Even the cheapest blender is a ravenous beast, tearing through ice and fruit in a matter of seconds. But what happens when a model has just 10 seconds to make a frozen margarita (ice plus margarita mix), shave some ice, and power through whole fruit, skin and all (an orange, banana and apple, to be precise)? Our triathlon of high-speed blending produced a winner, but it wasn't pretty. Cuisinart Smart Power Premier ($100)Specs: Basic, easy-to-use 600-watt blender. Frozen Margarita: A crunchy but drinkable frozen margarita, with a half-dozen inch-long, choke-worthy ice chunks.Shaved Ice: This 10-second test barely dented the ice cubes, with almost no shavings to speak of.PM Smoothie: The Cuisinart ate half the orange, and then gave up, nibbling some of the skin off the banana and apple. Breville Ikon Die-Cast Blender ($200)Specs: 750-watt model, with a special ice-crushing mode. Frozen Margarita: The Breville came closest to the real thing. The larg-est piece we picked out of the slush was 0.7 in.

Shaved Ice: Another bust, but then we tried the 60-second Ice Crush mode: perfect, drink-ready slush.PM Smoothie: The hands-down hungriest blender, it left one scrap of orange skin, a banana stem and half an apple. Black & Decker Home 10-Speed ($50)Specs: 600 watts, fifty bucks. Frozen Margarita: 10 seconds gave us margaritas on the rocks — the biggest of many chunks measured 1.5 in. long.Shaved Ice: None of the models handled the ice well, but the Black & Decker produced a handful of snow.PM Smoothie: This blender pulped the entire orange, crushed most of the banana, but barely bit into the apple.Bottom LineAn efficient six-blade design and 750 watts helped the high-end Breville hack its way to the top. The Black & Decker might be a better value, but a few of the Breville's bar-worthy margaritas convinced us that splurging — in moderation — has its benefits. 12 Space Heaters That'll Get You Through the Next Polar Vortex This Powerful Linux Computer Fits in the Palm of Your Hand

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It fit the bill because I don't have tons of space (or money, for that matter) to waste on two appliances.I have done many things with the SmartPower Duet: I've made deliciously smooth shakes (including one with rum for a party - it was a hit), I've made amazing salsa, I've made gazpacho. kitchenaid commercial mixer ksmc50sFor some of these, I used the recipe book that comes with the machine. breville hemisphere control blender nzThere are a lot of good recipes, for sure, but I found it even more helpful that the recipes give you helpful hints about how to use the appliance the best way - like, which ingredients to add first, instead of just shoving everything in.breville ikon 600 blender (bbl605) review

Just last night I made a pasta salad with about twenty ingredients, most of which had to be chopped or minced or sliced, so I used the food processor with the chopper to pulverize the garlic and other spices into a nice smooth blend (thus avoiding the dreaded clumps of pungent garlic). waring pro bar blender wpb05bcThen, I took the spices out and added red and green peppers and other vegetables and chopped them up coarsely, like salsa. Then I put the slicer attachment on to the food processor and sliced perfectly thin slices of cucumber and red onion. I added this to some pasta, provolone cheese, pepperoni slices, and some olive oil, and voila, I had a great pasta salad in less than half of the time it would have taken me to prepare all of those veggies by hand.I certainly haven't had any complaints about the workmanship. I love how it feels so sturdy without being bulky - the base is a little wider than most and not flimsy like most other blenders I've used, and the thick, glass blender jar is squat instead of tall and thin, which seems to make blending things a lot easier because the ingredients can easily move around near the blade.

The keypad controls are enclosed so it's easy to clean up splatters and spills. The processor bowl doesn't seem to be flimsy to me (perhaps they've fixed the problem others have complained about?). In other words, this thing is great.Update, May 2013: It's been 12 years and I no longer have this item -- I sold (or donated) it when I moved cross-country in 2009. I still liked it, but I think I'd lost some of the food processor attachments after several moves and felt that this appliance wasn't good enough to merit inclusion in my (super) tiny LA studio apartment kitchen. It's not as strong as a full-powered stand-alone blender, so I've found other tools to get the job done.These days I use a Cuisinart CSB-75BC Smart Stick 2-Speed Immersion Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome for blending soups, etc., in addition to a Back To Basics Blender Express for smoothies, and I have an OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer for slicing fruits & veggies for salads and whatnot. When I move to a larger place I will probably invest in a big blender like the Vitamix 1782 TurboBlend, 2 Speed and a full-sized food processor.