KitchenAid KSB5WH 5-Speed Blender, White Review

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(More customer reviews)Recently my husband and I upgraded most of our small appliances and cookware. We opted for the Kitchenaid mixer and Calphalon cookware, and decided to skimp on the blender, figuring a blender is a blender and what difference would it make?
It makes a big difference. We bought an Osterizer for dirt cheap at a local kitchen supply store and were not impressed with its capabilities. At this point I thought about buying the Kitchenaid but wanted to wait a little while, since the price was rather more than we wanted to pay for a blender.
Around Christmas my husband and I visited back home. His grandparents have the Kitchenaid 5-speed blender. We were quite impressed with its capabilities in making a great mudslide; although there were still tiny ice chips in the drink, the blender did quite well in mixing everything very smoothly and with a minimum amount of noise (for a blender anyway).
I was able to find one of these wonderful blenders refurbished through Amazon. Since I had earned a couple of gift certificates through my Amazon Visa card I got this for practically nothing. I must say, this would still be worth it even if I did pay full price. Even though it is refurbished it looks like new, and works great. The past few nights my husband and I have enjoyed the same great mudslides that we had in California, and I'm giving away my old Osterizer.
Another impressive thing about this blender is its sturdiness. With the glass and the strong base, I'm not worried about this breaking; I was worried about that with all of the flimsy plastic of the Osterizer. When trying to make smoothies on the Osterizer I always kind of winced, afraid that it might blow up at any second. I don't worry about this with the Kitchenaid; this is very obviously a sound appliance.
If you are in a money crunch, it's probably best to wait until Amazon has a refurbished model of this blender available; the only visible difference is it comes in a box that states that the product is refurbished. Also you usually won't have your pick of colors; you'll only be able to choose whatever color they have available. But whatever the price this is a great blender and you won't regret the purchase.
By the way, I did A LOT of comparison shopping at other sites before I found the refurbished model here at Amazon; Amazon does have the best price on new models that I found, even without the current rebate that Kitchenaid is offering.

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Whirl up a fruit and yogurt smoothie to get your morning off to a healthy, energizing start. Or wind down after work with an icy cold margarita. But that's just the beginning: chop ice, grind coffee beans, puree soup and more.

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Minosharp Sharpening Guides 2-Piece Set Review

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(More customer reviews)People who criticise this product simply don't know how to use them. My own experience as an amateur, who wants really sharp kitchen knives, is as follows:
For sharpening kitchen knives to that really razor sharp edge, you must use sharpening stones (I recommend Japanese waterstones, Shapton, Ice Bear or King brand - all readily available) starting from medium grit and progressing to fine then extra fine grit. The final grit should be at least 6000 grit. Personally, I use a Shapton 12000 grit final stone, and finish off with gentle stropping on a leather strop, with Cr0 powder on it. This gives a true razor edge. We are talking about an edge of 0.5 micron width. This is the same as the best quality razor blade.
When sharpening blades to this fine an edge, it is critical that the blade MUST be kept exactly at a constant angle to the stone (usually about 15 to 20 degrees). The difficult part for most of us is to hold that constant angle just using your un aided fingers. Unless you are a real expert, you will be like me - unable to maintain that exact angle constantly when sharpening freehand. Because human hands and fingers are too flexible!
The answer is these simple clip-on guides. They slide onto the back of the knife and hey presto - there is your fixed angle. You can slide the guide onto the straight part of the knife (nearer to the handle) to sharpen it, then move the guide onto the curved part near the point) to sharpen that part of the knife. This means that you are sharpening the knife in sections.
The current guides (made in China) have plastic sleeves which prevent scratching the knife, older guides with no plastic can easily be made non scratch by installing your own sleeve from a cut down plastic milk bottle, folded in half and pushed into the guide.
I have used these guides on my Global knives and other Japanese kitchen knives and have found that the knives are much much sharper than new.
Incidentally, these guides, when used as directed, will give a blade edge angle of about 10 degrees. This different from what most sharpening advice (including Global's own)which is normally about 15 to 20 degrees. No matter - the more acute angle gives a much sharper edge.
Also I recommend using a ceramic "steel" in particular the Kyocera CSW-18 which has a super fine grit and is far superior to diamond "steels"
If you've read this far you might be interested in doing some net research on knife sharpening. There are some very good tutorials there.
A "must buy" book is Chad Ward's "An edge in the Kitchen". This book has just been released. Available from Amazon and highly reviewed. Chad tells you all you ever need to know about selecting, using, and sharpening kitchen knives.

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These guide rails are designed to help maintain the correct angle for sharpening knives when sharpening with a whetstone. The angle is between 10 and 15 degrees.The guide rails are sold as a set which includes a small and large guide rail. The small guide rail is suitable for knives with blade lengths less than 6". The large guide rail is suitable for knives larger than 6". The guide rails are lined with plastic to minimize scratching on the knives during their use. Any time you remove one of the guide rails from your knife, rinse and clean it thoroughly to remove any residue from the stone that may remain inside the guide rail. To further insure that no residue remains, it is recommended that you pull a clean towel through the guide rail after rinsing. If you fail to remove all the residue from the guide rail, the residue may scratch the knife the next time the guide rail is used.

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