mommyfirst | Monday, October 11, 2010

I just started making smoothies for the kids in the morning. It's been about two, maybe 3 months. I've had to order parts on two separate occasions already. The first time it cost $20, this time $10 and I can see that the wheel that makes the thing spin is cracked so I'll be replacing that soon. It's not that much money but the darned thing only costs $60 and you have all this wait time until the parts ship to your house. It's been a pain. With a name like Cuisinart, you expect it to be good. Maybe I

D. Halverson | Thursday, October 07, 2010

We really enjoy this blender but our first one died after about 4 years. We only got the same one again because one time we broke the glass part and this way we have a spare glass part in case that happens again.

We love it but it's not super long lasting. Again 4 years and then it was done. So as long as you know that then you're fine.

D. Halverson | Thursday, October 07, 2010

We really enjoy this blender but our first one died after about 4 years. We only got the same one again because one time we broke the glass part and this way we have a spare glass part in case that happens again.

We love it but it's not super long lasting. Again 4 years and then it was done. So as long as you know that then you're fine.

Scott | Thursday, October 07, 2010

Worked great for the three months that it functioned. I liked the glass jar and it made great smoothies. It was powerful and never bogged down. Then it just quit working. It is made in China and of apparently poor quality. Too expensive to buy one every three months. I would look for something with better reviews.

kng | Saturday, September 25, 2010

The delivery was on time. All the parts are ok. Over all it's a good blender except it smells rubber after you start it for a few minutes. I want to find out how to eliminate this strong odor.

Brent Hughes | Saturday, July 17, 2010

We have had this blender for a year and a half now and it was worked OK since we received it as a gift.

The motor is quite loud, louder than our old 1970's Harvest Gold Osterator Blender.

The carafe is glass which is nice, the top being plastic works well as it seals the glass carafe nicely.

The problem comes at the gears and blade unit. The gears are plastic as is the base of the cutting assembly. What happened is the plastic got so hot from about 3-4 minutes of c

N. Shah | Tuesday, April 06, 2010

I bought this blender and food processor combo unit 6 months ago. I was using it lightly during the time. Initally it worked ok but it had burning plastic smell that other users complained about. It also took long time to make any thing puree or smooth paste. Couple days back it stopped working. Lights on the motor becomes red but none of the functions work. I called customer support they asked to ship the product to them at my expense and 10 $ fee to examine it plus additional cost to fix it. I have decided to not spend that much on it and instead buy new blender but not from cusinart

P. J. Simonds | Monday, August 31, 2009

Just what I needed. Powerful, easy to use. Would buy again and recommend to others.

Michael Vigneau | Monday, March 09, 2009

We received this as a wedding gift almost 3 years ago. I love the glass jar part of it but overall as a blender it really disapoints me. We mainly use it to make smoothies. It ALWAYS gets stuck... ALWAYS. Even if all we through in there is frozen berries, frozen yogurt and OJ. It simply is not strong enough for smoothies- hence why I only give it one star. It also failed to blend baby food to super smooth and also failed to finely chop slices of bread into breadcrumbs. We are currently shopping for a new blender that can make smoothies since that is the main reason why we even own a blender.

NK | Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Like others on this thread, I ran into the same problem. The black plastic gears at the base just broke into many pieces. I saw the problem coming and tried to avoid it by ensuring that the blades were properly lubed and turned. To no avail. One day it just crumbled.

I am sticking with blenders with a metal coupler/gear assembly.

Jsa | Tuesday, December 05, 2006

My mother-in-law and I both had this blender. Hers broke in a couple of months. I was lucky that mine lasted a couple of years. It is a great blender for crushing ice for smoothies/icees, etc., however it has a flaw that the piece that the pitcher sits on when it spins is made out of plastic. It eventually cracks from the heat/friction produced. I bought the Oster Beehive blender to replace it, and it has a metal piece beneath it and I have had it for a few years now with no problem. I am even happier with the Oster Beehive blender, as it is a much better quality blender which will last a lot longer than the Cuisinart one (it was also cheaper), and it crushes ice exactly as good if not better than the Cuisinart blender.

W. Pagan | Wednesday, March 15, 2006

This machine will blend anything! It beat my KitchenAid hands down in that department. The problem is the noise the machine produces on every cycle. It's as loud as an outboard motor. We are afraid of receiving complaints in our condominium when blending our morning smoothies! Seriouly folks, a pair of earplugs should be included in every box.

Baazumi | Sunday, March 13, 2005

This blender arrived on Friday the 11th, and is being returned on Monday, the 14th.

