I bought this blender to replace a very cheap kenwood that had served me well for over 5 years. What I love is just how beautiful it is, its heavy and well made, doesn't dance around the work top like the old kenwood did. It mixes efficiently -have made pesto and pancake batter and milkshakes. It really has only two faults in comparison to my old ugly kenwood, firstly, its a bugger to clean; the blades are fixed in the base of the beautiful glass jug, so getting in there to clean is a challenge. You really do have to put it in soak immediately (don't expect to get dried on pancake batter off with ease). The plus side of fixed blades is that it never leaks, but nor did my old kenwood. The other fault is that the jug is quite prone to tipping off the base if you brush against it to reach other stuff (as you do in my petite kitchen) All in all - it is so so beautiful and solid that I would buy it again, just a shame that for so much money there are any draw backs at all.