It goes from 1 to 9 so it has the power you need, when you need it. Egg white or whip cream doesn’t even challenge it, the whipping attachment makes sure of that. This baby handles like a pro. There are times when you don’t need the big mixer and the immersion blender really fills in nicely. You won’t be disappointed with the quality, power or its sleek look.

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The right tool for the job, February 15, 2007

By

Timothy J. Drozinski (Florida, USA) – See all my reviews

I’m at a point in my life where I am developing a taste for quality, and can finally afford the kind of quality I desire. I like to dabble in the kitchen, so I’ve been building my arsenal of kitchenware recently. I’ve invested in some high-quality cookware and utensils, and started working on some appliances. I’ve got an 11-cup Cuisinart food processor, but that tends to be overkill for a lot of smaller jobs – I hate all the cleanup involved with making a cup of guacamole dip, for instance. I like to use peeled whole tomatoes to make tomato sauce for pasta dishes, but my wife doesn’t care for chunks of tomato in the finished sauce. No problem… I just dunk the stick blender right into the can of tomatoes and out comes a nice thick puree with all the rich flavor that pre-made sauces seem to lack.

This stick blender came highly recommended by an acquaintance, and it doesn’t disappoint. With its high-power motor, variable speed settings and versatile accessories, this is a compact and high-impact kitchen tool. Easy to clean, too. I would urge caution if you’ve never used one of these before, especially when working with very watery liquids as they can end up getting blown right out of your container if you’re not careful.

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Search for the holy blender…, July 31, 2006

I have been looking for a blender for a few weeks now. We have started making smoothies at home and burned up our old one. Our girls like the “Chocolate Elvis” recipe from the local smoothie place which contains peanutbutter, bananas, yogurt, ice, and milk. I guess this is really hard on blenders. I bought one at Target 2 weeks ago that had “700 watts peak power” on the box. It died in 2 days. The power spec on the bottom of the blender said 450 watts. I think that is false advertisement. I have seen this on 2 different blenders now.

I have been leery of buying any blender with the little plastic teeth couplers because of all the bad reviews here on Amazon. I also wanted to stay away from anything with only 450 watts.

I was in another store and saw this blender. It has a new design for where the blades couple with the motor. “Commercial quality couplers with 12 interlocking teeth….coated for quiet operation”.

We have had it for a few days now and have made some pretty thick smoothies. So far, so good. No burning smell like the one that was immediately apparent with the Target blender. My youngest daughter complanied that her smoothie was “too smooth”. I guess she got used to the chunks of ice that our past blenders have left.

Kitchenaid doesn’t seem to advertise the actual power specs on their blenders. On the bottom of this one it says that it draws 6 amps. Which is about 720 watts or about 0.9 horsepower.

My only complaint so far is the soft start feature. The blade starts at a slower speed then quickly increases to the speed you chose. This process still throws everything up into the lid, which is what it should prevent. It works fine though as long as you have the lid on. It also works if you start with the slowest speed and work your way up.

Overall this blender seems to be well made and pretty well thought out. The cord storage on the bottom is a great feature. It has much bigger feet than the previous model. So far, I would highly recommend this blender for the person looking for a good blender in the under 0 range.

Added comments:

It is a year and about 300 smoothies later and we still have this blender. I would highly recommend it!!

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They Redesigned The Container (carafe)!!!, May 25, 2008

By

Robert Derenthal “bucherwurm” (California United States) – See all my reviews

We bought this Kitchenaid blender over a year ago, and after several months the container started to leak. The leak was small, and we put up with it for awhile. We finally got tired of the mess, however, and called the factory. We were told that the container had been redesigned, and they would send us a new one immediately even though our warranty had expired. When we got the new one we could see that it had indeed been redesigned, and have used it for some time now, and NO LEAKS. A leak proof container plus the other great features of this blender now warrant a definite five stars.

