KitchenAid KHB100OB Hand Blender, Onyx Black
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of KitchenAid KHB100OB Hand Blender, Onyx Black
Customer Review: Quite useful, seems well made
Summary: 5 Stars
For those of you have have never had one, these immersion blenders are quite handy. They are easy to clean, and convenient to use. They also don't take up much space; I keep my KitchenAid unit on the counter, and store the beaker in the cupboard where I keep glasses, with the blender attachment inside. It's no fuss at all if you want to mix just a single drink. While a traditional blender is more versatile, if I had a choice of only one I'd go with the hand blender as being the most useful on a day to day basis.
This is the second immersion blender I have owned. I like this one quite a bit; it is powerful, but quiet. I'm not sure whether having 9 speeds is so important, I find I either use speed setting 1 or 9. Maybe they should make custom units that go all the way to 11. ;-)
One concern with a device like this is marrying a powerful motor to a removeable attachment. My first device (an Oster) chewed itself to bits, leaving metal shavings in my food (good thing I checked). The KitchenAid unit's attachment has a good positive lock design which makes this improbable. A safety interock would have been better. The metal shaft of the blending attachment is driven by a hard plastic socket with slim splines. This means in the unlikely event of anything ending up in your food, you'll have tiny bits of fractured plastic, not desirable of course, but preferable to long, razor sharp metal shavings. The socket looks like it could be replaced if necessary, but given the price most people would opt for replacing the entire unit over having it serviced.
One thing would be nice is if the guard around the actual blades was plastic instead of metal. Then it could be used directly inside nonstick saucepans for pureeing soup.
Conclusion: a safety interlock and plastic blender shield would improve this product, but overall it is well made, quiet and safe. Few things are made to last these days, but given how useful this device is, its a safe bet you will get your money's worth.
Customer Review: Great blender but DO NOT USE WITH ICE OR FROZEN FRUIT!
Summary: 3 Stars
This has been a great blender up until earlier this week. You can read all the great positive reviews here on Amazon to get a feel for the versatility of this blender. My purpose for writing this review is to warn others not to use this with ice or frozen fruits. I'd say that my blender is about a few years old and about a year ago I began making protein shakes for breakfast, sometimes using ice or frozen strawberries & bananas. I'd say I made 3-4 a week. The other day when cleaning out my sports bottle, I found one of the BLADES at the bottom. It broke clean off! (I uploaded a picture) I can't imagine the pain I would have been in if I actually drank that thing. If this hadn't happened, I'd just be as happy as a clam like everyone else with this thing. I recommend that if you get it, only use it for "soft" blending. NO ICE OR FROZEN FRUIT! If you treat it gently, I'm sure it will last you quite a bit longer than mine did. Maybe it was my fault for assuming that I could use it this way. I did look back in the manual and the only indication given that it can't handle this is where they give some recipes and then say "frozen xyz fruit, partially thawed" by one of the ingredients. Buyer beware!
UPDATE: I emailed customer service and they offered to replace it even though its out of warranty. Nice! I will give them credit for standing behind their product when they technically didn't have to. Just FYI for all those thinking about purchasing this, read the representatives response below and keep it in mind when you are thinking of ways you will use this. I was anticipating the response about the fruit, but that still doesn't explain why their Mocha Frappé recipe calls for 1 - 1 1/2 cups of ice.
Rep's response: "For future reference, we do not recommend any ice be processed with the immersion blender. Although it is not expressly stated in the manual, the two smoothie recipes included recommend to use only thawed, canned, or fresh fruit, not frozen."
Customer Review: I like it!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This Great item I use to make mayonnaise (recipes follow) in my kitchen. I will not buy jarred mayonnaise again. I bought the blender on a whim when my KA blender when on the fritz, not knowing what I would do with it. While speaking with the customer service (outstanding service by the way) agent, she mentioned that they had this item on special ($35, new) with the beaker and whisk I jumped on it without much thought. After receiving it I put it in the drawer and forgot I had it until I saw a cook on the Food Network using it to make mayo. I've been in love with it ever sense.
Mayo recipe #1, Spicy
3 large egg yokes
2 tbs apple cider vinegar*
1 tbs hot sauce of your choice
1 ts kosher salt
¼ ts freshly ground pepper
1 cup canola oil
Makes a little over one cup.
Place first 5 ingredients into beaker and mix on lowest speed setting using the blade attachment. Now put the spurs to her, speed setting #9. Begin adding oil in a very thin stream; this is where most people make the mistake of adding oil too quickly. Add until thick and creamy. Take your time here and you will be rewarded.
This mayo makes great potato salad.
I dip French fries into it
And of course I use on sandwiches
Recipe #2, Honey Mustard
Same as above omitting the hot sauce, adding 1 tbs of mustard of your choice and 1 tbs honey. Great on most anything. If you want a garden salad dressing use 2 whole eggs in place of the three egg yokes and stop adding the oil when the dressing has reached the thickness you want.
* It is critical that you not cut back on the vinegar. It preserves the mayo and keeps you safe from salmonella. Lemon juice can be used in place of the vinegar if fresh squeezed.
Customer Review: The GrandDaddy of Hand Blenders!
Summary: 5 Stars
June 25, 2004: I have had a Braun handblender for many years (10 years?), and was pleased with its performance, until it finally lost its spunk last week. I bought this product yesterday as a replacement, and I must say I am very pleasantly surprised! This was a HUGE step up! I would even say that this is a professional quality gadget! (It is certainly styled to look the part!)
My favorite thing to make with my handblender is hummus - a mediterranean chick pea dip - and last night I made some the smooooothest hummus I ever made! This is in part because of the 9 speeds available on this model. I started out with lower speeds and then worked my way up to the top one. This is a large handblender, but it was comfortable and easy to use - lightweight even, and sure has a LOT of power. As with most of these products, it was a little difficult to clean the blades, but not a problem. (Really, the best way to clean it is to "blend" a cup of soapy water!)
There other models of this that come with attachments - that might be nice in the future, if I want to whip or chop using the attachments - but this basic model with the blender and the cup are all I need for most anything, and worth the price tag for the POWER you get from this brand! It's true what they say - KitchenAid ROCKS!
UPDATE: yikes! I was blending bread into breadcrumbs (not toasted, silly me) and it got doughy and really thick and blew the fuse. If anyone knows how to fix that, please comment. I stand by my earlier glowing review - this incident was my fault!
Customer Review: If only it had lived...
Summary: 3 Stars
It was a wonderful little blender, very handy in size, not a lot of fussiness, attractive, easy to use, all that.
HOWEVER,
I honestly was only able to use it about five times over a six-month period. I made some pestos, a soup or two, and...that was about all I could get out of it before it croaked.
I took it out of the box one day in great anticipation, but its spirit had parted. And no one knows when or how it happened.
I tried to call customer service of course, but they basically said that it must have either short-circuited or the insides had come apart, and all I could do was buy another one. The best price they gave me was forty-five dollars for a refurb sans shipping costs.
Imagine the disappointment. I had to bury a shiny new acquisition before I even had the chance to wreck it. And I had just purchased the whipping attachment.
I will just stick with my mother's 15 year-old hand blender for now, because 3 watts of power through 15 years is a better deal than 60 watts for five thrilling uses.
I talked to some friends after that and they seemed to have similar opinions about kitchenaid appliances (in contrast with some other familiar brands)--attractive and great UNTIL.
They work well until they decide to stop working, by my survey, and it seems to be a rather undependable and unattractive gamble you're asked to take with the kind of price range their brand commands...