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Blenders are an important appliance for the kitchen for preparing favorite smoothies and other blending uses. There are different types of blenders on the market to choose from which can be overwhelming at times.
Most blenders truly fall into two main groups — immersion (hand-held) or countertop. But within that distinction comes hand-held immersion blenders, traditional countertop jar-style blenders, specialty blenders, stand mixers, blender bottles, and more.
We’ll discuss the most common types within the two main groups — immersion and countertop — and bring a few examples of each. We’ll talk about a few specialty blender options after these two groups since they are somewhat unique and don’t quite fit the standard distinctions.
Each category of blenders, from there, even has countless blenders from different top brands with all forms of models, before you even start to consider what sort of unique features each model offers.
To end with the best blender in your kitchen, it’s important to understand the uses and strengths of the blender type and the model before buying.
This article will highlight all the subcategories under the main types of blenders. Here are the different types of blenders mostly found in online and local stores.
Also, Read: Vitamix 750 vs A 3500 [Differences & Comparing The Best Blender]
The 3 Different Types of Blenders: Immersion, Countertop, and Specialty
1. Immersion Blenders
The immersion blender is very popular and heavily used due to its portability and flexibility in design. Immersion blenders are also known as “hand blenders” or stick blenders and they are commonly used to blending liquids like soups, smoothies, and so forth, or making small-batch purees.
These blenders are used by holding them by hands at the handles where the controls are available. They are compact and also powerful to use for a high-quality blending experience.
Immersion blenders are flexible and you can have great movement especially using cordless hand blenders. The coded hand blenders are less flexible to move around the kitchen due to their coded design.
Depending on the use of an immersion blender, there is a perfect model for every blending need. They all come for heavy-duty use, normal blending, and single-use.
Design
The design of most immersion blenders is similar which has a handle at one end and blades at the bottom end. The handle enables you to grab the blender and control it with the settings at the handle.
The material of construction is mostly stainless steel and plastic. Their appearance is a long length to allow efficient use by the hands.
Usage
An immersion blender is a great option for blending small amounts and soft ingredients in the kitchen like soups, sauces, juices, smoothies, mixing eggs.
You can find these blenders with Pastry chefs or people who love pastry at home. It’s not limited to anyone but if your needs align with the uses, then it’s a great addition to the kitchen.
Ease of Use & Cleaning
It’s very easy to use an immersion blender because all you need is to press a button and the rest is done. They offer flexibility in the kitchen especially the cordless immersion blenders. Cleaning also is not that hard once you master the process.
Below are the classifications of Immersion blenders that are found on the market today.
1. Hand Blenders With Single-Attachment
Single attachment hand blenders offer simple features like one speed or two and one attachment. They are very to handle, use, and clean after use. They are ideal for a quick fix of smoothies and soups for mornings for people who don’t like complicated attachments.
The cost is cheap and won’t dent your wallet but they are not as durable as other quality and stable immersion blenders. If you want to make heavier blending, it’s a great idea to look for a stronger type of hand blender.
Features
- Motor power 150 – 250 W
- Simple construction, low-cost materials
- 0 – 2-speed control, no turbo button
- The simplest blending tasks can be performed
- Usually, only come with a mixing beaker
2. Corded Immersion Blenders & Stick Blenders
A corded immersion blender is purchased with a power code for powering the blender. One limitation of corded immersion blenders is that they are not easy to move around in the kitchen. On the other side, they lack batteries making them lightweight.
Stick blenders with multiple attachments is an upgrade to the single attachment immersion blenders. They have a variety of speeds and parts to improve the blending process with an immersion type blender.
Some of the attachments available are whisking and food chopping to enable easier baking or food preparation for blending. They come with a stringer motor to support the attachments and variable speeds on the blender.
It is a great multi-purpose small kitchen appliance to have for easy blending at a cheap price.
Features
- 2 – 6-speed controls
- Strong and powerful motors
- A turbo button
- High-quality materials
- Compact design
- Extra measuring beaker, blending jar, food chopper and whisk attachments, and more depending on the model and brand.
3. Cordless, Battery Operated Hand Blenders
These blenders use batteries because they lack power cords which makes them easy to move around within the kitchen. The batteries are mostly rechargeable to eliminate the costs of buying new batteries every time they drain off.
