Customer Reviews

KitchenAid KSB5WH 5-Speed Blender, White

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Recently my husband and I upgraded most of our small appliances and cookware. We opted for the Kitchenaid mixer and Calphalon cookware, and decided to skimp on the blender, figuring a blender is a blender and what difference would it make?
It makes a big difference. We bought an Osterizer for dirt cheap at a local kitchen supply store and were not impressed with its capabilities. At this point I thought about buying the Kitchenaid but wanted to wait a little while, since the price was rather more than we wanted to pay for a blender.
Around Christmas my husband and I visited back home. His grandparents have the Kitchenaid 5-speed blender. We were quite impressed with its capabilities in making a great mudslide; although there were still tiny ice chips in the drink, the blender did quite well in mixing everything very smoothly and with a minimum amount of noise (for a blender anyway).
I was able to find one of these wonderful blenders refurbished through Amazon. Since I had earned a couple of gift certificates through my Amazon Visa card I got this for practically nothing. I must say, this would still be worth it even if I did pay full price. Even though it is refurbished it looks like new, and works great. The past few nights my husband and I have enjoyed the same great mudslides that we had in California, and I'm giving away my old Osterizer.
Another impressive thing about this blender is its sturdiness. With the glass and the strong base, I'm not worried about this breaking; I was worried about that with all of the flimsy plastic of the Osterizer. When trying to make smoothies on the Osterizer I always kind of winced, afraid that it might blow up at any second. I don't worry about this with the Kitchenaid; this is very obviously a sound appliance.
If you are in a money crunch, it's probably best to wait until Amazon has a refurbished model of this blender available; the only visible difference is it comes in a box that states that the product is refurbished. Also you usually won't have your pick of colors; you'll only be able to choose whatever color they have available. But whatever the price this is a great blender and you won't regret the purchase.
By the way, I did A LOT of comparison shopping at other sites before I found the refurbished model here at Amazon; Amazon does have the best price on new models that I found, even without the current rebate that Kitchenaid is offering.

After reading most of the reviews for this blender I decided to add my own. I've owned this blender for over a year now and it works beautifully. I use it mainly for making smoothies, usually for myself, but often for family and friends when visiting. If its for 1 cup or a full container it does a great job. I put 1/2 cup water or milk, ice, frozen strawberries, sometimes bananas, apples and/or pineapple into the recipes. This blender makes them into a very smooth drink in quick time and no chucks of ice or fruit in the bottom. I put everything into the container and just let it run, it pulls everything through the blades on it's own.

I've seen lots of these reviews showing theirs don't do the job, as my title states I either got lucky or it really is an excellent product and the ones that did the other reviews have had bad luck. I do recommend this blender (mine is the onyx black with glass container).

If you see this blender in a store, you'll be impressed. It has a very powerful motor. It's heavy -- solid steel, thick glass. Even the plastic top is rugged. It looks like it'll last a lifetime.

But depending on what you want it for, it may be a waste of money, because it is unsuitable for many common blending tasks. Like many other people have reported, I noticed that it left large chunks of food in the bottom, even after running a long time. I examined it closely and discovered the cause:

The cutting blades are NOT sharp. In fact, they're quite dull. There is no way you could cut yourself while cleaning this.

This seems to be intentional. When I emailed customer service, I was told, "Please note that the blade does not have sharp edging, as the blunt blades are designed to maximize superior ice crushing ability." They then went on to describe some ways that might minimize the problems this raises.

It occurred to me that if they included, or even sold at extra cost, another, sharper blade, they would probably make everybody happy. So I asked if there was a sharper blade available as a option. "Sorry".

So, if you want an ice crusher, this is your baby. It probably makes great margaritas. But if you want a blender to, uh, "blend" fruits, vegetables, etc, you'd better keep looking, since, amazingly, this model is not designed to do that.

So back it went, and back I went to my $15.00 1974 flimsy el-cheapo plastic blender, with sharp blades, that still works like a charm.

