Best Blenders Overall

Blenders for smoothies, drinks and pureeing soup

A kitchen fixture for over 50 years, the blender has ceded many of its chores to the food processor. But food processors cannot crush ice or make frozen drinks, and blenders are still best for pureeing soups. Professionals say these are the tasks to emphasize when evaluating blenders.

The Oster Classic Beehive Blender (*Est. $60) wins praise from professional testers and owners alike. Cook's Illustrated and Money Magazine both recommend the Beehive as a solid blender with simple controls and great performance. Cook's Illustrated praises it as an "able ice crusher" that makes the quickest pesto. A large number of owners posting to Amazon.com give this blender an above-average rating. Owners say that they like the simplicity of this two-speed blender. Many also find it attractive, with retro styling and a choice of colors for the base. The major complaint for the Beehive blender is noise. Oster touts its all-metal drive system; possibly this accounts for the fewer complaints of breakage as compared to the similarly priced Braun PowerMax MX2050, but the noise could be a deal breaker for some. The Beehive blender has a tapered 40-ounce glass jar that pours well, say reviews.

When it comes to inexpensive blenders, it was a challenge to identify favorites. Often, models highly rated in some reviews don't do as well in other reviews, or receive low user ratings. Despite high ratings in three recent professional reviews, reliability has often been a problem for the Braun PowerMax MX2050 (*Est. $50). The PowerMax failed Consumer Reports' March 2004 tests due to problems with its gear-teeth assembly, but by July 2005, the magazine was reporting that the problem had been corrected. Owner-written reviews, however, still sometimes cite durability trouble. To be fair, we read similar mixed ratings for several blenders, many of which cost a lot more than the $50 Braun PowerMax, which now has limited availability.

Aside from the Classic Beehive Blender, Oster makes a bewildering number of models in its "Osterizer" line -- some with 10 speeds, others with 12 or 14 speeds and designs that vary. Some models have taller jugs, while others have shorter, squatter jugs. The Oster 12-Speed Osterizer 6663 (*Est. $40) stood up well against other inexpensive blenders in the Cook's Illustrated testing. Editors say it performs just as well as the Braun PowerMax MX2050 (*Est. $50) and the Oster Classic Beehive Blender (*Est. $60), and is less expensive. This model gets average reviews at Amazon.com, however. Several owners say it's noisy, and that there's not much difference between the different speeds. About half have durability complaints.

Good Housekeeping chooses another Oster blender, the Oster 10-Speed (*Est. $30), as its budget pick, saying you might sacrifice style but not performance. User reviews are inconsistent for this model as well. Although we didn't find the 12-speed Oster 6684 (*Est. $40) included in any professional reviews, it does get a large number of owner ratings, most of which are good. Most say it's loud, but fine for the price. The happiest owners seem to use it for basic tasks like blending smoothies and pureeing soup. Those who aren't as happy say it's not the best at making smooth icy drinks, leaving icy lumps behind. Because it gets slightly better reviews than most blenders in this price range, we've included this Oster model in our top picks.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from the basic two-speed Oster Beehive blender, the Oster Fusion BRLY07 (*Est. $70) and the Oster Counterforms BVLB07-L (*Est. $90) tout "Triple-Tech Technology," which includes a reversing blade, a six-point-star blade design and preprogrammed settings. These two recent additions to the Oster lineup are marketed as 2-in-1 appliances, replacing food processors for many chopping functions (each has a feed tube in the lid). Both the Fusion and the Counterforms blenders performed well in one test. There has been little feedback from users so far for the Counterforms, but 25 customers at Amazon.com give the Fusion slightly above-average reviews, saying the Fusion can be noisy, and in a few cases stopped working shortly after purchase.

