Blenders

Blenders are Small Kitchen Appliances best used for preparing drinks like smoothies and milkshakes, crushing ice and frozen ingredients or foods that are normally poured or drizzled. Some Blenders are designed for both hot or cold ingredients like some Ninja or Vitamix Blenders that can handle blending hot soups.

Blenders consist of a base housing the engine and controls with a removable jug and rotating blade built into its base. The jug's shape is designed to create a vortex inside when switched on that will continually feed the contents of the jug through the spinning blades. This makes Blenders highly efficient at pureeing, crushing and liquifying. Some Blenders feature removeable or swappable blades for lots of uses and many come with travel cups to have a smoothie or Juice on the go.

All Blenders can crush ice via a specific ice crushing program or requiring liquid to be added, however some lower powered models might take longer or leave larger chunks behind. Double check the user manual for the brand's recommendation to avoid damaging the blades. Blenders come in a variety of capacities from single serve 500ml bottles to drink from like Nutribullet or BlendJet Portable Blenders, to family sized units with 2L jugs from Sunbeam or KitchenAid.

How easy a Blender is to clean depends on the design of the model. Blenders can have lots of nooks and crannies where food can become trapped and sharp blades can present a hazard to clean manually.

Cleaning a Blender quickly after every use will stop residues from a smoothie or sauce drying out and getting stuck in hard to clean places, so soak the jug in water straight after use if you can't fully wash it straight away.

Some Blenders have a self-clean function like KitchenAid's requiring just a tiny amount of detergent and warm water in the jug before selecting the function. For models with removable blades they can be washed in some warm soapy water, however extra care needs to be taken while handling with firm gloves or protection. The blades should then be left to dry naturally before returning to the jug to again avoid cuts and also avoid wearing the blade. Some Blender jugs are Dishwasher safe, however we always recommend consulting the manual of model to be clear on its cleaning and maintenance requirements and capabilities.

The wattage of a Blender measures the power consumed to run the engine. The number of watts a Blender should have depends on its use cases.

High performance Blenders are the most versatile and powerful used to chop and crush ingredients thoroughly to make nut butters, spice pastes, doughs and even mill flour. These Blenders are powerful enough to crush large volumes of ice breaking it down to a snow-like consistency. For these tasks, these appliances work in the 1200 to 1500 watt range.

A small capacity Blender for less intensive tasks like making smoothies from fresh fruits will provide good performance at 300 to 600 watts. An average Blender for casual use mixing drinks or blending soups works best from 500 to 750 watts. It's not just about the brand either, as for example Nutribullet Blenders can range from around 600 to 1500 watts, due to each catering for a different use.

Blenders come in a wide variety of sizes with enough power for a range of tasks. Consider how much space is available in the kitchen. Will you leave your Blender out on the bench or store it away after every use? Larger Blenders can be awkward to move in and out of cupboards, so take that into account to save bench space. Alternatively, a nicer looking or matching model that will look good in the kitchen and on the countertop could be the go.

Check if the Blender has both high and low speed settings along with a pulse function. Pulse helps blend ingredients in short self controlled bursts for an even blend. Many models reduce excessive splashing with a gradual startup feature that starts slower before increasing such as retro inspired Smeg Blenders.

Some models include pre-programmed options specifically for soups, sorbets and green smoothies, while cordless Portable Blenders are great on the go. If looking at single serve Blenders, keep an eye out for additional jugs or cups included or sold separately to serve multiple people.