Breville BBL550XL 5-Speed Blender

I first saw this Breville Ikon Hemisphere blender demonstrated on HSN.  Much like the Brother PC 420 sewing machine that I also saw on HSN first, I knew I had to have it.  I cook and bake a lot, but have a small apartment so got by for years with just a hand blender (first Hamilton Beach, now Kitchen Aid) and my amazing vintage Moulinex food processor.  I don't have much counter space, and didn't think I had room for a full size blender.  I have room for 35 anitque vacuum cleaners, but no blender!  However, I got tired of slopping ingredients all over the kitchen with the hand blender and began to look at blenders in the stores when I saw the demo for this Breville.

I was at the mall and decided to stroll through some kitchen departments.  I went to Williams Sonoma first, but they didn't have this model.  They had the big brother to this one that was 200 dollars, which is more than I wanted to spend for a blender.  I went to Macy's and saw this blender on display.  It was only 149.   It followed me to the register faster than a stray puppy would an 8 year old boy.  It was there that I learned Macy's has a 6 month return policy.  6 MONTHS!  Most places have 1 or 3 month policys, so 6 months is nice.  Plenty of time to put the blender through its paces and see if I fell in love, or if it would break after only a few uses.  I couldn't wait to try it out, so I got ingredients to make a smoothie on the way home.  It was love at first blend!

In addtion to simply working great, this blender is equipped with some truly unique features that really set it apart from standard blenders.  The first and by far most important of which is the Hemisphere bowl blade design.  The bottom of the blender is concave (like a bowl) and has extra wide blades that hug and sweep across almost the entire surface.  This prevents food from being trapped below the blades and ensures good contact throughout the blending process.  Another unique feature is that there is a round hole in the plug that the user can stick their finger in that makes the plug really easy to remove.  The same kind of loop is in the lid for easy removal.  The buttons are a touch pad that do not trap food and are very easy to clean.  They light up when in use, and look great!  The whole blender looks awesome with the stainless steel and black, especilly beside my stainless steel convection microwave.  The jar goes on easily and can be placed with the handle on the right or left side.  The handle is nice and big.  It has a completely flat bottom that is very stable on a counter top.  The jar is a nice quality glass with enamaled measurements baked on the outside.  The blades are serrated which I've never seen on another blender, but they are sharp and work well.  Just ask my right pointer ringer about the time he got too close when I was cleaning the blades!  This blender is not loud at all compared to most blenders.  Blenders have to be the loudest things in a kitchen, so I was quite impressed when I turned this baby on for the first time and didn't have to go digging for ear plugs.  The cord seems about 2 feet long, plenty for an appliance of this type. 

What buttons does it have?

There are many blenders with tons of buttons that make choosing the proper setting overwhelming.  This is not one of them.  There are suprisingingly few buttons on this blender.  They include speed 1 labled snow, speed 2 labeled mix, speed 3 labeled blend, speed 4 labled liquify.  In addition, there is a power button, a stop button, a smoothie button, and an auto pulse button (also labled ice crush).  Can you imagine, a blender with only 8 buttons?  A far cry from older and cheaper blenders that had more buttons than a computer keyboard.  The smoothie setting is awesome.  It runs the blender for a minute, then pulses every 2 seconds.  The result is prefection.  The auto pulse button pulses the blender every 2 seconds, so the user doesn't have to keep pressing it to get a pulse, very nice!  Every button is surrounded by a pretty blue light (save the power button, it has a red light) that flashes when pressed.  This not only looks nice, but helps to let the user know which button is activated. 

So, how does it blend?

What good is a feature packed and great looking blender if it can't do the one thing it was designed to do?  As for as blending goes, this machine rocks.  Smoothies are velvetly smooth in a matter of a couple minutes, with no chunks.  Something nice restaurants can't even accomplish with their professional blenders!  There's nothing worse than ordering a Pina Colada at a restaruant and finding chunks of ice that clog the straw!  It crushes ice with aplomb.  It makes prefect snow for snow cones.  Even does  good job on Hummus.  I was making lemon bars to take to a family function, and was out of powedered sugar.  I popped some granulated sugar in this puppy, and a few minutes later, had powdered sugar that would rival Dixie Crystals!  I may never buy powdered sugar again!  This blender is even helpful with cleaning.  When I first got it, I ran soapy water through it to clean it out.  About 1 second after turnig it on, the lid blasted off and suds sprayed all over the kitchen.  I needed to wash the stove, microwave, stand mixer, counter, cabinets, and floor anyway!  There is no question about this machine's ability to do any task thrown at it.  I'm not even going to mention watts, because much like amps in a vacuum that is how much electricity the thing uses.  Not how effective it is.  Much more important are the blade and jar design, but trust me, the motor is this thing does not lack power.

Anything I don't like?

There aren't many household appliances that are perfect (though the Brother PC 420 sewing machine is just about there LOL), and this blender is no exception.  There are a few annoying things about this blender that could be improved.  Firstly, it barely fits under my cupboards because of how tall it is.  That may be an issue for people with lower cabinets.  The lid is hard to press on tight.  Also, with the finger loop off to one side like it is, it splashes ingredients every time the lid is removed.  Another thing I don't like is the the blender will only run for 2 minutes at a time.  It's not broken, it's designed that way.  The only thing I've needed to blend longer was powdered sugar, but still it's annoying.  Just like my Sonicare toothbrush (also 2 minutes) and my Rowenta and GE auto off steam irons, I don't want the silly thing turning off before I'm done.... I want to decide when it goes off!  The jar could be a little easier to remove for cleaning.  At least it's all diswasher safe save the gasket.  Which brings me to another point.  There are hundreds of reviews that state the gasket on this blender causes it to leak.  I haven't had this problem, but so many people have, it scares me!  The last annoying thing is that the little round piece in the middle of the lid that can be removed for a adding ingredients (the man hole cover if you will) rattles something awful if it's not on just so.  It has to be loosened a little instead of tightened all the way for it not to rattle.  Weird!  I wish there was also an option for a manual pulse.  The auto pulse is nice, but sometimes I want to wait longer than 2 seconds between pulses to give the ingredients a change to settle more.  It can still be done, but it requires 2 presses of the auto pulse button!  

I have a friend who has a Vitamix, and he's always bragging about how amazing it is.  I don't like it.  It's loud, ugly, big, and has a plastic jar.  It's powerful, but for 450 dollars, I'd expect more.  One day, we are going to do a side by side comparison with his Vitamix and my Breville and see which one does better.  I'll update the review when we do!  This blender has really turned me on to Breville's quality and unique features.  It's the first and only Breville product I've ever owned or even touched, but because of my experience with it, I'm already eyeing their stand mixer for when my Kitchen Aid bites the dust (it just gave me the evil eye!). 

All in all, depsite the few quirks, this blender is an awesome performer that is easy on the eyes.  It has earned a permanent place on my valuable and miniscule counter top real estate.... and in my heart as someone who loves food and appliances of any kind.