KitchenAid ProLine

I purchased this blender when our old $99 cuisinart (Which is $59 now) blew a coupling. I could probably have searched the net and purchased a new coupling, but used the problem as an excuse to step up to a… more powerful, professional blender. I researched for about a week, reading review after review after review, and kept coming back to the Kitchenaid over the Breville models. There was a slight temptation to go to even higher-end brands like blendtec, vitamix, etc, but at what increase in performance? We don't use a blender often enough for tough tasks to warrant the price, so I went with the Kitchenaid for half the price. (Or less in some cases.) I went with Onyx Black (KPCB348POB so that it would blend-in nicely with our black counter tops. I knew it was a monolith from the reveiws. It IS a tall blender, and we have to slide it out from under the dish cabinets above to use it, but it is not a deal breaker. The blender has a nice, professional look to it. The touches of stainless are classy and help it match our stainless appliances. Not that looks are everything, but the pictures don't do the blender justice. I first tried ice in the blender, and was impressed with the results. Our old blender would crush ice to some degree, but not nearly as nicely as the Kitchenaid. I'm thanking the well-designed blade and power for this. Depending on the length of pulses I could make perfect shaved ice or nice, chunky-crushed. It passed the ice test with flying colors. As an aside....Please note that the laws of physics can't be broken, and no blender will completely crush a jar full of refrigerator-freezer, oblong-shaped ice. (At least none that I'm aware of.) The long shape of typical fridge-made ice does not allow for much movement within the jar, and good movement is necessary to blend anything well. That's why some complain about air pockets. The mixture is simply not 'liquid' enough to move and this cannot be blamed on the blender. A half-full jar of this type of long ice blends wonderfully. Cubes of ice are another story. The more round the shape, the more you can pile on to crush. You could fill the jar with the small, square ice and it would work fine. However, the closer to a rectangle the shape is, the harder it is for the blender to mix it properly for even crushing.....and now back to the review. For the second test I decided to let my wife use it the morning after we got it for our son's morning smoothie. (Which, by the way, he has decided today that he no longer wants.) After a quick lesson on the speed settings she was off and running and found that the blender did a quicker, better job than our old one. It took half the time and the consistency was very nice. (She always uses the same amount of the ingredients, so I feel that it was a fair comparison.) I should note that while we were waiting for our new blender we borrowed my wife's parent's Waring Mega Pro, which was very nice and simple to use with just a pulse/off/on switch. It, too, is powerful, and worked well, but the blade design made it less efficient. Since we receieved the blender a few weeks ago we've blended a variety of things, and each time I use it I'm finding it a joy to use. It has worked very well for everything we've thrown at (in) it. I've yet to make super-fine sugar, but that's next on my list to try for that perfect caipirinha. (Yes, I actually still have some good cachaça left from the last trip to Brazil!) Clean-up of this blender is very easy. The base is easy to clean, with few crevices for 'stuff' to get trapped in. Wiping it down takes seconds. The design is such that the base is raised where the jar sits instead of a concave shape like our old blender. This way I'm not wiping down inside something to clean it, I'm wiping the sides of the raised base. Much easier, and you'll know what I mean when you try it if you buy this blender. The jar is also easy to clean simply by adding a drop of dish detergent to a half-full jar of water and running it on medium for a few seconds. I then rinse out the jar and run it again for a few seconds with clear water. If it's done daily and right after making a drink, smoothie, etc, it is not much of a chore. I have not run this blender through all the paces yet, but so far it has performed well. In comparison to our old blender and the Waring Pro, this blender is not too loud. I was expecting a lawn-mower based on some reviews and was pleasantly surprised that the sound is not that bad, especially on low. The high speed setting isn't quiet by any means, but again, our older blender and the Waring seemed to be louder on high. If you didn't need the three speeds of this machine, the Proline Bar blender looks like an excellent brother to this blender with a simple pulse/off/on switch like the Waring. Pulse for slow and on for high. Simple yet effective. Look there for a simple to use pro blender! In the end, this blender is a recommended buy, especially at the closeout price of $139! Kitchenaid is either designing a new high-end blender or getting out of the high-end blender business. Their 5 speed consumer blender seems to be selling like hotcakes.... Should any issues arise I will update this review to voice my complaints.........

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Over the past forty years, I've had several good household blenders (Osterizer, Waring, KitchenAid). These days I need a countertop blender for smoothies and occasional large batches of salad dressings; I… use an immersion blender for soups. I've made a lot of smoothies over the years, particularly since my youngest child needed more than the usual amount of orthodonture and a couple of jaw surgeries. She is an athlete and I was always having to figure out how to get 4000 calories a day into her through a straw. This is an excellent blender and well worth the price (which is still several hundred dollars shy of a true restaurant blender). It is very easy to clean and comparatively quiet. It has three speeds and can reduce raw kale, with the addition of some liquid, to a smooth puree. I've had it for several months and can recommend it without reservation.

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Admittedly, I've only used this blender twice, but so far it's a dream. My smoothies usually consist of frozen banana, soymilk, peanut butter, and spring greens. My old blender, a Hamilton Beach Wave… Station, would leave the peanut butter in clumps and the greens would be in bits big enough to have to chew. I'm also used to having to open the blender every few minutes to stir the ingredients around so they'll blend. Not so with the KitchenAid Pro Line Blender. In less than 20 seconds, with zero stirring, my smoothie came out silky smooth. The peanut butter was thoroughly mixed, and the greens were smooth and thoroughly blended in. I also added toasted wheat germ to this smoothie. No problems. Smooth as could be. Sure, the blender's loud, but nowhere near as loud as my old one. Where the old one sounded like it was trying to blend rocks, the KitchenAid just sounds like a high powered blender. I'm not sure about the slow start feature though. I turned on the blender and immediately the ingredients were thrown all over the sides and even hit the top cover for the blender. I'll update on this blender as time goes by, but I suspect my daily smoothie making has just been made a whole lot easier.

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