Customer Reviews

KitchenAid 5-Speed Blenders with Polycarbonate Jars, Pink

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Bought this blender after reading good reviews in Cooks Illustrated and have not been disappointed. Majority of use has been for making smoothie drinks and pureeing cooked vegetables for sauces and soups.

The machine is sturdy and attractive. The metal housing appears quite durable and the hefty weight of the base makes for good stability. The jar is large holding more than 7 cups although there is better circulation and mixing with around 5 cups or less. At first I was a bit put off by the plastic jar (seemed cheap) but have come to appreciate its light weight. After a few drops I think it's much more durable than glass and I don't cringe when my wife wacks the edge of the jar with metal spoons. 5 speeds with pulse and ice crush buttons- I would be perfectly happy with 3 speeds. Crushes ice uniformly from chunky to snow-cone fine. Purees are smooth with no lumps. The blender was purchased to replace a still working Waring classic which did not crush ice well at all. The blades do not come off the jar for everyday cleaning, but this has not been a problem - I just run it with some soapy water or put it in the dishwasher. I've waited about 7 months to submit a review in order to give it a good test. Everything still runs well and looks good and I still consider this blender a very good buy.

I have owned several blenders over the years, including a blender specifically made for smoothies. The motor in this device would smoke when too much ice was used. I returned it immediately because I did not think that was safe. I also previously owned a combination food processor/blender from Hamilton Beach that was pretty efficient. However, it was a huge hassle to switch between the two devices and I stopped using it all together. I have owned this blender for over a year and it is one of the best I have ever used.

The KitchenAid blender is large, quick, and efficient. It makes short work of blending ice, no matter the amount of ingredients placed in the polycarbonate jar. The jar alone is enough to make me want to get another one. It is light, easy to clean, and the handle and contoured pouring lip makes it a breeze to get your ingredients out of it.

I have had no problems with this machine and feel completely comfortable recommending it to other people. The warranty and great customer service offered through KitchenAid covers any and all problems for the first year.

...this blender is for you. no rings, washers, blades that screw in. you just pop the pitcher on the base, plug in, and ROAR! Smoothest margarita in town and in mere seconds. no ice chunks clogging your straw. This is the blender to buy. all small appliances should be this easy to use right out of the box.

Prompt delivery. No damage even for such a heavy box. We love the machine. Sturdy, easy to clean. Due to its weight and frequent use we have in on counter. Ability to store and hide excess cord under machine is a plus, keeps counter a little clearer. Weight of machine makes it very stable.
It has a powerful motor and it does make noise while whipping up smoothies and crushing ice. I don't think that should surprise anyone. We have an icemaker in fridge that makes cubes about 3/4 in square and makes crushed ice. I have tried both in smoothies and this machine blends them all very well.
We like the pulse and chop functions. It has plenty of power and plenty of speed. Had read about leaking at the base gasket, none on ours yet in a few weeks use, but I can see from the location of the gasket and the nut to tighten the assembly that it would not be difficult to tighten at the first sign of a leak. I like the idea the KA makes replacement parts available. Our son has one; owned for years and has no leak problems. He enjoys the machine too.
I wish the green were more of a sage than the apple or pear hue, but it still looks good in our kitchen.

I bought this to replace an old osterizer blender that died. I love it! I love that to clean it I don't have to take it apart and clean a bunch of parts- I just fill it with water and blend. So quick! I use it for a lot of Sue Gregg blender batter recipes. My old blender wasn't strong enough to handle those recipes very well. No problem for this one! Even better, it is large enough to even double the recipes. Does a great job on smoothies. I'm very pleased!

