Can KitchenAid Stand up to the Grind?
One of the easiest ways I have found to get calcium and vitamins into my kids is to offer them smoothies as an after school snack.I just throw a variety of frozen fruit, yogurt and some milk into the blender and produce a treat they love. This is a great time of year to pull out the blender and make a cool treat.
I have been doing this for years using a Hamilton Beach blender I purchased on sale at a local drugstore almost twenty years ago. Now we have a problem. 
About five years ago, my husband bought me a Kitchenaid blender that claims to be strong enough to crush ice at all speeds, but after years of occasional use, the coupler started breaking apart.The coupler is that small black gear-like circle that connects the blender jar and blades to the base. It has broken in two stages. The first time, when two pieces broke off, I called Kitchenaid customer service. The representative there was friendly and sympathetic, but as our blender was out of warranty, she offered no advice other than that we could continue to use the blender as it was although, it would add a slight strain to the motor and therefore shorten the lifespan of the appliance somewhat.
So, we continued using the blender for the next few months.Yesterday, two more pieces of coupler broke off.I have sent the base to be repaired at an authorized repair shop at a cost of $25. This is not a huge cost, but as a percentage of an $80 blender, it seems high considering how often (or not, really) we used it. I just think a blender that claims to be an ice crushing, high powered appliance, made by a quality manufacturer should be more durable.
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The coupler on our Kitchen Aid Blender Model No. KSB50B4 disintegrated last night. The first two blades broke off the blender within the first year. We continued to use the blender occasionally; however, we are completely dissatisfied with this product.
Krista,
Thanks for posting your experience with your KitchenAid blender.I have been using my newly repaired blender with no problems so far. I took mine to a local authorized repair shop, but the coupler part is available online for around $9. The coupler seems to just come off with a few counter-clockwise turns. You might want to consider this option.
We have had our KitchenAid KSB5WW4 blender for only four years and just yesterday the black rubber coupling also disintegrated like so many other people’s have done. Interestingly enough, ours didn’t loose any teeth, rather the rubber became all soft and pliable, sort of like silly putty. And I don’t think it was heat related because it is still sitting on the counter, cool but soft and pliable. Thus, I think they are doomed to fail regardless of how hard you stress the machine.
As an engineer, I know rubber formulations can be tricky to get right, especially ones that last. I don’t know whether KitchenAid specified this faulty design knowingly, as a way to gain repair revenue, or completely by mistake, but whatever the case, it is a poor, poor design.
I can’t think of many things that last anymore, even though we pay the extra $ for “the good stuff”. A friend of mine remarked, “Sadly, it won’t be long before the design and build quality of all our machines looks like something out of the movie Brazil”. If you haven’t seen the movie, picture a dark world where everything is sort of half-assembled, held together with duct tape, and just barely working.
I just ordered 2 more couplings because we like the blender otherwise and I suspect the new coupling will also fail unless they have changed the rubber formulation.
The problem with this appliance is the design of the fly wheel in the base of the blender container. It only engages two of the teeth of the coupler so all of the pressure of grinding whatever is in the container is placed on only two of the teeth. A different drive design would distribute this force evenly and the coupler would probably hold up. I have just had to order the same part, and have to say that this is a pretty inexcusable design flaw from a manufacturer that claims to produce the “best.”
My coupler is also disintegrating. I have owned my blender for about 2 years, and mainly use it for mixing up shakes with the addition of frozen fruit. Occassionally, I also use ice, but it is supposed to be able to handle that. A year or so ago, the first tooth broke off. Then another. Now today, 2 more teeth came off, so I am left with only 2. Time to order one, for sure! I paid a fair bit for this blender, and am disappointed that has such a poorly manufactured part.
Wow, KitchenAid should offer to replace these blenders which are defective. The exact same problem is happening to me with my model KSB50B4 blender. Two teeth broke, then two more. I’m glad that I can replace the coupler thanks to your postings but it looks like so many people have EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, which means this product is defective and the manufacturer should replace them free of charge.
I’M having the same problem. model model 5ksb5egr3. the black rubber coupling disintegrated :o(
Yes, I too have experienced this problem. The coupler on ours began to disintegrate and I e-mailed Kitchenaid about this problem. They e-mailed me back a pathetic excuse saying someone must have lifted the glass container piece while the coupler was still rotating. I was disgusted with their lame response which entailed instructions on mailing the thing to some repair service which would cost oodles of moola for assessment and repair, not to mention postage. PATHETIC CUSTOMER SERVICE. If you have a proplem of this magnitude, confess to it, and reapir free of charge…this is the way to build a loyal customer base.
Same problem and my coupler is totally flat as all teeth disappeared altogether. Will try to remove and order another I guess…very, very flawed!