One minute review
Zwilling J. A. Henckels is a German kitchen brand that was founded almost 300 years ago. Originally the brand was known for its kitchen knives, but over the years its product range has expanded significantly through innovation as well as acquisition of other brands. It’s only recently got involved with the kitchen appliances market with the launch of its Enfinigy range of countertop appliances in 2020.
It now has three blenders on offer, two full size and one personal blender – though only one full size blender is currently available in the US. The Zwilling Enfinigy Power Blender is the best blender (opens in new tab) of the bunch, the most expensive and feature-rich blender you can buy from the brand.
It comes with a 64oz/ 1.8 liter Tritan pitcher and as you’d expect from a knife manufacturer, a quality stainless-steel serrated blade, with what they call piranha teeth. There are four auto programs as well as pulse and an auto clean program. Additionally, you can choose from 12 levels of manual speed, and everything is operated via one central control dial, making it simple to use and giving a streamlined appearance.
Our test results were somewhat mixed, the ice crush program produced chopped ice that was chunkier than we expected, but the smoothie program did a great job of pulverizing a bunch of ingredients into a lump-free drink. We made a thick glossy mayo successfully, but only on the second attempt. Having said this, it’s a fast, powerful blender that’ll stand up to most blending tasks. It’s expensive though, so it’s best suited to those with plenty of disposable income, who want a good-looking blender to complement a modern streamlined kitchen.
Zwilling Enfinigy Power Blender: price and availability
- List price: $400 / £349/ AU$576
The Zwilling Enfinigy Power Blender is available direct from Zwilling in the UK (opens in new tab) and US as well as through other major retailers such as Amazon. In Australia it’s known as the Zwilling Enfinigy High Performance Stand Mixer and can be purchased via Amazon AU (opens in new tab).
It’s an expensive blender and is the top-of-the-range model on offer from Zwilling. The brand also offers the more budget friendly Zwilling Enfinigy Table Blender in the UK and Australia for £199/ AU$365 – though it’s called the Zwilling Enfinigy Universal Blender in Australia and it’s not available in the US.
- Price and availability score: 3.5/5
Design
- Available in black or silver
- Simple settings
- Non-slip feet
With an uncomplicated and contemporary appearance, this blender is ideal for modern kitchens. While the blender is switched off, none of the settings are visible, so it has a very sleek and streamlined look. But once switched on, with the pitcher in position, the backlit display illuminates all the available settings around the dial. You can choose from 12 manual speeds, pulse, smoothie, cocktails, ice (for ice cream), ice cube crushing and there’s an auto clean program too. Which is handy since the lid and tamper are the only parts that can be washed in a dishwasher.
Size wise, it’s about average for a blender, measuring 16.65 x 7.6 x 7.6 inches/ 39.9 x 16.5 x 16.5cm. The pitcher isn’t glass, it’s made of Tritan, a hard plastic that’s BPA-free and cold resistant, and the benefit of it not being glass is that it’s lightweight, weighing just 2.9 lbs/ 1.3kg including the lid. The blender won’t start unless the lid is in position, a useful safety feature that means it’ll also stop blending if the lid is removed during use.
The pitcher simply has to be placed on top of the base, there’s no awkward twisting and locking maneuver that needs to take place to position it. Though we were somewhat disappointed that it can only be placed on the base with the handle positioned to the right, making it easier to use for right-handed people, but a bit more awkward if you’re left-handed.
The lid pushes on with ease, securing a tight seal, but it’s not tough to remove like some others. It features a removable central cup that allows you to insert the tamper to stir your mixture or pour extra ingredients in during blending. The cup also doubles as a small measuring cup, with handy markings at 1oz/ 2oz/ 20ml/ 40ml/ 60ml.
Performance
- Blades don’t reach low enough for small quantities
- Crushed ice was chunky
- Auto clean program works well
We started with a simple test, but one that most blenders struggle to do effectively, which is chopping hazelnuts. It took seven presses of the pulse button for all the larger chunks to disappear, but by this point most of the nuts were over chopped with a fine, ground texture. When we tipped the nuts onto a plate, it was apparent that there were still some bigger chunks amongst the fine powder, so the overall texture was quite uneven. But, as we said, this is a tricky test and if it’s fine, ground nuts you’re after, this blender is up to the task.
Next up we tried out the ice program using just six ice cubes. The program takes 35 seconds and at the end we were presented with chopped ice that still contained some bigger chunks. It was far from the fine, snowy crushed ice that we’re used to seeing from other blenders. If you just want your ice chopped and you don’t mind it a bit uneven, you won’t be disappointed, but if you’re looking for a fine crush, that’s not what you’ll get.
After crushing ice, we filled it up the max line with water and turned the dial up to the highest speed. This allows us to check for any leaking, but we were pleased to see the lid retained a tight seal despite the very fast blending speed.
To try out the smoothie auto program, we filled the pitcher with yogurt, apple juice, spinach, pineapple, and banana. The program took just 36 seconds and delivered a delicious, smooth, lump-free drink that was lightly aerated. Virtually all the ingredients were completely pulverized with just a few tiny flecks of spinach still visible, a great result in well under a minute.
Our first attempt at making mayo didn’t go so well; the blades don’t reach low enough to blend very small quantities and our recipe contains just two egg yolks. We persevered but the mixture didn’t emulsify. So we tried again, this time doubling the recipe. This did the trick and after two minutes gradually pouring the oil in on the slowest speed setting, the ingredients emulsified into a thick, glossy mayo. We removed the central cup insert to pour in the oil which meant some splashing out of the hole during the early stages of mixing, though this is quite common.
Figuring out how to clean a blender (opens in new tab), especially after making an oily mayo mixture, is always going to be a chore, so this was a good time to test out the auto clean program. We followed the directions in the manual and added 17 oz/ 500ml water along with a squirt of dish soap and started up the program. It took just 42 seconds and did indeed remove all the mayo residues. After emptying, the pitcher and lid just needed another quick wipe to ensure they were thoroughly clean. It was far quicker and easier than trying to wash it by hand.
All blenders are noisy and this one’s no different, it maxed out at 87dB on our noise meter when crushing ice. But it was a more pleasant 64dB when we mixed up mayo on the slowest speed setting.
| Attributes | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Price and availability | It’s widely available, but the high price tag will put it out of reach for many. | 3.5/ 5 |
| Design | Sleek and streamlined design that looks great on the counter, but also incorporates safety features and ease of use. | 4.5/5 |
| Performance | Performance was mixed, it didn’t crush ice as well as we’d like, but made a good smoothie as well as thick, glossy mayo and it’s certainly a powerful blender. | 4/5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if..
- First reviewed: July 2022