My first suspicion came as I unpacked the blender and I noticed the base was not chrome, but in fact, plastic. (which was not disclosed on the technical information). The cord was thin, and only had two prongs at the end, in comparison with my old Waring blender with a very thick black cord and 3 prongs at the end for heavy duty performance.

My enthusiam dampened, I put an inch of freshly peeled and thinly sliced ginger in the blender, went first to
puree, then to liquify, then with no decent results went through all of the different selections and barely got useable results. I then put in a half of bunch of parsely, (unchopped) read the instruction booklet, tried the selections for different speeds, and end up with chopped parsley flakes everywhere. Unwilling to give up in spite of failed attempts, I added my berries, and applesauce. Berries, sweet, soft berries, and soft applesauce. I pureed, I liquidfied, I went through all the speeds, and ended up with bits of berries, ginger, and tons of parsely flakes everywhere and produced the worst unblended drink in my blending career. Perhaps most people don't blend fresh ginger and parsely (so-o good for you and tasty too), but my old waring blender has been making this drink for me for years, giving me smooth pureed results each time.

Hindsight being better than foresight, I realized I allowed myself to be seduced with the very nice new shape of the blender jar, thinking it would work much better than the old shape, and the new "touch pads" . Wrong on both counts. The wide shortened new shape looks great, but somehow doesn't work as well as the narrow original shape of the blending jars. The touch pads are a pain to use, and you have to be in the right light to see if you've turned the machine on or if it's off. I was very disappointed in the blender, but more in Cusinart, a brand I have trusted for years who makes the best food processor imaginable. So much for trusted brands. I'm refurbishing my Waring blender with new parts, at least I know it works well.

Anonymous | Tuesday, December 28, 2004

I have an old Osterizer (beehive) that I finally decided I needed to replaced. I looked at several different blenders and finally ended up with the Cuisinart. It is performing well for me. Most of the items I am making require crushing ice cubes, and this blender has done a wonderful job. I am getting nice smooth drinks with not chuncks.

As another reviewer mentioned, the based is a chrome plastic convering. But unlike many other blenders, this does not feel too flimsy.

The base is sturdy and the controls repsond well (I had tried a Kitchen-Aid and could not get the off button to work). Clean-up was a breeze, although I do wonder if the pastic based on the jar will hold up over time. I am so use to the metal one from the Osterizer, that the platic does not seem as durable.

My only real complaint is that this unit is a bit noisy. The Kitchen-Aid was very quite by comparison (but pulling the cord to turn a blender off did not seem like such a good thing), so I guess I had expected a quiter unit (the Oster is at least 25 years old -- probably older -- it was my other comparison point for noise).

Longevity will be the key to this unit, but for now it seems like one of the btter choices available.

K. W Beard | Sunday, October 24, 2004

This blender replaced a Sunbeam I had for 30 years. The jar is oversized and supported by small blades placed in a small opening at the base of vessel, isolated from the mass inside. It takes forever to blend anything smooth. After operating the motor for more than a few moments it begins to emit a strong burning smell. The plastic drive assembly for the blades snapped off in the first week of use. Cuisinart replaced one free. The second one cost about twenty dollars. I would not recommend this blender, there are better choices.

LygerTail | Thursday, September 30, 2004

I purchased this model about 6 months ago and I've been VERY dissapointed ever since. So dissapointed I will never purchase a Cuisinart product again. I actually thought they had a reputable name.

1) It doesn't blend ice- it won't even blend a few frozen strawberries.
2) It looks cool and shiny but after a few washes the shineness fades.
3) The glass jar boasts a 40oz capacity which makes no sense because it can't handle 40 oz of anything.
4) the bottom leaks no matter how you assembly it!
5) pricey- $60 Not worth it.

Your better off buying a cheap $20 blender at your local corner store than to buy this product.

-------

I still feel the power and price don't add up. But I've learned to accept it's limits and now I'm OK with it. The power is weak and the blender won't chop ice, but neather will a $20 blender. I fixed the leak by messing with the rubber ring and blade placement. I would still suggest buying anothe product. You only payig for the look- yet it's not made of metal like it looks like it does. It's a fake shiny sticker-like cover. And it doesn't stay shiny very long. Pass.

Christopher A. Dowling | Friday, July 09, 2004

Says alot from me: I make ice cube based smoothies at least twice a day, and have for over 20 years. Excellent wide-mouth jar, great powerfull engine, easy to use controls.