They are heavier than the corded immersion blenders due to the extra load of batteries.
Features
- Rechargeable battery
- Approximately 20 minutes of operating time on a single charge
- Top-quality materials
- Modern and practical designs
- It comes with a handle charger, which fits into the standard wall outlet.
- Better portability, and flexibility in handling
4. Commercial HD Immersion Types of Blenders (Heavy Duty)
The commercial HD immersion blenders are different from the normal hand blender in some factors. They are large in size built from quality material, unlike the typical immersion blenders.
The size ranges between 12 -inches to 2 feet in length or more which suits perfectly for heavy-duty usage. The motor is powerful and the shaft is long.
Using the commercial immersion blender is not that easy due to the features they have. They are mostly in industrial environments by professionals to blend several pounds of meals.
Features
- Longer shaft, from 12 – 21″
- High motor power
- Variable speeds for easy blending, mixing, and puréeing larger amounts of food.
- Rubberized grip and a second handle for a total control
- High-quality materials construction
2. Countertop Blenders
The countertop blenders are the largest and broad types of blenders that are found on the market. They are also known as jug or jar blenders derived from the inclusion of jars for blending ingredients inside.
Compared to immersion blenders, the countertop blenders are heavier and remain in one position mostly when blending. They are powerful due to high-performance motor with the capability to blend hard and soft ingredients for the perfect outcome.
With countertop blenders, they can blend smoothies, nut butter, juices, grind, pureeing, and many other multi-purpose uses. Countertop blender offers more variety in blending functions from small to large amounts of ingredients.
Design
Although they come with different designs, they have a jar to fix on top of the motor base which is large to blend large amounts of ingredients. Some types of countertop are small for travel purposes like the single-serve blenders which have a different design. They are built to sit on top of the counter because of the heavyweight they have.
Usage
Countertop blenders are commonly used for blending smoothies, juices, pureeing, baby food and more. The large design jars offer space to fit most batches for a family.
Ease of Use
Using a countertop blender is very easy because they have settings to help you control the blending process. Some are automated with pre-programmed settings creating effortless blending and consistent results.
With a push of a button, you can prepare the best smoothie using the settings even as a beginner. Many high-quality, modern blenders have a self-cleaning feature to make cleaning very easy than before.
The following are the classifications of countertop blenders to make your blending easier.
1. Smoothie Blenders
Just like the name suggests, these are blenders made for making smoothies and crushing ice for perfect results. It doesn’t mean you can’t make a smoothie with other types of blenders but this particular offers more quality smoothies.
They are available with different jar capacity and motor horsepower for more powerful options. For a smoothie lover, this is the perfect type of blender to have in the kitchen.
These can be either single-jar models or offer a larger, traditional jar. Often you’ll find smoothie blending capabilities on blender combo sets.
Features
- Motor power: 200 – 1.000 W
- Up to 10-speed + pulse
- high-quality material construction
- blender jars which are dishwasher safe.
- 5 – 10 cup containers with a pour spout
2. Conventional Countertop Blenders
A conventional blender is a normal blender with the capability to blend smoothies, frozen drinks, and milkshakes. Their motor is not as powerful as the commercial blenders but they can perform the basic blending needs at home.
This the right choice to choose if you want a bigger blender than the personal blenders. The price is fair and can offer larger amounts of blending capacity without the need for spending on high-performance blenders.
3. Full-Size Blenders
The full-sized blender comes with complete features to enable easy blending in your household. They have maximum capacity containers for a large-batch blending of ingredients, big enough for the whole family.
You can find full-size blenders on the market advertised for different use but they all are similar to one another. The different sizes they have gives you the opportunity to choose the one that fits your needs.
4. Chef Blender
These particular blenders are mostly large and look similar to other full-size blenders. They offer many options to blend different types of foods while maintaining the quality of the results.
You are always guaranteed the perfect outcome by using a specialty blender. Chefs prefer these types of blenders because of their powerful performance which is not limited.
5. Commercial Heavy Duty Jug Blenders
Built for heavy-duty blending in large restaurants and bars which comes with a powerful performance motor. They are perfect for commercial spaces because they are fast and come with a large capacity.