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Blender Carafe Leaks, February 8, 2007

I was loving this blender until a couple weeks into owning it and making smoothies daily, I noticed that it was leaking from the bottom of the carafe below the blade. The longer I used it, the worse the leak got until it was virtually pouring out of the bottom of the blender everytime I used it. So I returned it to Amazon and got a replacement. Thinking it was a fluke, I began to use my replacement blender. It is now a couple weeks old and again it is beginning to leak from under the carafe. The motor and everything below the carafe is wonderful, but it appears that there is a design flaw with how the blade is secured to the bottom of the carafe. The nut slowly begins to loosen and with time begins to leak. I would not recommend taking a risk on this model. Looking at the higher priced professional Kitchen Aid model, it appears to have the same carafe and may have the same problem so you may want to try a different manufacturer or research it further before making a purchase.

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quick, clean, fast, and tough, December 10, 2003

After tearing through 2 stick blenders in 6 years, I tried this one — and let me tell you — the KitchenAid takes the prize. The motor (the highest powered I found on the market) is tough enough for batters and heavy mixing, and still with the multiple speeds and whisk attachment, is light-handed enough for making fast work of whipping cream, and egg whites.

The chopper is worth the upgrade from the stick alone as it will do everything the old counter-top hogging food processors ever dreamed of doing, but with half the clean up time. It also makes it easy for chopping just enough for one or two servings without breaking out the heavy hardware.

Unless you use a mixer for tons of cookie dough or to knead bread (in which case you want the biggest and toughest counter-top kitchenAid stand mixer you can afford…) then this is the best I’ve seen. Stick this blender down into a bubbling hot soup pot full of veggies, beans and meat — it will puree the whole pot into a smoothe and beautiful soup in a matter of 2-3 minutes.

A great product (and a great gift.)

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Whips like a pro!!!, July 25, 2005

By

Carolyn Rampone “Carolyn D’Amico Rampone” (Plantation, FL USA) – See all my reviews

I learned a long time ago, if you go KitchenAid, you go for life. They make the highest quality, longest life products I have ever seen. This hand mixer is the third of its kind I’ve owned. I’ve had two of the Braun models and they died out after about a year of average use. I finally got the KitchenAid and it has been going strong for a few years now. I really like having the ability to go down to the bottom of a large pot, a full 8″. Even though it is of substantial weight, it fits your hand like a glove. I found it far superior to the Braun, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t even compare.

The plastic cup with lid makes an excellent accessory since you can mix and store without wasting time. The chopper is the most efficient I have seen, does a better job that a food processor. I especially like the multi-speed dial. It goes from 1 to 9 so it has the power you need, when you need it. Egg white or whip cream doesn’t even challenge it, the whipping attachment makes sure of that. This baby handles like a pro. There are times when you don’t need the big mixer and the immersion blender really fills in nicely. You won’t be disappointed with the quality, power or its sleek look.

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The right tool for the job, February 15, 2007

By

Timothy J. Drozinski (Florida, USA) – See all my reviews

I’m at a point in my life where I am developing a taste for quality, and can finally afford the kind of quality I desire. I like to dabble in the kitchen, so I’ve been building my arsenal of kitchenware recently. I’ve invested in some high-quality cookware and utensils, and started working on some appliances. I’ve got an 11-cup Cuisinart food processor, but that tends to be overkill for a lot of smaller jobs – I hate all the cleanup involved with making a cup of guacamole dip, for instance. I like to use peeled whole tomatoes to make tomato sauce for pasta dishes, but my wife doesn’t care for chunks of tomato in the finished sauce. No problem… I just dunk the stick blender right into the can of tomatoes and out comes a nice thick puree with all the rich flavor that pre-made sauces seem to lack.

This stick blender came highly recommended by an acquaintance, and it doesn’t disappoint. With its high-power motor, variable speed settings and versatile accessories, this is a compact and high-impact kitchen tool. Easy to clean, too. I would urge caution if you’ve never used one of these before, especially when working with very watery liquids as they can end up getting blown right out of your container if you’re not careful.

