I love the fact that you have cleaning options. Fortunately, there are only three parts to wash as the blades are inseparable from the pitcher, leaving you to worry only about the pitcher itself, the main lid, and the inner lid or, as KitchenAid calls it, the "ingredient cup." Nor, however, will you want a blender with 3,000 moving parts that you will have to reassemble once they're dry. Naturally, you're not going to be enthusiastic about needing to gingerly hand-wash every piece. You are talking about an appliance with blades sharp enough to crush ice and, in some cases, grind meat. Perhaps the most important element of usability for blenders involves cleaning. Fortunately, this didn't result in the geyser of pancake batter that it could have and, instead, just made a lot of noise. It was a silly mistake, but the KitchenAid pitcher doesn't look like it needs to be locked due to the design. In the midst of testing two other blenders, one which required a different sort of locking gesture and one that required none at all, I'll admit that I forgot to lock the pitcher in place once or twice. This gesture isn't tricky, nor does it detract from the blender's overall usability, but I sometimes forgot about it. The pitcher locks onto the base with a clockwise twist. This is due largely to its easy-to-understand control panel. True to the KitchenAid line, you'll find this blender easy to use. It goes to show that looks are deceiving sometimes, as the narrower, more rounded design of the KitchenAid blender, while not much smaller than the Ninja, gives the appliance a sleeker appearance.
It's an inch taller, but it measures eight inches wide and nine-and-a-half inches deep, making it quite comparable in size to the KitchenAid. Measuring 17 inches at its highest point, the KitchenAid is only an inch shorter than the Ninja Ultima Blender, which looks like the bulkiest blender among the seven in this group.Īs far as measurements go, however, the Ninja isn't dramatically larger. It is fairly average in terms of footprint, though it is anything but in regards to height. While the base is not smaller than other models, measuring seven inches wide and nine inches deep, it looks like it should leave a smaller footprint than bulkier ones. It looks a lot like the blender my grandma had, though updated and sleeker, making it the perfect blend of vintage and modern. The first thing you'll notice about the KitchenAid, at least next to other blenders, is its classic-looking design.