Fab all round smoothie maker (Kenwood SB200)

Member Name: justathought

Product:	Kenwood SB200
Date:	04/06/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great for smoothies, easy to use

Disadvantages: noisy, a little bulky, wahing up !

There was a certain point when my dad brought home two types of juicer and a smoothie maker. Since we didn't have room for a jug type blender as well as a smoothie maker, it was retired to the extremely messy confines of our garage....until recently, after the blender broke (it had cracks in it that we tried to ignore - that didn't make them go away).

Aesthetically, I think the smoothie maker is very good - I have it in a silver colour but it is also available in white. The contents of the box were:

stirrer
cap
lid
goblet
tap assembly
sealing ring
blade assembly
power unit
instruction manual

Putting the smoothie maker together is very easy, as is taking it apart (although I always forget which way to twist the blade assembly to remove it, even though it has arrows ant text to tell you which way is 'tighter' and which way is 'looser', and the sealing ring could get lost quite easily if not careful). The instruction manual deals with how to do this with clear diagrams and text.

The jug part has markings for every hundred mls from 200 to 1500ml. It also has raised text in plastic which says 'liquids', 'frozen ingredients', 'serves 2' and 'serves 4' to indicate how much of each should be used for the appropriate number of servings. I used this at the beginning but now I just add whatever I have at the time and fix the texture to suit.

The power unit has 3 buttons on the right hand side ('smooth' 'mix' and 'off') and one button on the right ('pulse'). I'd never actually noticed the pulse button before writing this review! The 'smooth' button, when pressed, grinds the ingredients to make the smoothie and the 'mix' button, mixes them so there is an even texture when dispensed from the tap. I've found that whenever I press the 'mix' button, there seems to be a weird burning smell.

I think this smoothie maker performs really well - when I used to make smoothies in a normal blender, apples etc used to still be in crunchy little chunks and I would have to peel them, but with this machine, ingredients like this are smooth, though there are still tiny bits of peel dispersed throughout. I actually like that though.

I also like the fact that the blade assembly is removable - I think this is much more hygienic as it can be thoroughly washed and there will be no little bits that I can't get to.

I would have preferred the jug part to just have a spout shape at the top instead of a tap, since the smoothie comes out of the tap quite slowly, especially if there is not much smoothe left in the jug. Also, it is difficult to was the little indentations where the tap part screws on, as well as the inside of the tap mechanism.

The stirrer is quite fun to use to stir the smoothie the opposite way that it's being blended (or is that just me? Simple things amuse simple people after all!). I'm not sure how effective it is though!

The smoothie maker is quite loud when being operated (I always feel as if someone's behind me when it's on). None of the parts can be washed in the dishwasher, and the instructions (and me) recommend that the smoothie maker is washed immediately after use to avoid it drying on (it means you can relax and enjoy your smoothie with no thoughts of washing up too!). I've found that if I haven't washed it properly, the next time I use it, it smells of vomit. Ugh. So I would recommend taking it apart and washing each part properly (including the sealing ring) every time it is used. This is a bit of hassle but doesn't take very long. Instructions or cleaning each individual part are given in the manual.
Overall I would recommend this if it's something you would use regularly and have the space for (it can be awkward to store, or even keep on the work surface due to the shape)

The smoothie maker generally sells for between £20 - £30. There are lots of models of smoothie maker from Kenwood though, and a lot of them seem quite similar (I think the latest is SB206)

Summary: does what it says on the box