Im almost done with xmass shopping need Vitamix?

[ImcLoud]

OK, so I start early, the kids are done, family is done, just finishing my wife, I got her a commercial coffee machine for her POD things, since hers is 6 years old, and I just need to find her a vitamix mixer but there are so many avalable, I dont want to spend over $600, does anyone know anything about these????

 

[itschris]

Okay... I bought the top one last xmas for the wife. My advice...save your money. In fact we took it back to William-Sonoma and traded it in for a top of the line Cuisanart Food Processor and Blender.

Really what you get with a Vitamix is a $600+ super smoothie maker. Little else. Everything else is comprimised. Sure, you can make peanut butter or make your own grains, but who does that often enough to justify that much money. Put a block of cheddar in it and you get a bunch of little balls... it does not shred cheese per it's claims.

Soup? It says it spins so fast that the heat generated will cook your soup. That's true, but the soup is so damn frothy and whipped with air that it's not at all what you expect.

The things you'll actually use it for can be done just as well by a really good blender. We actually took ours back to William-Sonoma and traded it in for a top of the line Cuisanart Food Processor and high end blender... we also walked away with a credited gift card with what we saved.

It does a lot, but not well or the way you want. It's not the do-all appliance like people say. I use our food processor all the time for slicing, shredding, and dicing. Our blender does everything else.

I know there are tons of folks who absolutely love their Vitamix, but as excited as I was to get one, I was completely disappointed. Even the wife had to admit a week or so after getting it that it wasn't what she thought. I've talked to several folks who've had the same experience as me... but like I said... others love it.

As much as they cost, just really think about what you're going to use it for. I'd rather have specific tools for specific things.

 

[ImcLoud]

Okay... I bought the top one last xmas for the wife. My advice...save your money. In fact we took it back to William-Sonoma and traded it in for a top of the line Cuisanart Food Processor and Blender.

Really what you get with a Vitamix is a $600+ super smoothie maker. Little else. Everything else is comprimised. Sure, you can make peanut butter or make your own grains, but who does that often enough to justify that much money. Put a block of cheddar in it and you get a bunch of little balls... it does not shred cheese per it's claims.

Soup? It says it spins so fast that the heat generated will cook your soup. That's true, but the soup is so damn frothy and whipped with air that it's not at all what you expect.

The things you'll actually use it for can be done just as well by a really good blender. We actually took ours back to William-Sonoma and traded it in for a top of the line Cuisanart Food Processor and high end blender... we also walked away with a credited gift card with what we saved.

It does a lot, but not well or the way you want. It's not the do-all appliance like people say. I use our food processor all the time for slicing, shredding, and dicing. Our blender does everything else.

I know there are tons of folks who absolutely love their Vitamix, but as excited as I was to get one, I was completely disappointed. Even the wife had to admit a week or so after getting it that it wasn't what she thought. I've talked to several folks who've had the same experience as me... but like I said... others love it.

As much as they cost, just really think about what you're going to use it for. I'd rather have specific tools for specific things.

Well, we have a ninja that my wife loves, and a commercial food processor that we hardly use {only when cooking for big meals, thanksgiving, ect}, plus I have the little as seen on tv magic bullet {I love that thing she hates it}, but she wants something to make here green monster shakes, which is like a pound of spinach and water lol.. The ninja for some reason isnt very good at shakes, its more of a food processor blender... She wants something for shakes, did it work well for that for you? I didnt know williams sonoma sold them, I was looking at buying direct.... Ill have to check that out...
Last year I bought her Calphalon unison pans from them at a huge demo sale they were having, we got 25 pans for $2000 which retail would have been $8000!!! She wants a set of knives but I dont want ot spend that much this xmass

 

[jostenmeat]

OK, so I start early, the kids are done, family is done, just finishing my wife, I got her a commercial coffee machine for her POD things, . . .

What does POD mean?

Which commercial* machine did you get? How much did it cost?

Why stop there?

Get a roaster. $299, free shipping, no tax, and it comes with 8 one pound bags of high end coffee for free. (They are "single origin", which represents the top 1% of the coffee of the world, quality-wise.) While they are green of course, if roasted, just the coffee itself would pay off the majority of your purchase!

Even if the 8lbs wasn't gifted, I figured it would only take about ~20lbs of roasting to pay the machine off!

