Must have hope they shrink prices in good old europe too...;-)

I bought one of these last year and absolutely hated it because of the way buttons worked (returned it after a few days). Strangely enough, I have a KitchenAid food processor with the same style of buttons and I don't mind it at all.

For what it's worth, Cook's Ilustrated doesn't care much for this blender either and suggests several less expensive models (can't name off the top of my head).

Man...I love my Kitchen Aid Blender! I bought a Braun for $50...it smelled funny and the buttons stopped working. I took it back and threw in another $50 and took home a nice red K A. I use it every day almost.

Yes, it takes a bit to get used to the KitchenAid blender buttons, but I still use mine a lot (even though I have to re-learn it each time!) Lucky, the mixers are basically on & off. You do save a bundle with reconditioned products, though, as Elise pointed out BTW: They're re-doing the food processor shortly, changing the design entirely.

And glad you enjoyed my write-up. If I'd had a backpack or something similar, I might have left with a few 'gifts'!

Hm, KitchenAid does the stand mixer thing well, but the blender/food processor thing not so much. You wouldn't think this to be rocket science, but Cuisinart does in fact produce a superior product when it comes to bottom-mounted blades.

Thanks for this notice. My mother's day gift is currently sitting at my husband's office (I think that's where he had it sent. ;)

My stand mixer is reconditioned and when something went wrong with the original purchase, Kitchen Aid sent me another recoditioned mixer (that, like the first one, looked brand new), even though the warranty was past. When I fried my food processor (really, don't put the cheese in when it's too frozen), they sent me a new one. They paid the shipping on both of the replacements, as well as shipping to return the damaged ones, and had them picked up at my door. I love this company.

The Kitchen Aid store is only about 45 minutes from my home, and fun for a bi-annual visit to see their displays and new products. Too bad I didn't know about David's visit. That would have been a fun demonstration. Thanks for the link to his site. It's now one of my regular visits.