With words like "supreme" and "super" in its name, the Cuisinart Supreme Super SB-5600 has a reputation to uphold and does so beautifully.

This unit has a brushed stainless-steel base with a slanted front panel so that the buttons are displayed on an incline, with the highest speed coincidentally located at the top. There are eight pushbutton controls: on, off, pulse, chop, mix, puree, liquefy and ice crush. Each speed is preprogrammed for optimum performance with the specified task.

The unit's 600-watt high torque motor creates a vortex inside the blender jar, literally pulling mixtures down the center. Extremely thick mixtures do need some coaxing to get the mixture moving since air bubbles can collect around the blades and interfere with the blending progress. A quick stir will get the mixture moving again.

The ice crush function is amazing. We put a dozen cubes in the blender with no water at all and the powerful blades chopped them into a snowcone-like substance in seconds. The ice crush function operates in pulse-mode only and the ice literally jumps around the carafe.

The Cuisinart Supreme Super 600 SB-5600 comes with an oversize 60-ounce glass jar, which can handle extra-large batches of your favorite beverages, dips, sauces or batters. The glass jar is noticeably heavier than a plastic jar, but it is also resistant to staining, absorption of flavors and odors, and scratching. The carafe's black base ring and lid provide a nice contrast to the brushed stainless-steel base.

The weighted base has rubber feet for stability and sits firmly on your counter during use. We especially liked how the blender jar is designed to sit on top of a platform with four raised knobs, which keep it firmly seated during blending. The carafe lid fits snugly for leak-free blending. When blending hot liquids, however, you should remove the measuring cap to allow steam to escape.

This model was a bit nosier than others in its class. We attributed the extra noise to the unit's powerful motor. Because the blending results were so incredibly smooth and free of any chunks we feel the noise was a fair tradeoff.


Pros: Powerful 600-watt high torque motor, large 60-ounce glass carafe, easy push-button controls with pulse ice-crush capability
Cons: Noisy, glass jar is heavy

Warranty
3 years, limited