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This is a real blender, July 9, 2004

By

David Swanson (Providence, RI) – See all my reviews

I bought this to replace a Kitchen Aid.
The Kitchen Aid uses a coupler on top of the motor which spins the blade that’s made out of rubber over metal which will break if you make lots of frozen fruit drinks. That’s what I had happen.
The Waring uses the same type of design, but the difference is that you can buy a replacement (.95) and put it on yourself with a wrench If it were to ever come apart. The Kitchen Aid has to be serviced, take apart the motor to get to it from the inside etc.

This Waring Blender is very powerful! It’s loud and spins very fast. Which makes it blend in a fraction of the time of others. It makes my old Kitchen-Aid seem like a childs toy in comparison.

It’s much more obviously commercial through heft, simplicity of design and function and servicability.

It has only 2 speeds. Professional chefs say that’s all you need. it has a simple toggle switch, no multiple speed electronic gimmics. Just very functional.

I originally really wanted a glass container. It provided some heft to my old Kitchen-Aid and I thought that it was a sign of higher quality.
For a commercial application you would prefer the unbreakable quality of the polycarbon plastic as well as the lack of weight. It’s light as a feather.

I was also concerned that the blade being permenantly mounted inside the container would be hard to clean. (actually you can take it apart with a deep socket and extension, not for cleaning but blade replacement). My Kitchen Aids came apart for cleaning and I could put it in the dishwasher. I find the cleaning instruction are easy with the Waring, actually simple to clean you should just do it right away once your done mixing. Less time to clean and assemble.

What I see now with comparing this to the kitchen-Aid besides what I’ve already mentioned, is that the Kitchen-Aid looks simple through it’s visual design. It’s over designed through what appear to be valuable features which only make it more complicated. You have to do more work from cleaning, assembling and servicing.
The Waring on the other hand is bare bones functional. It was designed to blend and be easily serviced and quickly cleaned.

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Daily user – fruit smoothies for breakfast, July 15, 2005

Over the past 3 years, we have owned a ‘commercial quality’ KitchenAid with a stainless steel pitcher and a high end Oster unit.

Neither blended milk, frozen fruit, soy powder, and cottage cheese properly. The Kitchen Aid always left a blob of non-blended material plus chunks of fruit in the bottom.

We purchased the Waring Mega-Mix 5 months ago after reading the reviews on Amazon.com. We use it at least once daily.

Pluses:

1. Blends frozen or fresh fruit amazingly quickly and completely.

2. Mixes powders, fluids, and solids completely and efficiently.

3. Incredibly powerful motor

4. Polycarbonade pitcher is light weight and seems very strong.

5. High quality construction and commercial look to it.

Minuses:

1. Initially offered us a ‘burnt’ odor for the first 3 weeks of use (Amazon reviews warned of this)

2. Very noisy! I have adopted a one hand over one ear and the opposite shoulder plastered against the other ear stance while keeping the other hand on the lid.

3. Does not crush ice for drinks as well as other reviewers indicated.

Overview: Not perfect, but far better than anything else that we have used!

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Rock Crusher, May 8, 2004

By

B. Elwood (San Jose, CA United States) – See all my reviews

Several facts:

- 1 HP motor (on low setting this thing will crush rocks)
- All parts are serviceable / replaceable (just like any good industrial piece of equipment)
- Will pulverize ice drinks (margaritas) in about three seconds
- Made in USA!

I got lucky and found as an out-of-box special at my local Fry’s electronics store for .90 – stole it. This is last blender I will own in my lifetime, what is that worth?

Yes you could spend less, and get an average household blender. But how often can you afford the best? Can you afford the best car in world, the best house???

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The best Christmas present I’ve gotten in years, January 1, 2003

By

R. A. Ward “speedbmp” (WV) – See all my reviews

I’ve long been interested in having a really great blender. Something that will crush ice, puree soup, make smoothies for breakfast or snacks and of course blend up a nice margarita.

