Step into liquefy

A blender is a blender is a blender -- or so we’ve always thought. After all, other than a sleek design or a choice of a dozen different speeds, basically they all do the same thing: whirl stuff around.

Or do they?

Suddenly, there’s a dizzying array of blenders on the market, with prices from $15 to $600 and designs from Art Nouveau curvy to almost Humvee-like industrial. After putting six models through their paces, we learned that how well they work is as wide-ranging as their looks. The most expensive model got so hot, it cooked the eggs and scrambled our mayonnaise. A mid-priced blender was so poorly designed it couldn’t puree well. The cheapest? It worked quietly and efficiently.

After Fred Waring introduced his Miracle Mixer at a 1937 Chicago restaurant show, the blender quickly became a must-have in every modern kitchen. If its luster faded when the Cuisinart food processor hit the scene in the 1970s, it wasn’t for long. Although food processors, drink mixers and immersion blenders all shine at specific cooking tasks, the blender still rules as master of pureed soups, frozen cocktails and emulsified sauces.

So how to choose among the myriad options? The candy-apple red Oster with the see-through base would look great with your iMac, and the soon-to-be released Jenn-Air with its faux-etched glass jar would be swell displayed on your bar, but can either of them turn out a perfectly smooth carrot-ginger soup?

Blenders today can have 14 speeds, or two; pulse buttons, push buttons, touch pads or toggles; a motor that is adequate or tremendously powerful. And then there are the design issues: Setting looks aside, is it easy to scrape out all the sauce from the jar? Will it splatter you as you pour in liquid through the fill cap? Unless you’re a margarita maniac or a mayonnaise maven who will use your machine for only one kind of task, you’ll want the best all-around blender in your price range.

The physics behind the blender is simple. The blades, jar shape and motor speed are configured to push as much product, as fast as possible, into the blades, said Art Sansone, vice president of engineering for Waring. Lower-end blenders rotate the blades at about 16,000 rpm, while commercial models spin at 26,000 rpm or more -- a speed that, in about 10 seconds, turns ice cubes into snow and creates fine air bubbles to make a frothy sauce (faster motors introduce more air into a blend).

In testing six models, we looked for power, capacity and ease of operation and cleaning. Most of all, we wanted really smooth sauces and frothy drinks. To that end, we tested each by blending mayonnaise, crushing ice and pureeing smoothies.

Mayonnaise proved to be tricky -- in some blenders it won’t emulsify; in others, a recessed base won’t allow the ingredients to mix together completely. Ice isn’t easy, either. Some motors aren’t powerful enough to crush ice; some blades aren’t efficient enough to make a completely smooth puree. And because others start so fast that they blast hot liquids all over, we ran a final test by filling each half-full of hot liquid.

If we had to choose just one blender to last a lifetime, we’d invest in the $200 Waring Commercial Drink Mixer blender. The smoothie and the mayonnaise were wonderfully smooth, light and evenly mixed. Ice pulverized in seconds. Several new features, such as a flip-up fill cap, made it even easier to use.

Our choice for the best inexpensive, all-purpose blender was a $25 Toastmaster model. It impressed us with very smooth, extremely frothy blending, efficient ice-crushing, an extra-wide container opening and fairly quiet operation. It lost out by a nose to the Waring Commercial because of its less-substantial plastic construction and its poor handling of our mayonnaise test.

The other four blenders had odd quirks and problems. Most were headache-inducing noisy. As we added oil through the lids’ fill caps, most (except the Waring Commercial and the KitchenAid) splattered enough to coat countertops and condition our hair with mayonnaise. Some were too tall; others too heavy or wobbly.

Until we tested it, we were swooning over the potential of a professional model, the $389 Vita-Prep variable speed model 1002. With its hefty square base, 20-inch height and black rubber lid as big as a plunger, it looked as if it could guard Buckingham Palace.

Its detailed instruction book, stuffed with superlatives and warnings, claimed that it purees more smoothly than ordinary blenders in half the time, and it was true. It so powerfully pulverized smoothie ingredients that hardly a strawberry seed was visible after only 20 seconds. Yet the two-horsepower motor can heat up so much that the eggs in a batch of mayonnaise cooked into a scrambled mess.

