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For the cooking enthusiast looking for a versatile time-saving kitchen tool, look no further. The KitchenAid KHB2351 3-Speed Hand Blender includes three handy attachments that will make whipping up your own sauces, soups, smoothies, and baby food a breeze!
The KHB2351 3-Speed offers a very good price-to-performance ratio as it provides lots of capabilities without breaking the bank.
KitchenAid KHB2351OB 3-Speed Hand Blender in Black via Wayfair
Let’s dig into the details:
Pluses and Minuses at a Glance
Pluses…
- Sturdy materials and sleek design.
- 3 speeds.
- Comfort grip.
- Dishwasher safe detachable immersion blender wand.
- Whisk attachment, chopper bowl, and 3-cup mixing jar with lid.
- Canvas storage bag.
And Minuses…
- Seal between the chopper bowl and lid can be very tight.
- Instructions from KitchenAid are not explicitly clear about dishwashing adapters (but we’ll clear that up below).
- Does not include pan guards for the blade cover.
Admittedly, these sound like generic pros and cons, but they serve to sum up the great features of this countertop appliance. Let’s jump into the finer points as to why these are the highlighted features.
Quality Construction
The KitchenAid KHB2351 has beautiful design lines with a soft grip handle, and it comes in a few different colors, which I’ll get into later. The motor housing unit has a speed control knob at the top of the hand blender, and a soft touch button turns the device on with constant applied pressure.
The immersion base is 2 inches in diameter and the wand is 8 inches long, which makes it compatible with your favorite blender cup. If you don’t have a favorite smoothie vessel already, the KHB2351 includes its own 3-cup mixing jar that’s dishwasher safe.
The powerful motor and 3 speed settings deliver just the right amount of power necessary for a lot of jobs. This means ice cubes are no match against this immersion blender. And the excellent warranty behind this product is the icing on top.
Versatile Attachments
While the immersion blender attachment works wonders for processing soups, homemade mayo, and other items, this hand blender is capable of handling so much more.
A whisk attachment turns this hand blender into a motorized hand whisk. It’s perfect for frothing fresh cream or whipping up egg whites into soft or stiff peaks. Keep in mind: the tines are thin, so for anything heavier than pancake batter, I recommend switching to a stand mixer or hand mixer with more solid tines.
The 2 ½-cup chopper attachment is great for making small batches of hummus, or crumbling graham crackers for a cheesecake crust.
Roughly cut veggies and fruits are chopped to a fine consistency for homemade salsas and slaws. KitchenAid assures users that the KHB2351 chopper attachment can chop up nuts, but I recommend keeping to the softer varieties like cashews, peanuts, or pine nuts to be kinder to this appliance.
Easy Cleanup
Being able to puree soup directly in the soup pot is incredibly convenient. There’s no need to transfer the hot food to a food processor, no splatters, and I don’t have to dig around for a third large bowl to hold the pureed soup in while I finish up the rest of the batch. As long as I’m mindful not to let the lip of the immersion blender break the surface of the soup, there’s no splattering to clean up either!
The KitchenAid KHB2351 attachments and bowls are top shelf dishwasher safe. The adapters and motor housing unit only need to be wiped down with a damp rag as necessary. This is wildly preferable to taking up the entire top shelf of the dishwasher with my larger food processor or stand mixer components.
Storage: A Story of Love and War
The KitchenAid KHB2351 includes a small canvas bag for easy storage, but it is small and doesn’t hold all of the components that are included. Is this an unintentional flaw in the design? Is the canvas bag not intended to hold everything? We may never know, but this does bother some users.
Personally, I don’t mind this much. When the blending jar and lid aren’t in use, they go with the other food containers in the cabinet. The chopper, lid, and blade tuck in next to my food processor (because no hand blender is going to deliver the precisely chopped cauliflower rice I’m looking for). The whisk attachment goes in my appliance drawer.
That leaves the KHB2351 housing unit, 5-foot power cord, and immersion blender wand to fit comfortably inside the canvas bag. Then it goes in the appliance drawer with the whisk attachment.
