Vitamix Blender

A Vitamix sitting on my kitchen counter is the loudest appliance I own and possibly the most useful. Because The motor is powerful enough to pulverize whole frozen strawberries and raw cashews and ice into a smoothie in 45 seconds. Result is so smooth that there are no chunks or fibers, just a thick liquid that pours like cream. Vitamix has been making blenders in Ohio since 1937. Blade spins at up to 37,000 RPM, fast enough to generate friction heat and make hot soup from raw vegetables in 6 minutes without a stove. I started making soups this way during a week when my stove burner broke. Novelty of pouring cold ingredients in and getting a hot butternut squash soup out has not worn off. Noise is the only real downside, genuinely disruptive at full speed, but the 45-second blend time means the disruption is brief. At $350 for a machine that can also make nut butter and grind flour, it feels more like an investment than an expense.