Cuisinart
This powerful performer features pre-programmed ice crush and smoothie controls, low and high blending speeds and a convenient pulse function. Its generous 56-ounce durable plastic jar features a tight-seal lid, soft-touch cuisinart pots and pans set handle, and a 2-oz. Electronic touchpad provides easy selection for all options. With the cups, the smoothie setting made a great drink, but for the pesto it was a little more difficult to gauge how long to blend.
We liked its sleek design, however, the smoothie it produced was on the thicker, fibrous side and its fancy bells and whistles—an LED display with lots of buttons—felt unnecessary. It was a little too fussy for what we wanted in an everyday appliance. We were looking for a blender that could make a creamy smoothie without chunks of various ingredients. The texture shouldn’t be grainy or fibrous, despite the inclusion of sturdy ingredients like almonds and kale stems. The Zwilling Enfinigy made a very smooth smoothie extremely quickly. Using the regular press-to-blend setting, it also yielded a superlative pesto; the sauce was quite silky and well-emulsified, such that the oil didn’t separate even long after it sat.
In each of our annual blender testings, this high-performance Cuisinart model has ranked among the top performers. The smoothie it blends is smooth and velvety with plenty of air incorporated throughout and zero bitterness. The Hurricane Pro also crushes ice effectively into small pellets. However, it has a humongous base and would have to live on the counter permanently or require a bit of manual labor to bring out of storage. We crushed ice, made smoothies, and blitzed batches of pesto to find the best full-size and personal blenders on the market.
It’s not worth the high price when you could get the very best blender, a Vitamix, for a similar or lower cost. The brand’s high-performance model, the Hamilton Beach Professional ($180) produced even grains of ice and a smooth-textured smoothie. However, we found the smoothie to be thick and slightly warm, suggesting that the motor was overworked. The Blendtec Classic Blender ($250) is another high-performance blender.
It’s definitely worth the $100 price tag, especially as it out-performed even some of the full-sized models on our list and features a three-year warranty. This bulky 14.5-pound model has a very strong 3.5-horsepower motor. The seven-button interface offers a range of presets, including smoothie, ice crush, and soup options, plus a turbo boost for extra speeds of up to 30,000 rpm. It also has automatic load sensing, a dedicated cleaning button, and a programmable countdown timer that will remember if you adjust a preset time. The large 64-ounce blending jar is made of BPA-free Tritan, and the six-tip blade assembly is stainless steel.