More expensive blenders look nicer, but aren't always better

In testing at The Wall Street Journal, which involved making mainly frozen margaritas, the KitchenAid Custom Blender KSB560 (*Est. $100) was the champ. It crushes ice well, its 56-ounce polycarbonate jug is lighter than a glass jug, and testers say its teardrop design makes pouring easy. However, we read some consumer reviews that cite a consistent issue -- the bottom of the polycarbonate jug can start to crack and eventually leak. We talked to KitchenAid customer service, who told us that the bottom of the container has been recently redesigned so that it is less likely to crack in the area near the blade assembly.

Although the model numbers sound similar, the newer KitchenAid KSB560 is a completely different design than the KitchenAid UltraPower KSB5, a model that pops up in many reviews as the best choice. However, the KSB5 has been discontinued.

Introduced in the late 1930s, the Waring blender was the first commercially successful blender. But lately, Waring blenders have not been huge favorites of professional reviewers. The Waring Pro Series includes several similar models with 390-watt motors. The Waring Pro PBB Food and Beverage Blender (*Est. $130) and Waring Pro MBB (*Est. $130) have the trademark cloverleaf glass jar and a metal base. With just two speeds, the Waring Pro series blenders are easy to use. Although the blenders lack a pulse feature, owners say that they flick the switch from on to off when they want to pulse. However, testers at Cook's Illustrated report problems with the glass jar design: not only was it difficult to remove processed food from the narrow, cloverleaf-shaped jar, but it also felt "tippy." Cook's Illustrated gave the Waring Pro PBB fair to poor scores in every test, including ice crushing -- a benchmark for any blender. It should be noted, however, that Cook's Illustrated attempted to crush 15 ice cubes in just five pulses. Owners posting to Amazon.com, who presumably let their blenders run a bit longer, report that the PBB crushes ice just fine, if slowly.

Waring ramped up the wattage and revamped the design of the Waring Pro MBB/PBB blender, and the result is the 500-watt Waring RB75 Professional blender (*Est. $140), which has an RPM gauge. The Waring RB75 includes a five-year warranty, and some owners say you'll need it -- the few owner reviews we found reported lots of problems. The Pro line also includes the lower-priced Waring Pro WPB Professional Bar Blender (*Est. $70), which has a 500-watt motor, a 40-ounce glass jar and removable blade assembly. The Wall Street Journal found that the wide spout of the Waring WPB made pouring drinks difficult.

With the Hamilton Beach Wave Station Plus Dispensing Blender (*Est. $45), a spout near the bottom dispenses drinks, so there's no need to lift the carafe. While Good Housekeeping includes this Hamilton Beach model among its four best blenders, the editors note that the Wave Station is taller than most blenders and might not fit under some cabinets. The Wall Street Journal review also criticizes this model for being loud and having confusing controls.

Ice-crushing is a strong suit for the L'Equip R.P.M. 228 (*Est. $135). In comparison tests of nine blenders by Cook's Illustrated, the L'Equip R.P.M. earns the editors' highest rating. Testers liked its manual power dial and built-in stir stick, but they report that fitting the jar into the base can be a little fussy. The L'Equip R.P.M.'s polycarbonate jar holds 56 ounces. With 900 watts of power, this blender makes short work of ice, frozen fruit and veggies, as confirmed in another recent test, which cited noise as this blender's big drawback. One owner calls the noise level "alarming." With only a small number of owner-written reviews, it's hard to get a clear idea of long-term performance. We did read a few reports that the L'Equip blender smelled like it was overheating, some that metal inside the jar shredded off, and a few more that the jar didn't hold up very long. Still, this blender comes with a six-year warranty.

Homeland Housewares, which sells the Magic Bullet (*Est. $100) via infomercial and other outlets, claims that their blender can "chop onions, mince garlic, grate cheese, and do virtually any job in the kitchen in 10 seconds or less!" Although some owners are enthusiastic about their Magic Bullet blenders, we read many complaints about breaking plastic parts and an inflexible policy that forces customers to pay for a new base instead of a single replacement part. Good Housekeeping's testers found that the Magic Bullet can indeed chop, blend and grind -- but not very well. Cook's Illustrated put the Magic Bullet through a battery of tests, and it failed at nearly every one.