Breville BBL550XL

Pros: Attractive, (relatively) quiet, presumably durable

Cons: Flimsy and awkward cannister gasket; poor blending performance

The Bottom Line:

Attractive and powerful, but poor mixing performance makes this one a non-contender.

Review: Our venerable KitchenAid blender gave up the ghost shortly after my wife plunged into a regimen of twice-daily smoothie making. Fired up with missionary zeal about the benefits...

Pros: This blender will do what you want. It is exceptional.

Cons: It is at the high end of the blender price range.

The Bottom Line: A great kitchen appliance that every serious chef needs to have.

Review: My oldest daughter and I like to make smoothies. However, we were never satisfied with our final product. First of all, our smoothies always had ice chunks. We also noticed that other ingredients never fully mixed up. We started closely watching the...

Pros: Easy to use, blends well, looks good

Cons: More expensive than some, but worth it

The Bottom Line: Worth every penny!

Review: This blender is great, by far the best I've ever used. The last blender I had (a cheaper brand) was basically useless. Unless I just wanted to blend liquids, I was basically out of luck. I wanted to start making smoothies (blending ice) and my...

Pros: Heavy Duty feel. Stainless Steel. 610 watts of power. Hemisphere Technology. Cord keeper.

Cons: Lid is hard to put on.

The Bottom Line: Go buy it. If you have extra cash, buy the one with the LCD screen.

Review: I initially purchased this due to a commercial I saw. I also really liked how the blender looked. When I actually saw one in person, I was amazed on the feel of the product. It was heavy duty! The blades were very different than any of the other...

Pros: Looks good on the counter.

Cons: Poorly engineered. Should have a locking mechanism for the blade assembly.

Review: I have a Breville Ikon and it's the worst blender I've ever owned. It's frustrating and aggravating. Whenever you have any frozen ingredients, the bottom of the blender twists loose and the liquid ingredients flow out all over the blender and the...