FROM MIXERS to blenders, KitchenAid is recognised as one of the leaders in the field when it comes to kitchen appliances.
The brand's latest release, the KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender, will whip up everything from shakes to soups to cocktails, so we've put it to the test.
With everyone at home the past several weeks, and all meals and snacks in-house, we've had plenty of opportunities to test out the Artisan K400 blender, morning, noon and night.
The KitchenAid Artisan K400 looks great on the kitchen counter – just the right mix of style and utility when you need it.
KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender: what you need to know
We're a nation obsessed by vitamin-rich smoothies… and we also love a good frozen cocktail, so a blender is an indispensable kitchen appliance these days.
With its powerful 1.5 Peak HP motor, it's incredibly easy to make your smoothies and shakes each morning and snack-time using this hi-tech blender.
This design features the signature ribbed glass KitchenAid jar, with a capacity of 1.4l – easily big enough to make drinks for the whole family.
With a sturdy die-cast metal base and knob and precisely angled, asymmetric stainless steel blades, it can slice through a lot more than bananas: we used the tool to make a variety of meals and snacks, like hummus and baba ghanoush dips as well as vegetable soups.
The blades are well-equipped to obliterate leafy veg, ginger and nuts – it easily mushed, pureed and macerated everything we put in it.
- KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender, £279 from John Lewis – buy here
5-speed dial
We've had a KitchenAid blender before and it was nowhere near as intuitive or easy to use as this model.
There's a five-speed dial, going from slower to faster (known as the 'Soft Start' feature), which picks up speed and force to give you a delicious, ice-cold smoothie or shake in seconds – without any splatter.
You can also choose to use one of the pre-set functions for crushed ice, icy drinks or smoothies, and there's also a Pulse setting.
It's very straightforward to play around with the different settings to find the one that works best for what you're making, and the smart Intelli-speed control and adaptive motor adjusts based on the ingredients to produce something that's just the right texture.
Pre-set recipe programmes
You have a range of options when it comes to precisely controlling the speed of the blender, depending on whether you're spinning tomatoes and avocadoes into salsa, turning veg into soup, or making pina coladas.
The Pulse function is designed for tougher veg and fruit, as well as chopping nuts. It automatically switches off after a few minutes.
The crushed iced function runs at the blender's highest speed for 30 seconds and quickly became a favourite for cocktails at home – we loved making daiquiris, pina coladas and other frozen delights and pretending we were poolside somewhere tropical… instead of in the back garden.
We even made lots of non-alcoholic versions for the kids.
There are also separate smoothie functions to puree fruit or blend ice cream and other delicious sweet stuff for milk shakes, and an icy drink function for anyone who uses frozen fruit in their drinks.
- KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender, £279 from John Lewis – buy here
Self-cleaning
One of our favourite features of this appliance is that unlike the near-constant scrubbing we've had to do with most smoothie makers, this blender has a self-clean cycle.
Just fill the jar with some dish soap and water and run the self-clean cycle setting, which will clean the machine in under a minute.
The jar and lid are also dishwasher-safe, so you can run a cycle with them, too.
- KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender, £279 from John Lewis – buy here
What colours is it available in?
From basic black to pistachio (a retro mint green), KitchenAid's K400 Artisan blender is available in 11 shades to suit your kitchen style and decor.
In addition to bright and pastel shades like Cherry Red and Almond Cream, there's a new colour on the market: Kyoto Glow, KitchenAid's 2020 Colour of the Year. It's a bright yellow shade which adds just the pop of colour you need to your kitchen.
We'd also add the cord isn't too long or unsightly – we barely noticed it on the countertop.
What accessories are included?
The blender comes with the 1.4l glass jar with blades and a sealing lid with removable cap.
You can get optional accessories to use with the Artisan K400 blender, like a 1l citrus press, 500ml personal jar and 200ml small batch jug.
The verdict
Having been smoothie addicts for some time, we've been through our share of blenders.
This is our favourite for ease of use, as well as family-friendliness: with four young children constantly requiring healthy snacks and playful drink ideas, this machine has been a staple in our daily routine for the past couple of months, and we were able to use it multiple times a day because it's so easy to clean.
If you have a baby, this can easily double as a baby food blender, and we love that the large capacity of the jug means there's enough to satisfy the whole family each time you whip anything up – there were often seconds to be had.
This was always a struggle with our NutriBullet in the past, where we regularly had to use two jars to make enough shakes for us all.
If we had to find a negative, it's that the blade isn't detachable, although in our experience with the KitchenAid Artisan K400, that didn't affect the cleaning process as much as expected.
We'd also like to think this machine is contributing to a healthy lifestyle change for the whole family – our fruit consumption – especially bananas – has gone up significantly.
- KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender, £279 from John Lewis – buy here
Enjoyed our review of the KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender? We've got lots more kitchen content in Sun Selects' dedicated home section.
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