Behmor 1600 Home Coffee Roaster $299 includes free shipping, 8 pounds free coffee, coupon

I love mine. I should probably bump the below thread soon to get some ideas and/or tips. I find roasting SHB (strictly hard bean) varieties is the simplest, because I just put it to highest heat profile and do the listening for myself. When heat profiles ramp up with (edit) time for softer varieties, it gets a little trickier for me, in my very limited experiences. SHB are also the most expensive, and they are harder (denser) simply because they are grown at higher altitude.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/steam-vent/59170-any-home-coffee-roasters-here.html

 

[itschris]

Well, we have a ninja that my wife loves, and a commercial food processor that we hardly use {only when cooking for big meals, thanksgiving, ect}, plus I have the little as seen on tv magic bullet {I love that thing she hates it}, but she wants something to make here green monster shakes, which is like a pound of spinach and water lol.. The ninja for some reason isnt very good at shakes, its more of a food processor blender... She wants something for shakes, did it work well for that for you? I didnt know williams sonoma sold them, I was looking at buying direct.... Ill have to check that out...
Last year I bought her Calphalon unison pans from them at a huge demo sale they were having, we got 25 pans for $2000 which retail would have been $8000!!! She wants a set of knives but I dont want ot spend that much this xmass

Honestly i think shakes and smoothies are the only things it does really well, though I'm not keen on a $625 shake machine. I guess I'm still a bit pissed so take my advice with that caveat. I don't know... I guess when you pay that kind of money for something, you expect it to be something special.

We also have a Ninja, not sure which one, but it has two containers. I make protein shakes in mine almost everyday. I've had good luck using the crush setting. I just let it rip... walk away and come back. I let it run because I hate the ice chunks on the bottom at the end. I think it's a function of how long you let it churn.

 

[ImcLoud]

Honestly i think shakes and smoothies are the only things it does really well, though I'm not keen on a $625 shake machine. I guess I'm still a bit pissed so take my advice with that caveat. I don't know... I guess when you pay that kind of money for something, you expect it to be something special.

We also have a Ninja, not sure which one, but it has two containers. I make protein shakes in mine almost everyday. I've had good luck using the crush setting. I just let it rip... walk away and come back. I let it run because I hate the ice chunks on the bottom at the end. I think it's a function of how long you let it churn.

Thats the same ninja we have lol, the problem she runs into is the spinach covers the blades and it doesnt work very well and with all the blades is very hard to clean... She is vegan {vegetarian her entire life, full vegan since she was 7}and a lot of her diet is shakes and drinks... Maybe I will look into other brands...

Jostenmeat- "What does POD mean?

Which commercial* machine did you get? How much did it cost? "


PODS are these little bags of coffee like tea bags, that go in the machine for making one cup at a time, no one else in the house drinks coffee so she makes just one cup, and has a small $50 machine for the last 6-7years, I bought her from target... It makes a cup of coffee in 30 seconds... The new machine is all automatic, so she doesnt have to fill it with water every morning... I am going to T into the line feeding the refrigerator and install a box in the wall under the cabinet {they sell a small fancy box with a valve in it, for counter top devices that need water}... because I dont want to start drilling wholes in my $20K cabinets for a water line...

The machine is a Bunn MCA , it was under $500.. But you can tell the dif in quality, it has to weigh 20lbs... and the stainless looks much better than most stainless faced appliances you buy... plus its repairable with parts and service support.... I know for $500 I can buy her coffee for a while but she likes not stopping on the way to work...

 

[Adam]

I am going to T into the line feeding the refrigerator and install a box in the wall under the cabinet {they sell a small fancy box with a valve in it, for counter top devices that need water}...

Details, man, details. Who sells that box? I've been thinking about doing something like that for years with my K-Cup machine. Same thing - splitting off the feed to the refrigerator and having a valve next to the machine that I can operate when I need to fill the reservoir.

Thanks!

 

[Haoleb]

Not sure if you have a costco nearby, but they have the vitamix there for $380 bucks. Its the 5200 with the large wet container and comes with some other accessory crap. I use mine all the time, I make smoothies, sorbets, and "green" juice by throwing all sorts of fruits and veggies in whole and liquefying them. Its not an all purpose machine like they advertise. Of course if you want soup just cook it on the stove. But you're hard pressed to get smoother blended shakes and such. Of course there is the froth that comes with blending. I have actually considered modifying the container to be able to pull a vacuum on it to prevent that.