I looked at dozens of blenders, and finally chose the Waring bar model in stainless based on design, other reviews and power. The metal jar was also very important. I have always been afraid of breaking the glass on other blenders I have owned, and in fact have broken one.

This blender is just lovely. It is loud, but because it is so powerful and simply *works*, you don’t have to run it very long anyway. There are no plastic buttons to get sticky and goopy. One *metal* switch and two settings are plenty.

Rather than the “turn to lock the jar in” method that most blenders use, this one drops in. You can’t do it “wrong” — it just won’t go in if you have the canister turned the wrong way. The jar, which does need to be held steady with one hand, never kicks or bucks when crushing ice. You never feel like the machine is going to burn up or fly off the counter. And when you’re done, you just grab the handle and lift it off, without fighting the locking mechanism — because it doesn’t have one.

The simplicity of design and use is a very big part of why I love this blender, but the fact that it’s metal is a huge plus. It keeps the drinks cold, it washes out *very* easily, even when doing hot stuff that would instantly stick to the glass jars of most blenders.

My blender has never failed, never struggled, never even broken a sweat while performing any task I ask it to. It looks good, cleans easily and is easy to use. What more does anyone need in a blender? I can’t think of a thing.

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blender of the year, June 16, 2000

A name you can trust and have trusted for years. This blender does it all. weather you need 1 drink or 10 drinks. Problems crushing ice with your old blender? Not this one. I go through pounds upon pounds of ice a night and this blender doesn’t even slow up.

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Waring Blender, June 19, 2001

By

Shawntell R. Stewart “Shawntell13″ (Champaign, IL United States) – See all my reviews

This blender has been completely satisfying. It crushes ice consistantly and thoroughly. My smoothies alwalys come out like silk. I use the blender several times a day, and the motor hasn’t burned out. The steel adds a unique touch while leaving me fearless of broken glass. And, the warrenty that comes with it is a comfort in the event I have problems with the unit. I highly recommend this product for it’s quality, distinctiveness, and dependability.

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This is a real blender, July 9, 2004

By

David Swanson (Providence, RI) – See all my reviews

I bought this to replace a Kitchen Aid.
The Kitchen Aid uses a coupler on top of the motor which spins the blade that’s made out of rubber over metal which will break if you make lots of frozen fruit drinks. That’s what I had happen.
The Waring uses the same type of design, but the difference is that you can buy a replacement (.95) and put it on yourself with a wrench If it were to ever come apart. The Kitchen Aid has to be serviced, take apart the motor to get to it from the inside etc.

This Waring Blender is very powerful! It’s loud and spins very fast. Which makes it blend in a fraction of the time of others. It makes my old Kitchen-Aid seem like a childs toy in comparison.

It’s much more obviously commercial through heft, simplicity of design and function and servicability.

It has only 2 speeds. Professional chefs say that’s all you need. it has a simple toggle switch, no multiple speed electronic gimmics. Just very functional.

I originally really wanted a glass container. It provided some heft to my old Kitchen-Aid and I thought that it was a sign of higher quality.
For a commercial application you would prefer the unbreakable quality of the polycarbon plastic as well as the lack of weight. It’s light as a feather.

I was also concerned that the blade being permenantly mounted inside the container would be hard to clean. (actually you can take it apart with a deep socket and extension, not for cleaning but blade replacement). My Kitchen Aids came apart for cleaning and I could put it in the dishwasher. I find the cleaning instruction are easy with the Waring, actually simple to clean you should just do it right away once your done mixing. Less time to clean and assemble.

What I see now with comparing this to the kitchen-Aid besides what I’ve already mentioned, is that the Kitchen-Aid looks simple through it’s visual design. It’s over designed through what appear to be valuable features which only make it more complicated. You have to do more work from cleaning, assembling and servicing.
The Waring on the other hand is bare bones functional. It was designed to blend and be easily serviced and quickly cleaned.