I'm a little surprised by the negative reviews in Amazon. At consumersearch.com, the Kitchen Aid blender was ranked head and shoulders above all other comparably priced blenders-- which is the reason I chose to purchase one.

It IS extremely powerful. The container is little squatter and wider than most blenders, which makes scrapping with a spatula much easier. The touch pad controls make the unit very easy to clean.

I cook quite a bit and I've used mine to make sauces, dressings, smoothies, and bread crumbs and I have been very satisfied with the results.

My husband and I bought this blender because we had the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, which is the most high-quality and excellent performer in our kitchen to date (and we had some silly idea that our appliances should "match"). Sadly, I gave away our 4 year old Oster blender before I had fully tested this one.

The box it came in depicted the blender filled with ice cubes, and had text claiming that it did a superb job of crushing ice. Bah. I have always used our blenders for making icy smoothies more than any other function, and the previous one could puree two cups of ice in ten seconds flat. No matter how hard I tried with this Kitchenaid, however, it had icy chunks at the bottom of the pitcher.

The other point against Kitchenaid blenders is the design which requires the user to lift the glass container straight up from the electronic base, no twisting. This is OK if you have never used other blenders, which usually require a twist as you remove them. In the Kitchenaid, however, this action will disconnect the glass pitcher from the plastic seal at the bottom and you will find the contents released all over the place. I would bet the farm that 90% of new users experience this charming phenomenon the first they use a Kitchenaid blender, as did I.

The nice thing about a Kitchenaid blender is the easy wipe-clean surface of the control pads.

While this appliance was adequate for all other functions, I feel misled by its marketing and would never recommend it if you plan to crush ice in it for any purpose.

For more than 3 years, this blender has impressed the friends, looked stylish, and worked very well. It makes easy work of everything from ice to nuts to hummus. The push button controls are entirely electronic and are easy to clean because they are sealed and only slightly raised. Moreover, the pitcher is heavy-duty and easy to take apart for thorough cleaning. The entire unit is solidly constructed and will doubtless last for a very long time. Kitchenaid is an excellent company that stands by their products. You must feel the power of the blend!

I bought this for my wife thinking it would be the last and best blender I would ever buy her, based on the brand, price and the solid feel.

It's been replaced twice because the rotor/teeth connection to the base of the jar has broken (just BARELY within the warranty period). It literally stripped the threads and broke the bolt. Wow. Now it's out of warranty, and broke off two teeth (not suprising, since they're plastic). Sadly, a large motor and a solid blade mean nothing if the the connection can't handle the power, and it can't, even with the step start function.

So if you want a powerful, solid, great looking blender that MIGHT last you a year, this is the one for you. I personally will be replacing it with something else.

If all you want to do is crush ice or make drinks, then this blender may satisfy you. If, however, you want the smooth puree for soups and sauces, be prepared to strain your contents after blending. Kitchen Aid has made a powerful blender, but it is both difficult to use and the results are inconsistent compared with much cheaper blenders. As a long-term user of Kitchen Aid products, I rushed out to buy this new blender when it came on the market. Now, I feel they need to redesign the blender for more optimal results. I am now looking for another blender to get the results I can't achieve with the Kitchen Aid.

If you like making margaritas, pina coladas, and that orange creamsicle stuff with vodka in it (forget the name but it's deliciious!), this blender is real easy to clean. All those drinks make sticky messes. My old blender had push buttons which I could never really get clean. This blender has a membrane type keypad so it's just 'wipe clean'. The glass part is nice and heavy so I'm not worried about breaking it and it comes apart easily for hand washing or to put in the dishwasher. Does a great job chopping up ice too.

I use a blender every morning to make a milkshake and after 5 years of using cheap ones which blew up every couple of years I decided to splash out and buy an expensive one. Mistake - this always leaves lumps of friut and ice at the bottom. I've had it for 10 days and it is yet to make a 'good' lumpless milkshake. I'm returning it and would not recommend it if you are buying a blender for making milkshakes with ice/fruit ( which doesn't leave much! )