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Blenders have been a must-have kitchen appliance for decades. But when food processors first gained prominence many people pushed their “lowly blender” off to the side or even put it into the closet.
It wasn’t long, though, before those people realized that blenders and food processors were two different – and essential – kitchen tools. Today’s popularity of smoothies and juicing, and the emphasis on healthy foods make the “lowly blender” more important than ever in many kitchens.
Here is Groom+Style’s Top 5 best blender list for November, 2024.
1. Blendtec Designer Series Blender With Professional Grade Power
This is the blender for people who don’t fool around in the kitchen. It carries a super-premium price, but it’s an absolutely amazing machine. It’s solid and sturdy and has a large capacity, yet is small enough to be able to fit underneath most cabinets.
It’s extremely powerful, using more than 1500 watts of power to blend anything you throw at it. It comes with a comprehensive eight-year warranty. But that’s not why the Blendtec Designer Series blender shot to the top of Groom+Style’s rankings.
What impressed the review team more than anything else was this model’s design. It’s probably the only blender you’ll ever see that deliberately features a dull blade; the blade works just fine for normal tasks but also allows the Blendtec to perfectly grind hard nuts or grains without needing constant sharpening– with the added benefit of keeping fingers blood-free.
And it comes with a so-called “Wildside” jar, a patented design with an extra-wide base and a narrow fifth side. This huge 90-ounce jar lets the machine blend faster and more smoothly by preventing cavitation (look it up if you’re curious, but basically the design pushes ingredients toward the blade instead of around the sides of the jar). It works extremely well.
Want even more? The touchscreen controls let you push one button to run automated cycles for smoothies, juicing, salsa, soup and ice cream (yes, the Blendtec makes great ice cream, too). The patented SmartBlend technology automatically senses and corrects for errors. There’s a digital timer. It looks gorgeous. It’s a snap to clean.
One warning, though: if you want this blender in red instead of black, you’ll have to pay a huge premium over the already-high cost.
In short, this is pretty darn close to the perfect blender as long as you don’t mind the premium price tag. Facts and figures for the Blendtec Designer Series Blender:
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2. Vitamix 1371 Professional Grade Blender
Vitamix is famed for the high-end blenders they produce; there’s a good reason why contestants on Hell’s Kitchen are so excited when they receive one of these machines as a gift from Chef Ramsey. The Vitamix 1371 is one of the company’s flagship offerings and it’s a terrific, albeit expensive, blender.
The G+S review team has chosen a model slightly below the Blendtec when it comes to price and performance, but not very far below at all. (And if you really want to spend more, Vitamix offers several similar versions with programmable settings that come in with a price tag higher than the Blendtec.)
This blender features a 2-peak horsepower motor, one of the most powerful you’ll find in a machine that isn’t a Blendtec. It can reach a high speed of 240 miles per hour to plow through tough cheeses or solid ice easily. The Vitamix 1371 is more than a push-button machine; its variable speed control allows you to carefully select the exact speed you want to process your ingredients, from chopping and blending to grinding and churning.
It turns out fabulous peanut butter (or regular butter) and amazing smoothies, it can mix all types of batters and knead dough for bread and pizza, and can even make perfect ice cream or hot soups so quickly that temperature is perfectly maintained.
The container on this Vitamix model is a large 64-ounce one, and a nice feature is a special tamper which helps you make thick mixtures like frozen desserts or peanut butter; it fits through a specially-designed collar to let you mix the ingredients while the blender is working, without ever touching the blades. And speaking of the blades, they’re made from aircraft-grade, hardened stainless steel. There’s a handy self-cleaning mode on the 1371 that has the machine ready for a new job in less than sixty seconds, too.
The Vitamix 1371 is a high-end blender that can handle just about every kitchen job, with a slightly-lower price for those who don’t need every possible bell-and-whistle. It’s an outstanding choice. More info on the Vitamix 1371 Professional Grade Blender:
Check Vitamix 1371 Professional Grade Blender Price On Amazon |
3. KitchenAid KSB1575CU 5-speed Diamond Blender
Stepping it down a notch, now, to blenders which don’t have quite the same features but are definitely more affordable considering the use this appliance gets in most kitchens. Topping this “second tier” of blenders is the KitchenAid Diamond, which does just about everything an everyday user would want it to do, and it does those jobs very well.
The first thing you notice is that this machine “looks like a blender” – it may be a little sleeker, but almost seems like the one your mother (or grandmother) had on her countertop. The KitchenAid has a sizeable but narrow 60-ounce container, and the shape of the pitcher actually helps somewhat in forcing ingredients back into the blades when they climb the sides.
There are five programmed speeds: stir, chop, mix, puree and liquefy, along with ice crush and pulse functions. All work well; in fact, this machine was able to chop nuts and cheese just about as well as the higher-powered, more-expensive units. Very impressive.
The KitchenAid Diamond comes in a selection of nearly 20 different colors, and brings a modern yet authentic look to a kitchen while efficiently blending or chopping like the big boys. Checking the specifications of the KitchenAid KSB1575 5-speed Diamond Blender:
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4. Ninja Professional Blender BL610
Another great second-level blender is the Ninja Professional, which can perform most daily blender duties. It looks a little clunky to our eye, but some like its thin container and silver-and-black design.
The Ninja combines 1000 watts of power with a huge 72-ounce, BPA-free plastic bowl to make quick work of smoothies and to crush ice fast. Performance when blending chunky ingredients and greens isn’t quite as smooth, however, so it may take a few jabs with a spatula to get everything to the right consistency.