We had an Oster blender that was reliable and sturdy and saw daily use for years. We were satisfied with it until the drive bolt started to rust and slip, making it difficult to secure the pitcher to the blender. We thought this was a minor inconvenience, but it eventually became quite tedious and we began the search for a replacement. Because the Oster had performed so well for so many years, we were reluctant to change brands, but this KitchenAid had all the features we wanted and came in a soothing buttercup which promised to add a splash of color to our drab white kitchen, so we took a chance on it. Well let me say right out, I don't know what we were waiting for, because this blender is our dream kitchen tool. It comes with fives speeds and two "modes", making it very versatile. Some people may be put off by the polycarbonate pitcher, but for lightness, ease of handling, and reduced breakability, it simply can't be beat. (I guess it weighs about one-fifth or less of what our old glass pitcher weighed.) This blender is also not as loud as our old one. Although I would hardly call it "quiet", the reduced noise level is easier to bear and doesn't startle the cats nearly as much. Plus, you can start it slow (and relatively quiet) and change speeds on the fly (slowly increasing the noise - making it a lot more tolerable). Our main usage is to make smoothies every morning, using fresh and frozen fruit, protein powder and milk, and it makes an evenly consistent smoothie on just the third setting with no problem. On hot mornings, I will occasionally add a few ice cubes, which requires a higher setting and a little more time, but again, it delivers a tasty and consistent smoothie. It is very important to keep the lid on, because when it catches the chunks of banana and frozen berries the first few times, it shoots everything all around the inside of the pitcher. As the stuff inside gets finer, the blending gets smoother and smoother, usually in just a few seconds. The pitcher fits easily on the drive body with no fussing and adjusting. Although the blade is not removable from the pitcher, it still cleans up easily. (Soapy water on a low setting for a few seconds is really all it needs.) We like the sleek look of the push buttons and the modern appearance of the lid. This really turned out to be the perfect blender for us. Just every feature on this blender is well designed and thought out, making it great for occasional or everyday use for any typical kitchen. Definitely, an all around winner.

I bought the KitchenAid 5-speed blender after my husband and I purchased the Breville die-cast hemisphere blender and returned it after 1 use. The power it used made our lights flicker and the motor smelled like it was burning. We make frozen fruit smoothies every morning and had been using an old cheap blender that did the job okay for years but the expensive heavy-duty Breville seemed to struggle through the job. After extensive research I learned that the motors tend to burn out after a year and the Ikon model tends to leak. I read what seemed like hundreds of reviews on every blender and decided to purchase the KitchenAid.

The KitchenAid 5-speed blender has no problem blending our frozen fruit smoothies. I don't like to use a ton of liquid in my smoothies and make them thick like a shake (with frozen fruit, yogurt, protein powder, oats, wheat germ, peanut butter, flax seed, banana, milk) and I couldn't be happier with this blender. I put in all of my ingredients and select the crush ice mode. After that I select liquify for a few seconds and its done. This blender made the $300 Breville look like a piece of crap. I also love the one piece design of the pitcher. I was unsure about it at first, but it is really easy to clean even when I add peanut butter or honey.

I have only owned this blender for about a week now so I can not speak to how it holds up long term but based on the simple design, steel reinforced couplers, and life of my other kitchenaid appliances I assume it will last long. The only thing about this blender that I can see some people not liking is that it does create an air bubble at first on the bottom when blending, but for me this is not an issue and very minor. It's not very difficult for me to stop blending for a second to allow the ingredients to sink and start again. At $99 this blender has beyond out performed the original $300 purchase we made and it is so simple to make smoothies with! I doubt I'd be happier with any other blender out there due to the performance and reasonable price.

This blender was a gift for my daughter. She wanted a heavy duty blender that would blend her smoothies easily, without the ice or frozen fruits getting stuck below the blades and without having to stir and restart over and over. This blender fit the bill. She says it cuts the ice cubes and frozen fruits, blends without her having to stop and stir in order to get the ingredients mixed and then restart the blender. She says she loves it and uses it multiple times of the day, and this is 6 months after I gave it to her. Seems like a great blender which was just what she asked for.

Before I purchased the KitchenAid 5-Speed Blender, I read through dozens of online reviews, looking for a blender that could handle daily use and short of spending $500 on top-of-the-line Vitamix or Blendtec, I decided to try the KitchenAid since making smoothies is something new for me.

I've had the blender now for about three weeks, and was a bit worried about any possible leaks based on some of the customer reviews, but so far, it's been terrific. It's extremely easy to clean and the the blade mechanism is sealed to the bottom of the jar, so there's no need to remove it. I've examined closely to see why some customers have complained about it leaking and there are washers that hold the seal. So, if for any reason it might start to leak, that would be the source, I would presume. So do be careful when reading some of the negative reviews about it leaking - see if they can articulate just where and how it is leaking. Now perhaps I'm speaking too soon since I haven't had it long, but my thinking is that the seal of the washers for the blade are where you're going to find any leaking, and that should be a fairly easy problem to fix with a trip to the local hardware store. Again, I haven't experienced any leaking so far, but am only addressing the negative reviews that state the jar leaks.

One thing also to consider for those who are blender novices - don't put ice in the empty jar and turn it on! You need a certain amount of liquid or fruits/vegetables that will easily turn to liquid in the blender first in order for it to properly work, otherwise, you will start to smell the engine heating up. Also, you don't need to run it that long, even after adding ice, it takes me less than about 30 seconds, to crush it (added last to the smoothy).

really strong motor gets a work out in my kitchen and keeps on going, flat buttons make cleaning easy and it looks great