RTINGS

The Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770 is the best full-size blender for ice crushing that we've tested. This blender comes with a large, 72-ounce main pitcher. It has buttons for a few preset modes, including 'Crush', which you can use to make snow-like crushed ice for desserts and frozen drinks.

Its motor base and gears are plastic, but it feels very sturdy and well-made. In addition to the main jar, it comes with a pair of 16-ounce jars and matching lids that you can use to make fantastic single-serve smoothies. The blender is easy to clean by hand, and all of its jars and lids are dishwasher-safe.

Unfortunately, it doesn't offer many options for fine-tuning the blending speed. It's also quite bulky and tall, so it takes up quite a bit of space on your counter unless you have a spacious cupboard to store it in. Otherwise, it's a great option if you're looking for a blender for ice crushing.

If you're looking for something less expensive and don't care as much about versatility, look at the Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770. This blender can make great smoothies in its 72-ounce pitcher, although if your recipe includes fibrous ingredients like kale, you'll see small unprocessed bits left over even if you blend for a while. That's not the case with the more expensive blenders listed here, but most people will still be happy with the result, and it will be less noticeable if your usual recipe includes easier ingredients like bananas or mangoes. Also included are a pair of personal jars that make remarkably well-blended smoothies. The personal jars each come with a to-go lid, so you don't need to transfer your drink into another cup before heading out.

There are a few other downsides compared to the Vitamix or the KitchenAid. Whichever jar you're using, it takes longer to make a smoothie. When you're blending in one of the personal jars, you need to hold down the 'Single-Serve' button constantly, which is a bit annoying. It doesn't offer any automatic blending programs. There's no two-part lid for the main jar either, although you might not care if you're mainly using it for smoothies. The blade design is another issue, as the very sharp spiral blades make cleaning by hand tricky and a bit dangerous. You can always put the jars, lids, and blades in the dishwasher.

The Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770 is the best mid-range blender for protein shakes that we've tested. While this blender is more limited in features and performance than the pricier options here, it's a great cheaper option for all kinds of protein shake recipes. Using its 72-ounce main jar, it can make a smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like blueberries and spinach, although you'll notice more grains left over than with the KitchenAid or Vitamix.

However, it also comes with three personal jars that you can use to blend single-serve shakes. Using one of these jars, the results are just as good as when you use one of the more expensive options. It's also an outstanding ice crusher using the main jar, making it a good choice for big batches of protein shake recipes that are mostly ice and liquid or even for frozen drinks like slushies. This model has very limited speed settings but does have a few automatic blending programs, including one for single-serves. The very sharp main blade assembly makes it tricky to clean by hand, but all of the jars, lids, and blades are dishwasher-safe.

Kitchen System Comparison