Well, the July Costco coupon sale was drawing to a close today. I had my eye on a small appliance that appeared to be of superior quality, and of course I would be "saving" $10 if I bought today. So.... in part celebration for a good qtrly profit sharing bonus, for $59.99 plus tax and associated grief, I am now the proud owner of a Kitchenaid 3 speed blender.
Granted that the Costco selection is generally fairly limited, but it wasn't hard to see that the KA blender stood heads and shoulders above the other offerings on the shelf from Oster and Cuisinart. Those seemed flimsy and underpowered. Plus, the KA, while not 100% US made, at least says "Assembled in the USA" on the box.
It claims 0.9 horses (which is rather amazing for a blender, probably peak HP but still), a cast metal base (although the lower portion of the base appears to be plastic), and a wide bottom blending jar and extra large one-piece blending blade that will hopefully avoid the dreaded air pocket so common when blending thick mixtures in a narrow-bottom blender.
I got the model in black... I didn't see any in red and the white was on display... ok, but a bit boring. Cobalt blue would have been nice but there wasn't any of that either. Basic black will do just fine, and go well with the rest of the kitchen decor, as such.
Haven't unboxed it as yet. The current chrome beehive all metal base Made In USA one-speed Oster will be going out into the retro patio kitchen to join other generally vintage appliances. The new KA will go in the main kitchen where its main chore will be to blend seasonings for kimchee ;-). And maybe make crushed ice for a few daiquiris and margaritas.
OK, so that brings me to a total of two blenders. I think I can stop there.
One thing I like most about these modern blenders is the membrane control panel - easy to keep clean. I remember my harvest 10 speed push button Oster of the 80's was a real PITA to keep clean. Eventually a spate of daiquiri parties finally fried the bearings and it went into the trash (although I kept the plastic pitcher, cap, blade, etc, as backups for the beehive). And I could never figure out why all those speeds were needed.
Granted that the Costco selection is generally fairly limited, but it wasn't hard to see that the KA blender stood heads and shoulders above the other offerings on the shelf from Oster and Cuisinart. Those seemed flimsy and underpowered. Plus, the KA, while not 100% US made, at least says "Assembled in the USA" on the box.
It claims 0.9 horses (which is rather amazing for a blender, probably peak HP but still), a cast metal base (although the lower portion of the base appears to be plastic), and a wide bottom blending jar and extra large one-piece blending blade that will hopefully avoid the dreaded air pocket so common when blending thick mixtures in a narrow-bottom blender.
I got the model in black... I didn't see any in red and the white was on display... ok, but a bit boring. Cobalt blue would have been nice but there wasn't any of that either. Basic black will do just fine, and go well with the rest of the kitchen decor, as such.
Haven't unboxed it as yet. The current chrome beehive all metal base Made In USA one-speed Oster will be going out into the retro patio kitchen to join other generally vintage appliances. The new KA will go in the main kitchen where its main chore will be to blend seasonings for kimchee ;-). And maybe make crushed ice for a few daiquiris and margaritas.
OK, so that brings me to a total of two blenders. I think I can stop there.
One thing I like most about these modern blenders is the membrane control panel - easy to keep clean. I remember my harvest 10 speed push button Oster of the 80's was a real PITA to keep clean. Eventually a spate of daiquiri parties finally fried the bearings and it went into the trash (although I kept the plastic pitcher, cap, blade, etc, as backups for the beehive). And I could never figure out why all those speeds were needed.