A commercial blender can blend anything thrown inside it with ease and provide high-quality results. They have more features with pre-programmed settings for easy blending ad consistency eliminating human errors.
A great example of a commercial quality countertop blender is the Blendtec Professional 800.
More features mean more expensive costs to purchase one but they are totally worth it. They are durable and strong to withstand heavy and daily usage.
Features
- Quality materials construction
- 64 ounces or even bigger containers
- Easy to use and clean
- 2 – 3 HP Heavy Duty motors
- Multipurpose blending options
6. Smart Blenders
The smart blenders are the new direction most blender brands are taking creating blenders with more technology for easy automation.
Most of the kitchen appliances are smart with Bluetooth/wireless connections, touchscreen LCDs which is the future of gadgets. Some can even blend a pre-defined program at the touch of a button within an app or can connect to voice control such as Alexa.
Their design resembles that of typical countertop blenders with a difference in the features included. Smart blenders come with many features and technologies increasing the functionality of the blender.
Specialty Blenders
1. Small Personal Blenders/Portable Blenders
Also known as single-serve blenders, they are small in size than the normal countertop blenders. They are perfect for traveling and moving around due to their size and purpose. They can fix a great smoothie very fast while you are on the go.
The portable blenders usually come with a lid and cup instead of carrying an extra cup to pour the drink. Their small size makes storage easy which makes them perfect for compact kitchens and for traveling people.
These can be a great way to take ingredients in a cooler and blend a smoothie away from home, rather than blend at home and transport a smoothie. Perfect for long road trips, for the freshest smoothies possible!
Features
- Motor power from 100 – 300 W, 0 – 2-speed control
- Jar capacity from 14 – 20 oz
- Small, very simple to use.
- Easy storage -can be stored even in a drawer
- Very Cheap to buy
- Easy to drink directly from the blender jar.
- Ideal for making quick smoothies and milkshakes
2. Large Countertop Blenders or Kitchen Systems
This is similar to commercial blenders due to their powerful performance and design. We’ve put these into the specialty blender section due to many sets offering non-blending features such as juicer attachments.
You can rely on a kitchen system blender to blend, chop, food prep, food processing, and more. They come with all attachments needed to make blending more efficient and high quality.
You can get additional jars and cups for different blending purposes like for food processing. You can get also additional single-serve jars for small-batch preparation of meals.
Having a large countertop blender combo system gives the ability to perform all blending processes without the need for extra appliances.
3. True Specialty Blenders
Specialty blenders can blend soft to hard ingredients very fast and efficiently. A common example of a true specialty blender is a cocktail or margarita maker/blender, or a juicer that can blend multiple produce items into one drinkable juice.
Margarita/cocktail blenders are designed to offer an easy blending experience with simplified features and direct usage. Mostly they have a separate ice reservoir and glass jars.
Their main use is to make ice-blended drinks like shakes, cocktails, margaritas, slushies, etc. All you need to do is fill the jars and decide the amount of margarita to blend. The machines mix the correct proportions of ice and ingredients for the automatic blending process.
4. Hand Mixers & Stand Mixers
While they aren’t the typical “blender” that most people think of, they are often used to blend ingredients into doughs, butter, batters, etc. They can definitely be used to soften various ingredients for other recipes, like tomatoes for a tomato sauce.
They can be either a handheld motor with often two attachments or accessories, and ingredients are mixed together in a bowl of your choice. A stand mixer is a classic, large motor on your countertop with a semi-fixed bowl and various attachments, from dough hooks, paddles, or whisks.
Conclusion
In order to choose the perfect blender for your needs, understanding these types of blenders is a bonus. From single-serve blenders to heavy-duty blenders, there is the one perfect and quality blender for you.
Knowing the following makes the process easy.
- What’s your budget?
- How much space available in the kitchen? Small or large space.
- What do you want to use a blender for?
- The frequency of usage in the kitchen.
Heavy-duty blenders are the perfect fit to prepare large batches of food for commercial purposes. If you want a simple blender for smoothies on the go, the personal blenders are the best.
It’s good to avoid cheap types of blenders made with cheap material because they are not durable and they lack power. Investing in a quality blender is important to get value out of a quality product.