Blender Buying Guide

These are perhaps one of the most common types of personal blenders. They are handheld ‘sticks’ with a comfort handle at one end and a chopping blade surrounded by a safety guard at the other.

Immersion blenders and stick blenders are interchangeable terms, and although each brand may vary wildly in power and ability there is no real difference when you are comparing a blender called immersion or stick.

One of the best uses for an immersion blender is to blend soups and hot liquids. They are also great for quick mixes where you are blending the powder with liquid. Creating protein shakes, using powdered milk, or even an instant pudding, are all effortless with a stick blender.

These types of personal blenders have been made popular by the NutriBullet blenders, the Ninja range and Hamilton Beach. They come in varying sizing, but most have a capacity to make a single or double serve drink.

They are quite unique in the way that they work. You fill the ‘bullet’ shaped container with your ingredients, screw a chopping blade to the top, then turn the whole thing upside down and insert it into the bullet blender base.

These are the original smoothie makers. They are fantastic and chopping up frozen fruit, ice, and nuts to create a smooth drink. They are also good for making a quick omelette or pancake batter; however, you can really only use single-serve blenders to create very liquid recipes.

Another popular use for these types of blenders are baby food preparation. They can make pureed food in a flash.

These types of blenders are the one-stop-shop for great drinks. The leaders in this market would be Vitamix and Kitchenaid, although excellent marketing from Blendtec and the ‘make it blend’ campaign has raised their profile.

They generally have a larger 64 oz or almost 2-liter capacity, so countertop blenders are a great option if you are going to be making drinks for a family or party. One caution with using these types of blenders is to check carefully before using to blend hot liquids. Most countertop blenders are designed for cold or cool liquids and have lids that seal well.

This is great for keeping flying ice and smoothie ingredients from flying around but causes a huge pressure to build up for steam from hot ingredients, which can cause an explosion.

Hands down these make the best drinks around. However, you can expand your thinking a little, and turn these types of blenders into the one-stop treat shop too.

Blended smoothie can make the most delicious ice blocks, creating a great healthy treat on summer days. You can even use them to create alcohol ice blocks for a fun adult treat for parties.

If you’re looking for something with pure power, then these types of blenders are going to be what you want. The Vitamix and Waring Blenders are both popular professional blenders, but other semi-pro options such as the Modelux and Hamilton Beach also provide consumers with a professional style blender.

These types of blenders are all about power. They are intended to suit a heavy user, and they are designed to blend more robust ingredients.

Commercial blenders are going to be great if you want to make large batches of hummus, dips or intend to create smoothies or iced drinks at least once a day. They are an absolute necessity if you are going to be creating blended foods and drinks more than once a day.