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248 of 257 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original Is Still The Best!, January 1, 2001
I've owned a dozen blenders over the past 30 years. They all had their advantages and disadvantages, as does this one. When I tote up the pro's and con's, Waring still stands on top for me. My first blender was an Osterizer in the early seventies when I was in college. It was a good machine for drink blending, but was frustrating for foods. If you look closely at the Oster container, the blades sit in an area recessed from the main container. No problem for liquids, but semisolid things such as peanut butter will jam down in there. I found that I constantly had to use a spatula to help dressings, dips, etc. blend. When the Kitchen Aid blender was first introduced, I bought one. It was a real disappointment from the start. No matter how much I ran items, they never got uniformly smooth! I can remember running canned tomatoes, for instance, for several minutes and still they did not puree evenly. I kept it for about 6 months and gave it to one of my employees. Roughly 10 years ago I bought my first Waring, a one-speed bar blender. Finally I had a blender that did all I wanted! I think that the trademark cloverleaf Waring design is more than hype. It truly does pull food and heavy mixtures into the blades better than competing designs. If you look at the heavy Waring glass container with its nonremovable blades, you'll see that the bottom of the container is flat and the blades stand up above the bottom. I think this is why it works so well. Incidentally, I've found no problem whatsoever in not being able to take the blades out. Because of the design, a drop of d/w liquid and hot water cleans out the bottom in a second or two. However, the limitation with this machine for kitchen use was its lack of a low speed. I bought a Cuisinart blender, then recently introduced, as I love my DLC-X food processor. Big mistake. The blender was made in China and was mostly plastic, frame and all. I burned it up making dips one New Year's Eve. Not for heavy duty use. I bought the Waring kitchen model, like this one but with a different design of container with removable blades. I liked the machine but it didn't blend as well as my bar blender. Again, this seemed apparent due to the different container design. I returned it after three weeks. Finally, I bought a two speed Waring laboratory model with timer, basically the same machine as shown here with a little different front. It has the original style container, a heavy duty motor, and has worked flawlessly for several years. I purchased the stainless steel container as an accessory, but still use the glass one most of the time. As any blender enthusiast will tell you, you only really need a low and a high speed, all the rest is window dressing. The Waring is not only classic retro design, but its simple cylindrical base affords excellent ventilation for the motor. It also makes cleanup from spills and overflows much simpler than more elaborate models. Incidentally, you can find the heavy glass containers all the time for a buck or two at local flea markets; order new blades and lid for a fraction of the purchase price of a new set! This is a classic kitchen design that will remain in style for many, many more years to come.
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