There are three standard speeds (low, medium and high) and a pulse function, with no pre-programmed options. Again, you get what you pay for.
[youtube id=”6CeXFRaYwos” width=”750″ height=”340″ position=”left”]The BL610 is designed well, extremely durable and dishwasher safe. It is most impressive when performing heavy-duty rather than detailed work; we believe it’s the best blender available at a lower price point. Key specs for the Ninja Professional BL610:
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5. Cuisinart Blending/Chopping System CPB-300
Note – Cuisinart has a new model (the CPB-380 Hurricane) that Amazon shows as a “newer” model. It’s more powerful but in reality, it doesn’t provide the same convenience (single-serve smoothies) and is more like a standard, small blender with very mixed reviews. The CPB-300 is still available and G+S think it’s a better product.
The review team closes our list of top 5 best blenders with a unit that’s perfect for single-serve blending, primarily for smoothies – although it can do a lot more which adds to the desirability of this model. This Cuisinart can also replace a small processor/chopper, letting you save valuable counter space.
The best use of the CPB-300 is for terrific smoothies in a flash. It comes with a 32-ounce blending jar and four 16 ounce travel cups which screw right onto the blades – you can just put in the ingredients, screw on the blades, and presto! Grab your smoothie and head out the door. Or, of course, you can use the larger jar to make enough for the whole family. Controls are low, high and pulse, and can be easily manipulated with one finger while you mix your smoothie.
The motor is only 350 watts, but it does a surprisingly good job of grating cheese or performing other blending functions. It won’t compare with more powerful units when it comes to chopping ice, but that’s to be expected. The Cuisinart includes an eight-ounce chopping cup and separate blades for blending and chopping functions.
Groom+Style would not choose this blender for making ice cream or salsa – but it’s a lot more convenient than expensive machines for making a great smoothie or quickly chopping an onion.
It’s the best blender for its designed purposes, at a great price. Specifications for the Cuisinart Blending/Chopping System CPB-300:
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Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control Blender
* Unfortunately it looks like the Breville blender might not be available, so please consider another option for now.
Breville is known for producing high-quality kitchen appliances, and this #1 best blender is another in that distinguished line. It’s durable and high-powered, simple to use, stylish, and can even outperform some higher-priced competitors. In short, it’s a terrific machine.
The Hemisphere Control gives you plenty of options without being confusing. There are five speeds (mix, blend, puree, liquefy and “snow”) plus pulse and pre-programmed ice crush and smoothie features. They are all controlled with push buttons and located on a slick illuminated control panel, along with the on/off switch and a digital timer which counts down on programmed functions and counts up when you’re using a speed button.
The nicest thing about the pre-programming is that it alternates blending and pulsing functions so that ice, fruit or other ingredients are moved around without the need to open the top to push them toward the blades.
[youtube id=”njlkpJW-1U8″ width=”750″ height=”340″ position=”left”]That actually gets to the heart of what makes the Breville a great blender: the “hemisphere blade system” is central to its internal design. There are two sets of blades: a wide set which moves along the base of the contoured jug to push ingredients toward the top, and the traditional blades in the center which pull ingredients down. The end result is that everything moves smoothly around the jug and is evenly blended, without chunks getting stuck in corners or under blades. It’s the way a blender should operate but seldom does.
It’s also powerful, able to crush ice and shred cheese easily and efficiently.
You’d be happy to have the Hemisphere Control sitting prominently on your counter, since it is high in quality and modern in appearance; the metal base is available in silver, black or cranberry red. It’s also a relatively quiet machine (for a blender). Groom+Style think it’s the best blender out there for the price. Specifications for the Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control Blender:
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Vitamix 1363 CIA Professional Series
* This model might not be available so if you love the Vitamix blenders please consider our #2 choice the Vitamix series 5200 (model 1371).
Vitamix is famed for the high-end blenders they produce. The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is famed for the master chefs they produce. Combine the two, and you have a super-powerful, commercial-grade machine endorsed by the CIA and used to train their chefs. It can also handle anything you could possibly throw at it.
The reason the Vitamix CIA blender can perform so well is the 2-peak horsepower motor, the most powerful you’ll find in a machine that’s sold for home use. It can reach a high speed of 240 miles per hour to plow through tough cheeses or solid ice easily.
The Vitamix 1363 is more than a push-button machine; its variable speed control allows you to carefully select the exact speed you want to process your ingredients, from chopping and blending to grinding and churning. It turns out fabulous peanut butter (or regular butter), amazing smoothies, and can even make perfect ice cream or hot soups so quickly that temperature is perfectly maintained.
The container on this Vitamix model is a large 64-ounce one, and a nice feature is a special tamper which helps you make thick mixtures like frozen desserts or peanut butter; it fits through a specially-designed collar to let you mix the ingredients while the blender is working, without ever touching the blades. This blender is available in four colors: stainless, platinum, onyx and red.
This is an absolutely outstanding machine, but is extremely pricey; that’s why it comes it number two on our list instead of number one. It outperforms the Breville, but the review team was not sure the extra performance is worth several hundred dollars more for most people. One other note: Vitamix makes a number of similar models with slightly different features. For example, if you want a machine like the CIA Professional but with pre-programmed modes as well as variable speed, take a look at the Vitamix Professional Series 500 which costs a bit more. Here are the key specs for the Vitamix 1363 CIA Professional Series:
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The team at Groom+Style hope you found a blender that met your requirements from our top 5 list. If the options out there are not numerous enough already, feel free to keep researching and read about the top 5 best stand mixers.
Thanks for your review of best blender!