KitchenAid KSB5WH 5-Speed Blender, White
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of KitchenAid KSB5WH 5-Speed Blender, White
Customer Review: A great quiet well-designed blender, with one smoothie issue
Summary: 4 Stars
Update: After being less than satisfied with the puree/smoothie performance of this blender, I purchased the notorious Braun MX2050 PowerMax just to see if it performed substantially better. In a word: YES. The Braun did a superior job in making smoothies. That said, its drive mechanism and overall construction quality is significantly below that of this KitchenAid. I think I may keep this KitchenAid as a backup to use when the Braun breaks. Until then, I'm sorry to report, this blender won't be seeing any use.
Summary: If you're primarily interested in making icy drinks and icy protein powder shakes (like EAS Myoplex), this is a superb blender. However, if you'd like to add lots of frozen fruit to your smoothies and expect to automatically get 100% smoothness, there are probably better choices.
This KitchenAid had a number of excellent features which, for me, overcome it's relative inability to completely emulsify frozen blueberries:
1) It's exceptionally quiet! I had an older two-speed Waring that required you to wear earplugs. The relative quietness is a huge plus.
2) The lid really fits well and you don't have to worry about it popping off, provided you don't overfill the glass jar.
3) Great customer service and a no-hassle one-year warranty.
4) Pulse at all speeds, with a nice step-up power feature (where the blender starts on a low speed then ramps up, which keeps the ingredients from immediately blasting upwards).
5) The entire design is focused on ease of use, including easy wipe up and anti-fingerprint finishes.
Yes, Consumer Reports really downgraded this model on its relative inability to puree and I can see why. You *can* get smooth smoothies, provided you're willing to use the pulse feature at the end. There are always tradeoffs. For me, this blender does what's needed with icy drinks/shakes, quietly and efficiently and it looks like it belongs on my counter.
Customer Review: Looks good, but of limited use
Summary: 2 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Does not live up to Kitchenaid's reputation.
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Nice blender with one flaw
Summary: 3 Stars
In most respects this is a high quality blender. I have had mine for about two years and have used it at least a couple times a week. I like to blend frozen fruits and the sturdy motor on the KSB5 handles them with ease. I have only one warning. NEVER lift the carafe before you turn off the motor. If you do it will immediately rip apart the rubber coupling that connects the motor to the bottom of the blade (aka the rotator coupling) and render the blender useless. And Kitchenaid doesn't sell replacement parts. The only options they give you are to buy a refurbished blender for half price or buy a new one. (see below)
I think this is design defect. Murphys law was meant for product designers. If you design a product that can be easily broken it will be broken. They are well aware of the problem, and they offer no warnings and no remedy.
=== Update to review ===
After dealing with several customer service representatives at Kitchenaid who were completely unhelpful we finally got one who told us that the rotator coupling could easily be replaced at a local service shop. It took another six weeks to find a service shop with the part in stock, but when we finally did we got it replaced.... I've upgraded my review to three stars since it's a very nice blender. I'm holding back the last two because of the difficulties I had getting any help with the problem, and the design flaw that caused it in the first place.
Customer Review: Dissappointing design from the makers of a great stand mixer
Summary: 1 Stars
We love the Kitchenaid stand mixer, so we decided to try their blender. I use my blender to mix the liquid ingredients for baking or to blend small quantities of liquid and seasonings. The Kitchenaid blender can only blend larger quantities. The Step Start feature was supposed to start the blender at a slow speed and work up to the selected speed. I found that the blender started at a high speed from the start. Small quantities of 1 cup volume are thrown against the sides of the jar the moment you start the machine. You then need to scrape everything back down to the blade. I also found the it was impossible to remove the center of the lid to add additional ingredients without creating a mess in the kitchen. The jar and blade design ejected the contents upward and outward so that everything sprays all over the kitchen.Kitchenaid DOES provide excellent customer servie. I sent the first blender back and promptly received a replacement. Unfortunately the problems remained. The issues were related to a poor design, not a defective blender. I'm still using the Oster blender I bought in 1976. It's tired, but it works. I'll be replacing it with another Oster. (I have a Cuisinart DLC7 Super Pro food processor for larger quantities of drier foods or heavy duty chopping. This one's been goind strong since 1988.)