It Gets Even Better
While the immersion bell has a recessed S-blade, the bell base is still metal, which can be incredibly hard on nonstick pots. If you’re like me and stand a very real chance of scratching the bottom of your pots, then the KitchenAid KHB0012 Hand Blender Pan Guard might be in your future.
KitchenAid KHB0012 Hand Blender Pan Guard via Amazon
If the somewhat exposed S-blade is still a concern when it’s not in use, KitchenAid has a Bell Blade Assembly Cover (KHB006) available for their immersion attachments.
KitchenAid KHB006 Hand Blender Bell Blade Assembly Cover via Amazon
There is a benefit to purchasing the KHB0012 guard and the KHB2351 separately, as opposed to other immersion blenders that include pan guards as part of their design. Since the KitchenAid pan guard comes off, it’s much easier to clean out food particles than what you would experience with a combined unit.
Of course, we’re scratching our heads trying to figure out why KitchenAid chose not to include the 20 cent product in the base package, rather than trying to make five or six dollars off of the occasional buyer. Seems kind of ridiculous.
By way of comparison, the slightly more expensive Breville BSB510XL Control Grip includes a built in guard, and comes with a cover in the box.
KitchenAid Quality, Guaranteed
In addition to the protection provided by the warranty, which we will describe in more detail below, the motor includes thermal protection so it will automatically shut down if it starts to run too hot.
If overheating does happen, unplug the unit. After about 10 minutes to cool down, the unit can be used again. I’m sure this sounds inconvenient, but I much prefer a forced shutdown to the smoking blender that I literally ran out of the house to escape when it overheated. And that’s the story as to why I no longer have a countertop blender…
Dimensions and Specs
The KHB2351 is about 3 x 16 x 3 inches and weighs around 4 pounds. The unit houses a 200-watt motor (1.8 amp, to be exact) to take advantage of the 3 speed settings. The blending jar holds 3 cups of liquid, and the chopper attachment bowl has a 2 ½-cup capacity.
What’s Included:
- Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) Plastic Motor Housing Unit with Soft Grip Handle
- 8-inch Blending Arm with Fixed S-Blade
- Whisk Attachment
- 2.5-Cup Chopper Attachment with Lid
- 3-Cup BPA-Free Blending Jar with Lid
- Canvas Storage Bag
- User Manual
KitchenAid thoughtfully includes a Chopper Processing Guide in the manual to let us know exactly what to do with the allotted space. It even offers the ideal speed and estimated time to turn out the desired products, as well as preparation required before blending.
For example, a maximum of 10-12 cloves of garlic can be placed whole in the beaker for chopping, on speed 2 for 15 seconds. Two ounces of fresh herbs can be processed at a time with stems removed, on speed 3 for 15 seconds.
Colors
As mentioned, this model is available in a few colors, including:
KitchenAid KHB2351CU 3-Speed Hand Blender in Contour Silver via Wayfair
Warranty Information
KitchenAid includes a 1-Year Full Warranty on all of their immersion blenders. This includes a hassle-free replacement warranty – if your KHB2351 turns out to be a dud, KitchenAid will replace it. For more information, check out the user guide or the manufacturer’s website.
Care and Cleaning
The immersion blending stick, whisk, chopper bowl, blade, and mixing jar are all top shelf dishwasher safe. The KHB2351 motor body, whisk adapter, chopper adapter, and power cord need only to be wiped down with a damp cloth, per the user manual care instructions. That’s it for cleaning and care!
Pro Tip: Do not put the adapters in the dishwasher, even though they may look dishwasher safe. These middle pieces between the attachments and the housing unit are not sealed against water and will become completely waterlogged when submerged in a sink, or hit with the spray in the dishwasher.
Techniques, Tips, and Tricks
When using the immersion blender attachment, it’s good practice to remove the pot from the direct heat source first. That way, the food doesn’t continue to heat the immersion blender or whisk attachments, which in turn helps them to last longer.
Give the food or drinks that you’re blending plenty of room to rise along the sides of the pot, cup, or food chopper. I generally recommend starting with crushed ice for smoothies, to be kind to the blades. However, the KHB2351’s third speed setting doesn’t seem to have the slightest problem pulverizing whole ice cubes, so when it comes to ice, you do you.
