Read First Before Buy KitchenAid KSB560MC 5 Speed Polycarbonate Metallic
I was one of those people wondering what's the big difference between those cheap 30 dollar blender vs. the ones that are over a hundred bucks... I found that the following things made this particular blender very useful and worth every dollar that I paid for...
1) SOOOOO easy to clean... you literally just take out the jar and just hand wash it... Other cheap machines will make you have to take it apart and clean every little parts...
2) chops ice very well... One time, my ice cubes all CLUMPED together into ONE HUGE ice chunk (i kept it in a plastic bag), and I wondered if my blender would be able to crush this... to my surprise, the blender was able to crush into a smooth texture with the "crush ice" button.... A cheap machine would make you use a spoon or something to move the ice around or maybe just crush it into little pieces before-hand...
3) the 5 different buttons are nice to have... Literally, each button on the blender acts differently... the Ice Crush button is very nice because it pushes the ice cubes around to get to every single ice cube in the jar... I found this function very useful... Also, the "liquefy" and "puree" buttons are very useful when making smoothies or shakes...
In my experience, I used a 1500 dollar blender before (was a commercial purpose one), and that thing worked flawlessly.... for something that you want for homeuse, this is a pretty good blender and for it's price, i think it will satisfy what you're looking for.....
It's not too cheap, not to expensive, but just right~
This is a great blender for all your blending needs. Its Kitchen-Aid, so you know it's well made.
BalasHapusIt has great styling and multitudes of colors to fit every decor. The electronic push buttons are a great improvement over the old clunky mechanical buttons. They are easier to clean and operate. Since they are flush with the housing cleanups of spilled items are easy.
This is a powerful blender, easily crushing ice, chopping veggies, or mixing that smoothie or pina colada. It works so quickly, yet is relatively quiet.
The different settings are useful for different tasks and work automatically. For instance on the ice crush setting it automatically pulses for even ice crushing.
Settings such as puree start slow to pull ingredients down into the blades and then it moves up to full speed.
Clean up is easy. Simply fill half way with warm soapy water, blend on puree for 20 seconds, and rinse out. For heavier cleaning the pitcher and top is dishwasher safe.
If you are thinking of getting a blender, this is the one to get. It may seem pricely spending $100 on a blender, but once you use it you'll wonder why you ever bought one of those $30 cheapos.
My husband and I make smoothies almost every single night (as in, 6-7 nights/week), so we're really hard on our blenders. We have been through 4 blenders in the last 3 years alone. We started with a cheap Oster blender, but quickly realized that it was pretty much useless for the thick smoothies we like to make. Next, I bought the Back to Basics Smoothie Elite, which was great for as long as it held up, but as it turned out, that was only 6 months. So, we upgraded to the Back to Basics Smoothie Professional, which was great until I dropped the glass jar into the sink and broke it, only to find that you couldn't buy a new one ANYWHERE so my $120 blender was now worthless.
BalasHapusAfter all this, I decided to stop fooling around and buy a Kitchenaid. This blender has all the power you need (way more power than any of the first 3 blenders I bought; both the smoothie blenders came with a stir stick, but such a thing isn't even necessary when you have the power of this Kitchenaid), and is a steal at $99, since we've had it for a year now and it's still as good as new. The motor is unstoppable, the blade is fantastic, it cleans easily, the jar is polycarbonate (i.e. unbreakable if you drop it), and there is a removable plastic piece in the lid in case you do want to use a stir stick.
I love this blender, and when it dies (which I hope/believe will be years from now, given how reliable my other Kitchenaid appliances are) I will be replacing it with the exact same make and model. It's everything a blender should be!
I was one of those people wondering what's the big difference between those cheap 30 dollar blender vs. the ones that are over a hundred bucks... I found that the following things made this particular blender very useful and worth every dollar that I paid for...
BalasHapus1) SOOOOO easy to clean... you literally just take out the jar and just hand wash it... Other cheap machines will make you have to take it apart and clean every little parts...
2) chops ice very well... One time, my ice cubes all CLUMPED together into ONE HUGE ice chunk (i kept it in a plastic bag), and I wondered if my blender would be able to crush this... to my surprise, the blender was able to crush into a smooth texture with the "crush ice" button.... A cheap machine would make you use a spoon or something to move the ice around or maybe just crush it into little pieces before-hand...
