3 Cool Features You'll Find On The Best Blenders

You'll find a lot of features to choose from when you're looking at kitchen blenders.  The container jar capacity, the engine's power, and the number of different speeds are some of the most essential features to look at.  Be sure to check consumer reviews and various reports on the quality of the blender.  How expensive the blender is should also play a role in your decision.  Value is important.  Although not as commonly thought of, here are some other things you should take a look at.

A Dishwasher Safe Blender Jar

Cleaning the blender container and other parts in a dishwasher can be a tremendous timesaver.  You get an added health benefit here as well in that a lot of bacteria and microbes that cause sickness can be killed in a hot, high pressure dishwasher. 

Most polycarbonate and glass jars are dishwasher safe as are many plastic jars.  Blendtec and Vitamix, two of the best blenders on the market, have dishwasher safe jars.  The blender blades and the top of the blender jar are dishwasher safe in many cases as well.  You should always consult your owner’s manual before putting parts in the dishwasher, just to be sure though.

A Long Term High Quality Warranty

Unfortunately even the best blenders tend to break over time, therefore having a high quality warranty is very important.  Now if you get one of the highest quality, most expensive models, then you pretty much get what you pay for, which is a machine that will last many years.  Expect to pay $400 or more for a blender of this quality level.  If you go for a cheaper blender, just keep in mind that you may have some issues as you use the blender frequently.

At least a one year warranty is therefore critical.  You can even find some very high quality manufacturers that will offer warranties in the 5 to 7 year range.  A good warranty will cover things like cracks in the jar, engine failure, and other breakages.  The Montel Williams HealthMaster Blender even offers a 100 year warranty on their blender motor. 

When you're reviewing warranties, you should aslo look at owner reports and reviews.  If these owners had any blender problems and had to return the machine you can see what kind of response they received from customer service.  If the manufacturer is quick to respond to complaints and gets a new blender out right away, then that's a really good sign.

A Preprogrammed Auto-Timer

Many of the latest blender will have awesome auto-timers on their control panels.  After the ingredients are blended as needed, the timer will stop the motor from running.  When everything is done, the blender will beep, alerting you.  You can head off and do whatever you want while the timer is on and the blender is running, which saves you a lot of time.  You don’t have to stand over the blender or constantly check it to see if it’s done.

Coupled with the timer you often find a variety of preprogrammed settings.  For example, you press the smoothie button and the blender will start and stop the blending cycle when the smoothie is fully blended.  You don't have to guess at it anymore.  Each blending cycle is different for each type of ingredient.  Chunky salsa for example will blend for less time at a lower setting than will your smoothie.

Having these three features on your new blender will certainly save you some time in the kitchen and help you to be happy with your purchase.

For more information on the best blenders you can go to GoBlendIt.com.  They have a Top 5 List of the best blenders.  Their detailed blender reviews cover all major brands and models.  And if you need some smoothie recipes, you can find those as well.