Classic wedding gift: a blender. We got one. And you know what? We LOVE it.
We have a Waring Pro, the classic beehive base blender with the 40 oz. cloverleaf carafe. The commercial grade 2-speed motor is more power than most home kitchens need, but it really comes in handy when you need to crush ice or puree a soup to silkiness.
The brushed chrome model pictured above is a Williams-Sonoma exclusive ($129.95). You can find the brushed stainless or white models at Sur La Table ($129), or be daring with a copper, retro green, or chili red model available at Amazon.com ($128.95).
Does your Waring have a pulse button? I've noticed a lot of the Warings don't. Somewhere along the line I got into the habit of only using the pulse button when I operate blenders, and while the Warings are beautiful, I wonder if I'd ever get used to the "no pulse" option.
My Waring doesn't have a pulse button, but I just flick the switch from low to off when pulsing is required.
No pulse button, but I find it doesn't matter much. I use it on low, then turn off. The switch is so easy to use, it sort of functions as a pulse on its own.
I always thought a Kitchenaid stand mixer was THE classic wedding gift....
I have a Kitchenaid blender, because I had it in my head that I wanted all my appliances to match, and in retrospect I wish I had gotten the Waring. A friend has a waring and I find it to be a much much better blender than my stupid Kitchenaid.
Does anyone want to by a Kitchenaid?
I have a Waring Pro with a stainless steel carafe. I adore it.
I just replaced my so-so 15 yr old Kitchenaid blender with an Oster Classic Beehive (model 4127). In the $89 range, it's a little less expensive than the Waring, has an all metal drive and a 500 watt motor. It's so much better than the Kitchenaid ever was.
Could you do a feature only on blenders and collate the information that is collected into a Best of blenders, whipper, chopper etc...?
My mom made a fruit/veggie smoothie every day on a KitchenAid blender and it konked out and broke after only having it for under two years. I told her to get a professional model like this but she ended up getting some other cheapo brand on sale.
She didn't trust "expensive" blenders after that.
Waring all the way, baby. Not only did he provide the financial backing for the first blender, he had a choir/big band that toured for years. I met him on several occasions as a kid because my Mom is in the biz. Think Spike Jones meets Lawrence Welk.
I have a Waring Pro in tangerine.