Compare and Contrast: KitchenAid KHB2351 vs. Cuisinart CSB-179
This hand blender’s closest competitor is the Cuisinart CSB-179. With a 300-watt motor, stainless steel housing, and a reputable name, it’s certainly worth looking into.
Cuisinart CSB-179 Smart Stick Hand Blender in Stainless Steel via Amazon
It also has dishwasher safe immersion, whisk, and chopper attachments, although the downside is that there’s no pan guard attachment for the immersion shaft. And since it has an extra safety button that’s required to be pushed at startup along with the power button, it doesn’t work well for those with small or arthritic hands. But the Cuisinart does offer a 3-year warranty, compared to the 1 year offered by KitchenAid.
Read more about it in our full review here.
The Next Best Thing
If you’re loyal to the KitchenAid brand (and wouldn’t you be?) and need something a little more than the KHB2351 has to offer, there are a few other options. Check out Foodal’s reviews of KitchenAid’s top-of-the-line hand blenders, the KHB2561 and the KHB2571 (coming soon!). These 5-speed hand blenders are the best of the best, and are compatible with all of the same attachments the KHB2351.
Alternatively, if these options offer way more than what you were looking for, take a look at the entry model immersion blender, the KitchenAid KHB1231 2-Speed Hand Blender. This small kitchen appliance only features the immersion wand and blending cup, with no extra accessories.
Foodal’s Rating
- Power
- Performance
- Settings
- Build Quality
- Warranty
- Included or Optional Accessories
- Value
Summary
The KitchenAid KHB2351OB 3-Speed Hand Blender is a decently equipped equipped and moderately priced bit of kit. It doesn't have firm lock the detachable motorized base as the Cuisinart or Breville immersion blenders. Nor does it have a soft, anti-scratch blade guard edge out-of-the-box like those found on the other brands. And it doesn't come with a three year warranty like Cuisinart. So why buy it? It's a little over half the cost of the equivalently equipped Breville and its easy to operate one-handed with small or arthritic hands unlike the Cuisinart lineup. It's a solid, middle-of-the-road workhorse for your home kitchen.
Before You Go…
The KHB2351 brings a lot of value for the price. Much like my other KitchenAid products, the additional features make this a very versatile small kitchen appliance.
KitchenAid KHB2351WH 3-Speed Hand Blender in White via Wayfair
Do you have any questions about immersion blenders we can answer for you? Give us a shout in the comments below. For some great tips, check out our collection of smoothie recipes. And make sure to check out Foodal’s Immersion Blenders Buying Guide for even more hand blender options!
Photos by Mike Quinn, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Isolated product photos via KitchenAid.
About Taylor Shaw-Hamp
Taylor Shaw-Hamp has loved food ever since she can remember. The more she grew, the more she discovered, and the more she had to know. Now she loves to write about her food adventures through recipes, product reviews, and blog posts. She can be found at local coffee shops across the world, so if you see her, stop by the table and say hi!
Good Morning Taylor,
My wife has been using a Cuisinart handheld smart stick CSB-77 for many years and the only 2 issues found was probably created by the toothed cylinder on the motor body which finally broke after almost 10 years (other issue probably related was the motor did not feel strong to move the food processor blades even though bought a new one and did not work). Spoke with Cuisinart and they recommend newest model CSB-179 variable but it also seems to have the same principle of toothed gear on motor body (does not seem to have changed). The good thing about this motor body is that it is metal made.
The Kitchenaid KHB2351OB has good reviews but motor body out of plastic which does heat up. Also seems engagement of motor and attachments is with a plastic gear which can also strip. As you stated on your review above, 1 year warranty versus 3 year on Cuisinart, which does makes somewhat of a difference.
In early June bought a 2-speed KitchenAid immersible blender (Model KHB1231IC) and it works well. However, within a few weeks the two parts separate during the mixing process if I don’t hold them together. I tried to register it, but the (required) serial number is tiny and stamped into the ice-colored plastic so that I cannot read any of it even with a strong magnifier.