Product Description

Cuisinart CBT500 smartpower 600 watt blender, cast metal and stainless housing. Count-up timer with continous beep after 5 minutes blending time. Easy-to-use push-button controls, featuring ice crush and pulse functions. Powerful 600-watt motor. 50-ounce glass jar. Easy push-on cover with removable measured pour lid. Includes: instruction and recipe book. Limited 3-year warranty with the manufacturer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #345935 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: White & Stainless Steel
• Brand: Cuisinart
• Model: CBT-500W
• Dimensions: 16.50" h x 8.50" w x 9.75" l, 13.00 pounds

Features

• Powerful 600-watt motor
• Count-up timer with continous beep after 5 minutes blending time
• Easy-to-use push-button controls, featuring ice crush and pulse functions
• 50-ounce glass jar
• Easy push-on cover with removable measured pour lid

Customer Reviews

Reinforce your counters
I have yet to see a blender do everything perfectly. This blender isn't likely to go very far on your counter; maybe not because you'll use it all the time, but because it's a pain to lift. Good if you have dedicated bar space, but you'd like to be able to use it for regular kitchen work too. I don't really use a blender for chopping, the knife and kitchen robot are better for me, but for liquids it's the way to go.

Questionable features are the digital timer and flashing lights, I don't know about Cuisinart's forays into electronics. I would expect those things to fail before the motor. And why a glass jar with a "durable" plastic handle, huh? As if they were trying to save weight on this one. It's some unnecessary cost-cutting that lowers the robustness a bit and makes cleaning a little trickier.

Separate ice crushing button and being able to add things through the top are both helpful features, and the warranty is excellent, they will usually stand by their products.

Smells like burning tires!
We've had our Cuisinart for over a year and use it infrequently. One of the reasons why it gets so little use is the size and the weight. This is a heavy, heavy blender. And while I normally equate heavy industrial kitchenware with quality, in this case, I'm afraid Cuisinart has let us down. I never stress the motor on our model, yet even blending salad dressing, I get a faint whiff of burning rubber or... There is also an issue with the actual glass, the lip of the blender is so wide that pouring liquids is a pain--tons of spills. I have a feeling that Cuisinart's best men/women were out to lunch the day this design was passed. Maybe we can blame it on the interns. And while pictures of the product look nice, seeing the thing sitting on my counter, well, it's so large and bulky that that is exactly how it looks: Large and Bulky. No real elegance and it's not funky cool the way KitchenAid mixers are. Seems to me we got more longevity and easier use out of my cheaper model that I tossed to make way for this one.

A Glorious Smoothie Machine, But...
I had this unit for two weeks and used it once, or sometimes twice a day. It makes glorious smoothies! Unfortunately, it's so noisy that you can't speak to someone standing next to you without shouting (96db at the operating position, if you care). It's impractical: there are lots of little nooks & crannies for food to be trapped in. It can't pour for @#%*... who designed that jar?! But it makes glorious smoothies!

One morning I was admiring the glorious smoothie process when I thought I heard a change in the motor's pitch. My nostrils began to detect a delicious toasted aroma. Little-by-little the smell grew more-and-more acrid, until I realized that a delicate haze was permeating the kitchen. I switched off the blender and lifted the jar, only to see a cloud of black smoke waft into the room. Had I burned out the motor? No! The little high-speed spindle that rotates the blades inside the jar had over-heated and melted the plastic surround! When the plastic was gooey, it slowed the motor down -- once it had cooled, it fused solid, hopelessly locking the motor.

It's going back to the store, where I'll ask for a replacement. Why am I bothering to replace an impractical, noisy, poorly designed fire-starter? Well, it might be a one-off... and did I mention the glorious smoothies?