The $44.95 Oster has a respectable 450 watts, 14 speeds and a compact design, but its shrill whine and wicked splattering made us run for cover.

The sleek $99.95 KitchenAid Ultra Power blender, with its flat-panel push buttons, squat jar and cool colors, crushed ice nicely, but with other jobs, it was inefficient. Ingredients got stuck in the jar’s trough, which meant mayonnaise emerged streaked with raw egg. Fruits didn’t puree quickly or smoothly.

The Waring 60th anniversary model is a $149.95 replica of the original. Its nearly straight-sided, cloverleaf-shaped glass container is on the small side, wobbles a bit in the base and is hard to see through. Although the machine made superb mayonnaise, it was intolerably noisy and probably worst of all, it was unable to blend more than one measly cup of hot liquid at a time without splattering violently.

All of which adds up to progress: Blenders have come a long way since the original Waring.

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Taking the pulse of the latest models

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The classic

What’s the difference: The Waring 60th anniversary model’s cloverleaf-shaped glass jar, waterfall base and high-low toggle power switch are identical to the 1930s Waring Bar Blender. Reissued models with bright colors, fancy finishes and pulse features upgrade the design.

What we thought: The Waring loves a small batch of cocktails, not the hot, messy workaday duties of a busy kitchen (though it did make exceptional mayonnaise). The skimpy 1-cup-capacity limit for blending hot liquids makes tiresome work of pureeing soup. Other models about as good cost $100 less.

How much: $149.95 at Williams-Sonoma

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The favorite

What’s the difference: The Waring Commercial Drink Mixer adds a streamlined, twist-off jar base to the 44-ounce glass container. A hefty, one-half horsepower motor, brushed stainless steel exterior and high, low and pulse speeds make this model simple but serious.

What we thought: The overall winner. It performed all tasks the best. The wide-mouth container allowed easy access and visibility; the flip-open fill cap opened easily and neat freaks will like a jar base that comes off for cleaning.

How much: $199.95 at Williams-Sonoma

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Ice it, baby

What’s the difference: With a wide, squat container and crevice-free speed control pads, the KitchenAid Ultra Power 5-Speed blender delivered a significant design change when it was introduced along with a promise of superior performance.

What we thought: Sure, it looks cool, crushes ice well and doesn’t splatter hot liquids, but it’s no champion. A trough in the wider container captures ingredients, leaving gloppy, choppy stuff in the bottom. Unless you can paw a basketball, the large jar base is hard to twist off. Skip it.

How much: $99.95 at chefscatalog.com, and many kitchen supply and department stores and Web sites.

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Good-looking too

What’s the difference: The flared, frosted-glass pitcher gave us visions of cool cocktails. High design and low technology combine in the inexpensive model’s twist-dial controls.

What we thought: With seven speeds plus a pulse, the Toastmaster model 1132 whirled through most tasks with grace and impressive airiness -- but with a fair amount of splattering. The mayo was thin and flat; serrated mixing blades, plus 350 watts of power, chopped the ice. The machine is lightweight, compact, easy to operate, reasonably quiet and a terrific bargain.

How much: $24.99 at www.amazon.com

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Only for pros

What’s the difference: The 13-pound, 20-inch tall Vita-Prep 1002 by Vita-Mix Food Service has a generous 8-cup capacity and an enormously strong motor that promises superior speed and pulverizing motion.

What we thought: Only serious cooks need apply -- and tall, rich ones too. The extra power is tricky for a novice. Running on high for four minutes, the metal base and blades became so hot, they cooked the mayo into scrambled eggs.

How much: $389 at Surfas in Culver City

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Quick, the earplugs

What’s the difference: With 14 speeds, including easy-clean and pulse, the Oster Designer Thermal Blender packs a lot of features into a compact 14-inch height.

What we thought: Despite a powerful 450-watt motor and 5-cup, wide-mouth glass container, this blender looked better than it worked. The many speeds were overkill; the noise, awful; and the wide-mouth jar didn’t effectively decrease the splatters.

How much: $44.95 at www.1-800-sunbeam.com