Just the thing for puréeing a soup or knocking up a smoothie, hand-held blenders have advantages over traditional benchtop styles. They're convenient, cleaning is easier and they take up less room in your cupboard. They're much cheaper, too. All stick blenders can blend or puree soft foods and some also have attachments to chop, grind and process hard foods. Benchtop blenders are the workhorses of the kitchen – for our test we pureed soup, crushed ice and chopped carrots. We've recently added two new tests – making a green smoothie and blending kale. This means you can’t directly compare our latest test results with our previously tested models. Benchtop blenders come with a jug, useful for whizzing up smoothies and drinks. They can tackle heavy-duty tasks such as crushing ice or frozen fruit. "Super" blenders can do more than a regular benchtop blender – they can process raw ingredients into a hot soup, process nuts and seeds into a paste, make sorbet from frozen fruit, and mill grain into flour.

Our tests for super blenders included making nut butter, sorbet from frozen fruit, and dough. Compare all types of blenders we've tested Which blender for the job? For crushing ice or frozen berries, a benchtop is the best bet. But a hand-held may do the trick if you're mainly pureeing soft foods or chopping vegetables. With a hand-held you can put the blender directly into your soup pot and puree the cooked ingredients. If you go for a model with a processing attachment you can also chop, grind and process hard foods – great for making curry pastes and chopping nuts. The best benchtop blenders in our test could easily crush ice (but not all could do this satisfactorily). And all the benchtop blenders did an excellent job of pureeing soup – although they're not as convenient as a hand-held: you need to wait until the soup has cooled before transferring it to the blender jug and then you have to put the soup back into the pot to reheat it. The super blenders were excellent at making nut butter and sorbet but didn’t do a good job making dough.

We think you’re better off making bread or pizza dough by hand or with a benchtop mixer. If you're choosing a new benchtop blender, here's what to look for. You want a lightweight and stable jug that's easy to lift, comfortable to hold and stays firmly on the bench.vitamix drive socket repair Check the lid is easy to remove – the suction on some lids can make them tricky to remove.breville blender bfp800 Sealed controls help keep food out of crevices.braun food processor spare parts brisbane A good-sized chute helps add ingredients without spills while the blender is on.oster blender model 6700 replacement parts

Cleaning is easier when the blender has a removable blade. If you're thinking about buying a hand-held blender, here's what to consider. Comfort: The blender should be easy to hold – so try out the grip to make sure it fits your hand. dualit hand blender brokeA non-slip grip makes it less likely the blender will slip from your grasp.kitchenaid blender verkkokauppa Controls: These should be large, easy to operate and clearly labelled. ninja master prep professional qb1004 best priceThe on/off button should be within easy reach. A seal over the controls will stop food from getting in. Cleaning: The motor unit mustn't be placed in water – so look for a blender with a detachable blade or shaft.

Dishwasher-safe attachments make cleaning even easier. Safety: The blender should have a stop-release mechanism so that it will stop whenever you take your finger off the control button. Blade guard: There should also be a guard around the blade to prevent accidental contact - but you need to take care because the guards could damage bowls and saucepans. A pan guard prevents this scratching. Some models have extra features Whisk – for whipping cream and beating eggs. Processor – good for chopping raw vegetables or grinding nuts (but only small amounts at a time). It's a separate unit similar to a small food processor. A rubber base on the attachment will provide stability while you're using it. Pulse – useful for small quantities of dry food. Activating the pulse button gives you short bursts of power that help to distribute the load and ensure the food is uniformly chopped. Wall mount – for easy and accessible storage. A jug is useful for blending.

The Top Brand award recognises brands that perform consistently well across product testing, reliability and customer satisfaction. We have awarded Breville our 2016 Top Brand award for blenders. It had the best test performance backed up with good reliability and owner satisfaction. We received information on 1927 blenders in our 2016 appliance reliability survey. To see which brands are trustiest, become a paying Consumer member or log in. How about a single-serve blender? We've tested 11 single-serve blenders, including the NutriBullet 600W and 900W. How about a food processor? A food processor can chop, slice, grate, blend, puree, mix and knead - and they're great for bulk food preparation. We've tested 19 models. We’ve had a quick try of these blending and processing gadgets. First Look: NutriBullet RX 1700 First Look: Nutri Ninja First Look: Kambrook Blitz2Go First Look: Vitamix blender First Look: Sunbeam Slice + Ice