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Daily user – fruit smoothies for breakfast, July 15, 2005

Over the past 3 years, we have owned a ‘commercial quality’ KitchenAid with a stainless steel pitcher and a high end Oster unit.

Neither blended milk, frozen fruit, soy powder, and cottage cheese properly. The Kitchen Aid always left a blob of non-blended material plus chunks of fruit in the bottom.

We purchased the Waring Mega-Mix 5 months ago after reading the reviews on Amazon.com. We use it at least once daily.

Pluses:

1. Blends frozen or fresh fruit amazingly quickly and completely.

2. Mixes powders, fluids, and solids completely and efficiently.

3. Incredibly powerful motor

4. Polycarbonade pitcher is light weight and seems very strong.

5. High quality construction and commercial look to it.

Minuses:

1. Initially offered us a ‘burnt’ odor for the first 3 weeks of use (Amazon reviews warned of this)

2. Very noisy! I have adopted a one hand over one ear and the opposite shoulder plastered against the other ear stance while keeping the other hand on the lid.

3. Does not crush ice for drinks as well as other reviewers indicated.

Overview: Not perfect, but far better than anything else that we have used!

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Rock Crusher, May 8, 2004

By

B. Elwood (San Jose, CA United States) – See all my reviews

Several facts:

- 1 HP motor (on low setting this thing will crush rocks)
- All parts are serviceable / replaceable (just like any good industrial piece of equipment)
- Will pulverize ice drinks (margaritas) in about three seconds
- Made in USA!

I got lucky and found as an out-of-box special at my local Fry’s electronics store for .90 – stole it. This is last blender I will own in my lifetime, what is that worth?

Yes you could spend less, and get an average household blender. But how often can you afford the best? Can you afford the best car in world, the best house???

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The best Christmas present I’ve gotten in years, January 1, 2003

By

R. A. Ward “speedbmp” (WV) – See all my reviews

I’ve long been interested in having a really great blender. Something that will crush ice, puree soup, make smoothies for breakfast or snacks and of course blend up a nice margarita.

I looked at dozens of blenders, and finally chose the Waring bar model in stainless based on design, other reviews and power. The metal jar was also very important. I have always been afraid of breaking the glass on other blenders I have owned, and in fact have broken one.

This blender is just lovely. It is loud, but because it is so powerful and simply *works*, you don’t have to run it very long anyway. There are no plastic buttons to get sticky and goopy. One *metal* switch and two settings are plenty.

Rather than the “turn to lock the jar in” method that most blenders use, this one drops in. You can’t do it “wrong” — it just won’t go in if you have the canister turned the wrong way. The jar, which does need to be held steady with one hand, never kicks or bucks when crushing ice. You never feel like the machine is going to burn up or fly off the counter. And when you’re done, you just grab the handle and lift it off, without fighting the locking mechanism — because it doesn’t have one.

The simplicity of design and use is a very big part of why I love this blender, but the fact that it’s metal is a huge plus. It keeps the drinks cold, it washes out *very* easily, even when doing hot stuff that would instantly stick to the glass jars of most blenders.

My blender has never failed, never struggled, never even broken a sweat while performing any task I ask it to. It looks good, cleans easily and is easy to use. What more does anyone need in a blender? I can’t think of a thing.

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blender of the year, June 16, 2000

A name you can trust and have trusted for years. This blender does it all. weather you need 1 drink or 10 drinks. Problems crushing ice with your old blender? Not this one. I go through pounds upon pounds of ice a night and this blender doesn’t even slow up.

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Waring Blender, June 19, 2001

By

Shawntell R. Stewart “Shawntell13″ (Champaign, IL United States) – See all my reviews

This blender has been completely satisfying. It crushes ice consistantly and thoroughly. My smoothies alwalys come out like silk. I use the blender several times a day, and the motor hasn’t burned out. The steel adds a unique touch while leaving me fearless of broken glass. And, the warrenty that comes with it is a comfort in the event I have problems with the unit. I highly recommend this product for it’s quality, distinctiveness, and dependability.

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