Minor annoyances: Make irritating noise if jar base is dragged over smooth counter-top surface. Jar base fills with water in the dishwasher.

Great value and nice looking. Easy to clean. So far, durable (3 months).

Anonymous | Thursday, June 10, 2004

I ordered this Cuisinart blender, but was disappointed. I expected from the look and "chrome" finish that it would be more solid. Instead the base was flimsy plastic and the glass blender carafe seemed to make it top heavy and potentially unstable. I expected higher quality from Cuisinart, but maybe should have been tipped off by the low price...

Anonymous | Wednesday, October 01, 2003

I use the blender often and it has performed ok, but the plastic wheel in the base where the jug sits just split in two after less than a year. A poor design decision -- to use plastic for this most critical part! I'll look for a new one with steel parts.

Anonymous | Tuesday, February 04, 2003

I was looking for a blender with enough power to make hummus and a nice enough blade to make smooth smoothies. I used it twice. Once to make hummus, which was successful only when I stopped the blender to move the food around, and a second time to make a smoothie. Milk, Apple juice, 4 Strawberries and a frozen banana--and while I was mixing these rather light items--the motor caught on fire and little flames lept out the vents on the bottom of the blender. The circuit breaker flipped before I could unplug the thing. It smelled awful. Needless to say, the belnder will be returned. I have only had it for 4 days for crying out loud. I am very disappointed.

Anonymous | Friday, June 28, 2002

We got this blender for a wedding gift. We had actually registered for it and we thrilled when we opened up the box, and there it was.....our beautiful blender! And then we used it.
Although we haven't had any problems with the motor or gears, it leaked from the bottom from the get-go. We tried being very careful and making sure the rubber seal was positioned properly, but it STILL leaks.
I had thrown out the gift receipt because I was relying on the reputation of Cuisinart and the other products that I have made by them. I'm really hoping the department store will let us exchange for a different model, because I'm disgusted with this blender. The nicest thing I can say about it is that it looks pretty.

Geoff Scowcroft & Peter Wolf | Wednesday, October 03, 2001

We have been using this blender for about seven months. We make daily smoothies with crushed ice (crushed from our ice maker) and frozen fruit (bananas, strawberries, etc.) and milk or juice. We have always noticed a slight electrical smell from the unit whenever we were mixing our drinks. The quality of the blend was generally OK; occasionally it was unable to break up some of the ice chunks.

A plastic part on the base of the unit ended up shattering. This is a cheap plastic piece that turns the blade. I e-mailed Cuisinart's customer service group. It was a couple of weeks before they returned my e-mail. I had also left messages with their customer service number. After a few attempts I was finally able to speak with someone. I was told that I would have to send the blender back to them, at my cost, and include a ten-dollar check for them to repair the unit. After I told them that their policy was against the law in the State of California they agreed to issue a pickup tag with UPS and waived the ten-dollar fee.

I finally received a new blender back about a month and a half later. I will never purchase another Cuisinart product. We have since replaced the blender with a Kitchen Aid KSB5. So far this blender is incredible. It makes easy work of blending ice. I cannot recommend the Cuisinart because of its lack of reliability and Cuisinart's non-existent customer service.

*** Update ***
This review was first placed in 2001. It is now April 2009 and the Kitchen Aid KSB5 is still running strong!

Anonymous | Saturday, July 07, 2001

An ok product from a good company. Do not be fooled the casing on this product is plastic and not stainless steel as the picture may lead you to believe and is snot disclosed in item description. Though I recieved this as a gift I would recommend getting the one with the stainless steel body

Olaf the Bear | Monday, February 12, 2001

... but i must say, I'm never buying a 30 dollar blender ever again. This thing is incredible. It does everything, and it cleans pretty easily too. I haven't had a problem with crushing ice as some others seem to have, but I don't do it that often.

My only complaint is that the chrome model really isn't that chrome at all. You'd think for the extra dough you'd get something that's really chrome... but this blender is just PAINTED chrome. Yessirree. It's plastic.

Anonymous | Saturday, October 07, 2000

I just got this yesterday from Amazon. I was so excited opening it...then my hopes were dashed. This thing is 100% plastic! I have not decided whether I'm going to return it or not, but be aware...that cool chrome look is exactly that, a look...and you can tell without touching it--just a little too shiny. The pitcher bottom is black plastic along with a plastic top...it's so full of plastic it hardly weighs anything...in other words, it feels cheap. For $100 bucks I'm very disapointed. The contols will be easy to clean if I keep it though.