3) the 5 different buttons are nice to have... Literally, each button on the blender acts differently... the Ice Crush button is very nice because it pushes the ice cubes around to get to every single ice cube in the jar... I found this function very useful... Also, the "liquefy" and "puree" buttons are very useful when making smoothies or shakes...
In my experience, I used a 1500 dollar blender before (was a commercial purpose one), and that thing worked flawlessly.... for something that you want for homeuse, this is a pretty good blender and for it's price, i think it will satisfy what you're looking for.....
It's not too cheap, not to expensive, but just right~
After going through 2 Waring PBB blenders - one motor died and blades on both pitchers broke soone after purchase - and many hours of research both online and in store I went out and bought the ksb560 today (would have bought it here but I had a 20% off coupon for store). I was reluctant to buy a "plastic" pitcher but this one is light but sturdy and dishwasher safe, although I would not put in dishwasher but just rinse out after each use. The pitcher has small pinholes on the bottom so when it is turned upside down it drains any excess water left over from washing and does not effect the pitcher otherwise i.e. does not leak contents when upright. On top of that it has a soft grip handle to make holding it easier and is easy to place on and remove from base. A glass or stainless pitcher is also available. The blender base is made of durable metal and not cheap plastic like other models. The clutch on this particular model has been redesigned and better than the other similar KitchenAid 5 speed. I visited KitchenAid's online forum and learned the company actually listens to its customer's complaints about the clutch breaking off so easily. Now for the best part, its quiet!! It blends perfectly and in spite of what others have said about the slight hesitation or what KA calls "soft start" when you first turn it on I really did not notice. The ice crush feature works great, I used it this morning on my frozen strawberries and everything was crushed, no small lingering lumps. I have not used it on ice yet but the manual says you can crush ice without the use of water or liquid which may be a plus for some but ice crushing is not my main use. I use this 2x/day for protein shakes one for me and one for spouse. One more BIG plus and kudos to KitchenAid is that they will replace it if the blender fails within the 1st year and they will arrange for replacement sent to you free of charge.
BalasHapusUPDATE: As much as I love this blender I have had problems with the clutch coming loose. Instead of purchasing just the jar (at $60 a pop) I decided to just get a new one for a few dollars more. This time I got it in black. After a couple of months the clutch part that makes the contents spin came loose. Kitchenaid sent me a new one but this one lasted just under a year. TOO bad because I really liked this blender. I think I am going to switch to Cuisinart for a longer lasting experience. I can't be replacing the jar every few months.
The new KitchenAid 5 Speed Blender (Model KTA-KSB560XX) is impressive. The construction quality is a VAST improvement over the older KSB5 (40 oz. pitcher) models. The base is solid and well-built.
BalasHapusThe motor is quiet, yet powerful enough to handle my most demanding smoothie tasks. It does a great job of evenly mixing and the Intelli-Speed(tm) (controls and adjusts power to compensate for thicker mixtures) is GREAT.
In the past I've always had trouble with blender cups trapping food between the seal and the blade, but the design of this cup eliminates that problem!
Overall, the blender resembles that of a high-end commercial unit. The build quality is excellent and delivers high performance at a reasonable price.
Love the design of this blender! Because the container is ONE molded piece with the blade inside, there is NO leaking or messing with rubber gaskets or taking it apart to clean. I can even blend and store any extra smoothie in the fridge! Draining holes are a smart idea, too--you don't end up with a puddle of water when you wash it and put it upside down to drain, the water drains out! Would definitely recommend this blender!!
BalasHapusMy son was having jaw surgery which ment 6 weeks of not chewing.
BalasHapusI did tons of research. Finally I purchased this for the affordable blender and a vita-mix $$$. I have compared the two side by side for two weeks. honestly they are pretty close.
This blender does it all. Be sure to put liquid in the bottom and start in pulse/chop a few quick times, if done I don't think there will be container issue. The vita-mix with the variable speed has you do the same.
The only downside is not having the stick to push down the contents when an air bubble occurs and my raw vegies are a tiny bit courser than the vita-mix. I figure I can take the extra 10 seconds to open the lid and push contents down and know my body will work a tiny bit more on my green smoothies.
I am returning the vita mix, besides this machine takes up way less room on my counter and is a tiny bit quieter.
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.
BalasHapus3/24/12 update. Our blender is now five years old, is used every day, and has been problem free since they replaced the container in 2008.