KitchenAid K150 3 Speed Ice Crushing Blender Review

The KitchenAid K150 is a somewhat compact blender. The dishwasher-safe pitcher is only 48 ounces, and the entire blender is 8.5 by 7.1 by 14.8 inches. It's best used for ice crushing and margarita making. Read on to see how it holds up to our intense testing process.

Performance Comparison

Smoothies

The KitchenAid 3 Speed does not leave any smoothies chunky; however, it struggles to offer that smooth, velvety, pourable texture we all strive for. Leafy greens are left a little flakey, and berry seeds are left intact rather than blended up with the rest of the fruit.

Smoothies with harder-to-blend ingredients like almonds and oats have a particularly grainy texture, even more so than green smoothies. Although this blender does not require manual assistance, the ingredients at the top take over a minute to work their way to the blades at the bottom. The other interesting feature is that our smoothies do not remain cold through the blending process, which may be a deal-breaker for some. At the end of the day, the 3 Speed Ice Crusher performs just okay across our smoothie testing.

Ice

As the name suggests, the 3 Speed Ice Crushing Blender has no issue turning cubes into crushed ice in seconds. Pulsing the blender on the third setting completes this task in less than 15 seconds. The ice is crushed evenly and does not leave a snow-like layer behind. If you stop pulsing, add some tequila and fruit, and run for a good 90 seconds, this blender will turn over a flawless margarita. The uniform texture, void of ice chunks, and pourable consistency make it easy to slurp up through a straw or sip straight out of a glass.

Convenience

The K150 is easy to clean, and the simple interface is easy to use. It offers three power settings and a pulse setting, all controlled by a dial, which gives it a nice sleek look. The lid, blade, and pitcher are all dishwasher-safe and very easy to clean by hand, with the exception of the blade after making nut butter. The best way to clean the blade after making a sticky substance is by tossing some soapy water in the pitcher and blending at level three.

Our biggest concern is that the blade began to rust ever so slightly near the end of our hands-on testing. This could be avoided by hand washing and not blending things that the blender was not made for, like kernels.

Pureeing

The K150 does not blow us out of the water with its pureeing abilities. It struggles and requires a good amount of assistance with making nut butters. It takes eight minutes and powers down about halfway through the process. The final result is palatable but very grainy. Blending soup does not result in a smooth texture but rather a chunky sauce-like texture. Our tomato soup had very noticeable chunks of garlic in it. While the blender base gets warm when blending for a few minutes, pureeing does not heat the soup enough to serve. It caps out at about 109 degrees.

Grinding

This test seems to be the one that trumps most lower-performing blenders. The K150 3 Speed grinds granulated sugar into powder in 60 seconds but leaves a layer of un-ground sugar underneath. Hard cheeses, on the other hand, are ground to near perfection. The consistency is very even, with no intact chunks. The only issue we have with grinding cheese is that the entire blender shakes like it's trying to take flight, so it's best to keep your hand on the lid through this process. The K150 does not shake while grinding kernels into flour, but it makes an awful noise and does not grind the kernels uniformly.

Should You Buy the KitchenAid K150 3 Speed Ice Crushing Blender?

The K150 3 Speed does not check all the boxes performance-wise, but it is among the least expensive in our test suite. If you plan to make margaritas and crush ice, this blender is of great value, but if you are looking for something more well-rounded, you will want to check out some of the other options in our test suite.

What Other Blenders Should You Consider?