Ninja Professional Blender 1000 Blender Review

It's quite bulky, so it's best stored on your counter or on a shelf. It's smaller and lighter than some more expensive Ninja blenders, like the Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ BL642.

It has a good build quality. The motor base is made of plastic that feels sturdy and has rubber feet to help keep it from moving around on your counter. The black plastic platform that the jar sits on feels robust and holds the jar steady. The jar needs to twist into place and the lid locked on before the blender can operate.

Unfortunately, the control panel feels cheap, and the buttons, when pressed, lack proper clicky feedback. The 'Medium' button feels less clicky than the others. The jar lid feels flimsy, which isn't ideal since it contains the safety mechanism preventing the blender from starting without the lid. The plastic base of the jar feels fragile and seems prone to shattering if it knocks against something. While it's not something we experienced with our unit, some users have reported the pitcher cracking or leaking with regular use. Here's an example. You can see similar complaints in the user reviews here.

The main jar has a 72oz capacity and a 64oz capacity for liquids, which is about as big as full-size blender jars get, making it a good choice if you usually serve a crowd.

The jar is made of plastic. It has measuring marks in cups, ounces, and milliliters and has a comfortable handle. You must orient the jar correctly on the motor base to clip it into place. If you're looking for a glass jar blender, check out the Brentwood Brentwood 12-Speed Pulse Blender with Glass Jar or the Oster Pro 1200.

Like many Ninja blenders, its blade assembly has a stem design with six sharp blades spiraling around it. Ninja calls this the 'Total Crushing' blade assembly; blenders we've tested with this design are all fantastic ice crushers. However, the blades are also very sharp, so you must be careful when handling them.

The lid is made of plastic with a rubber gasket on its underside. There's a spout-like opening on one corner with a clear plastic cover that flips open. It can help with pouring, but the opening isn't big enough to act as a 2-part lid and let you add ingredients mid-blend. You also can't fit a tool like a tamper through it to stir your recipe, although the stacked blades would get in the way and make it difficult to use a tamper anyway. You must lock the lid onto the jar before the blender can operate. To lock it, you need to align the triangle symbol on the lid with the triangle symbol on the jar's handle, then push it down on the lid's handle until it locks into place.

The power cord is long enough to reach an outlet near your counter. There's a ridge around the exhaust vents on the back of the motor base that you can wrap the cord around to keep it out of the way when the blender's not in use.

• Ninja Professional Blender 1000 motor base
• 72 oz pitcher
• Lid with locking handle
• Blade stack assembly
• Manual

It does a decent job with small batches of fibrous ingredients. Blenders that can make a totally smooth blend with fibrous elements usually have much faster blending speeds, and if you use it for something like a single-serve smoothie with kale, it'll have some small unprocessed grains left over. However, a bigger downside is the process. It takes a long time, and since the mixture constantly splatters up the sides of the jar, you have to remove the lid and scrape them with a spoon or spatula a few times to get the best results.

If you want to use your full-size blender for single-serve smoothies, you might prefer a model that comes with a personal jar like the Oster Master Series Blender with Texture Select Settings.

It's okay for large batches of fibrous ingredients. However, even if you run the blender for a long time, it makes a grainy puree with ingredients like kale. There are more bigger, unprocessed bits than in the small batch. If you want a blender that can make a smoother blend with ingredients like leafy greens and fruit, you might prefer the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar or the Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher Multi-Function.

Like most full-size Ninja blenders we've tested, it can crush a batch of 12 ice cubes in about 30 seconds using pulse mode. The result is snow-like crushed ice, ideal for drinks like slushies or frozen treats like snow cones.

It does a great job of making nut butter. If you use the 'Pulse' button to break up the ingredients and then blend on 'High', it makes a very smooth, very spreadable butter. There may be some unprocessed bits or powder caught around or under the blades. However, it takes a while to produce the best results, and since it lacks a 2-part lid and tamper, you have to stop the blender a few times to scrape the sides of the jar with a spoon or spatula.

It's on the quiet side for a full-size blender. It makes much less noise than some blenders, like the Ninja Smart Screen, making it less irritating for recipes requiring a longer blending time.

There isn't a big difference between its slowest and fastest speed settings, which is typical of Ninja's blenders and means you have less control over the blending process. It also doesn't achieve the high speeds helpful for smoothly pureeing fibrous ingredients like kale.

The Ninja BL610 has simple controls, with buttons for three speed presets and a pulse mode. There's also a power button that acts as an on/off toggle. If you're looking for a blender with blending programs that stop the blender automatically, you might prefer the brand's updated version of this blender, the Ninja Professional Blender NJ601AMZ, or the Ninja Detect Power Blender Pro.

The blade design makes cleaning by hand difficult. The blades are removable but very sharp, and you must be careful not to cut yourself when cleaning it. Running the blender with soap and water can take care of a good amount of residue in the jar and on the blades. However, there's a small hole on one end of the blade assembly stem that connects to the lid's locking mechanism. This opening traps debris and is difficult to reach unless you have something long and thin, like a pipe cleaner. You may also need to wipe the lid's gasket with a sponge and open the lid's spout cover to remove any remaining residue.