Cuisinart Blender Reviews – Choosing the Best Cuisinart Blender

Looking for the best Cuisinart blender? Let’s start with a brief history of Cuisinart before we launch into the buyers guide on choosing the right blender for you.

The Cuisinart brand began in 1971, founded by American inventor, Carl Sontheimer. Born in New York in 1914, Sontheimer was raised in France, returned to the United States to attend MIT, then returned to France again, hoping to combine his love of cooking with his technical expertise. At a cooking show, he saw an industrial food blender that he realized could be adapted for home use.

Sontheimer named the world’s first food processor Cuisinart. In two years, the device had become a bestseller, and today, the food processor has become a standard kitchen appliance in most homes. Sontheimer sold the company in 1987 for $42 million. Conair Corporation acquired the Cuisinart trademark when the company went bankrupt in 1989.

It’s not often that a brand of blenders gets highly favorable reviews on some models and extremely poor reviews on others, but that is the case with Cuisinart blenders. Models that combined food processing and blending get the most negative Cuisinart blenders reviews. The SmartPower Duet Cuisinart blender has a base unit, housing the motor, as well as a blender carafe and a bowl for food processing. Cuisinart blender reviews complained that the plastic housing at the base breaks, causing leaks and spatter, or worse, breakdowns, as the liquid drains into the motor. There are similar complaints about other Cuisinart food processor/blender combos, and about most of their stand alone blenders as well.

On the other hand, the mid-priced brand gets great reviews for the Cuisinart hand blender and Cuisinart personal blender models. The Cuisinart Smart Stick CSB-76 hand blender gets top marks from both experts and consumers. Reviewers like the light, easy-to-handle Cuisinart immersion blender, rating it the best for blending sauces, soups and smoothies. The three-year warranty is another plus, outweighing the limitations of the model’s single speed. The Cuisinart CSB-78 Smart Stick Plus Cordless Rechargeable Handheld Blender is a battery-operated version of the same device.

The Cuisinart SmartPower Compact Portable Blender also gets favorable reviews from both consumers and experts. The personal mixer offers one-hand operation, with a pulse button that can modify high and low buttons with one push. The blender comes with four “To-Go” cups that serve as a carafe during blending, come with screw-on tops to take on the road, and are dishwasher safe – although some reviews noted that the clear cups become cloudy after a few runs through the dishwasher. Most reviewers find the blender great for grinding coffee, and for making soups and smoothies, but note that it shouldn’t be confused with a food processor.

Consumers that are looking for a durable, reliable blender that can handle some food processing might want to look elsewhere, but for those looking for small-scale blending using a hand-held immersion blender or a portable personal blender, Cuisinart is a great way to go, at a great price, too.