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Guest Post by Andrea of It Takes Time
This post is part of the Kitchen Tools of the Trade series. Click here to read all previous posts in this feature–and come back on Wednesdays to continue the series!
I can’t imagine life without a Vitamix. It has become an integral part of my cooking life and thanks to the company’s excellent customer service it will continue to have a place in my kitchen for many years.
I rank the Vitamix right alongside a food dehydrator on my list of Top 10 Gifts for the Health Conscious Cook.
I purchased my Vitamix in February of 2010. I know the exact month and year because I recently contacted the company to ask about their lifetime warranty.
My Vitamix has been going downhill steadily in the last year. Loud noises and loose knobs have marred our blending experience.
The machine didn’t technically break, however. It was clearly impaired but still functional. I was hesitant to call the company. After all, the blender has survived at least 60,000 uses! (Estimated 4 uses daily X 365 days a year X 42 months = 61,320.)
I pulled up my order history on Amazon, located the receipt, and contacted the company.
I received a gracious response letting me know that the company would set up repair service. I was assured there would be no cost associated with the transaction. The customer service representative even said he was looking forward to hearing from me.
I printed the shipping label and sent my Vitamix the same day. Within days I received notice that a package was on its way.
To my delight my Vitamix was repaired and they even sent back a new blending jar, no questions asked, no fine print, no hidden costs.
If you’re considering a Vitamix purchase, be sure to factor in their excellent customer service. If you’re looking for ways to use a Vitamix, here are five suggestions:
- Smoothies/Green juices. I make protein shakes, kefir/yogurt strawberry smoothies, and even green juices. See this post for details on extracting green juice using the Vitamix.
- Fruit Leather. Blend frozen and/or fresh fruit for use in chutneys and delicious snacks.
- Homemade Mustard. The Vitamix does an outstanding job of blending soaked mustard seeds. It’s the best way I’ve found to come close to mustard’s store-bought texture.
- Kale chips I make a flavorful “paste” for my kale chips using garlic, greens and spices.
- Strawberry Pie There’s no better way to blend dates and almonds for a delicious grain-free/sugar-free pie crust. Blending the strawberry/coconut filling in the same machine makes for easy clean-up.
The Vitamix comes with a tamper, a useful blending tool which in my mind sets it apart from other high speed blenders. Never use the tamper outside of the cover, however, as it easily rips if contact is made with the blades. This is a lesson I continue to learn the hard way, as I have purchased three tampers since my original purchase in 2010.
While today’s culture no doubt needs to turn back the clock and return to real food and time honored food preparation, there are some positives to living in the 21st century – the Vitamix is one of them!
While the Vitamix gets top ratings for customer service, its expensive price tag may still have you wondering if it’s worth the splurge. How does it compare to other appliances? Come back for next week’s Kitchen Tools of the Trade as a KitchenAid and a Vitamix go head-to-head in a soup-blending battle!
Do you own a Vitamix? How does it rate amongst your kitchen tools?
Andrea is a former journalist and the mother of nine children ranging in age from 28 to 12. Following a toxic mold exposure, Andrea and her family discovered the wonders of natural living. Andrea is the founder and president of momsAWARE, an educational organization designed to empower others to live healthy in a toxic world. You can follow her family’s journey at It Takes Time.
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Deanna
Looking forward to next weeks post as it competes with a more affordable blender. Don’t have have Vitamix, but it or a Blendtec, is on my wish list. 🙂
Alice Birchfield
I love mine too.
Mary Jo
I think your math is wrong on this…pretty sure you’d do 4x365x3.5 (number of years, rather than number of months). 🙂
Anne @Authentic Simplicity
I L_O_V_E my Vitamix! And I made that mistake once with the tamper, loL! Totally freaked me out though, because the force of the blades blew the tamper out of my hand and into the air! It made quite the impression on me. 😀
Brooke
How is the Vitamix superior to other “superblenders” on the market? My husband is having a hard time with the $400 price tag when we just saw the Ninja at Costco for under a hundy. I just have an Oster blender right now but dream of a Vitamix, so I can’t even tell him what the Vitamix experience is like. What can I tell him to convince him its worth the extra $300 over other blenders? To him, they all blend, so why spend more money???
Susan
I am not affiliated with any of these links, sites or products, just a very enthusiastic owner of a Vitamix:
Vitamix vs Ninja
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWb41309PuI
Vitamix vs Blendtec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5gB6ySM_00
Yvonne
I do not own one. However, when I was a barrista, I used one all the time! Loved it!! We even had the cover to lessen the noise! I would recommend it to anyone!
Esy to whirl anything up!
Jennifer
The vitamix is very expensive but it really does get the job done better than just about every other blender. I was very pleased once I finally got it.