Best: Overall

Rating: 9/10

With a punchy 1,000W motor, this blender has some real oomph behind it. The blade is nifty too: it’s specifically designed to have a larger cutting area and make blending extra efficient. It seems to do the job – we were really happy with the texture of our soup.

The black plastic blender has soft grip areas to help with handling, and it’s shaped perfectly for wrapping your palm around. Speed is adjusted by a dial at the top, and a boost button unleashes the motor’s full potential.

The attachments (blender, masher, whisk and chopper) click into place easily and are simple to remove, with release buttons on the side. The stainless steel blending arm cups the blade in a way that prevents splashing, too.

Best: Value for money

Rating: 8.5/10

We were really impressed by Aldi’s stick blender. It’s cordless, so you’re not tied down to a power point when you’re blending, but comes in at a fraction of the price of all the other wire-free options. Just plug-in the charger to power it up – because of the design of the blending arm, it can stand up safely on the worktop while it’s being juiced.

Pretty lightweight – especially considering the fact it’s cordless – it’s comfy to hold and easy to control. We were happy with the silky texture of the smoothie we used it for too.

This great-value tool comes with a whisk and masher as well as the standard blender, and there’s even a holder for the spare accessories.

Best: Budget multi-use blender

Rating: 8/10

If you’re looking for a blender that’s not just a one-trick pony but want change from £40, this smart-looking Russell Hobbs offering might be bang on the money. We’re into the matte-black aesthetic and think the accessories – including a whisk, blender and chopping attachments, as well as a handy beaker – make it a real workhorse in the kitchen. They’re all dishwasher safe, too.

With a 500W motor, it’s not the most powerful on the list, but we used it to whip up smoothies and it turned our solid frozen fruit into velvety drinks with ease.

Best: For keeping on display

Rating: 8/10

With its iron-grey colour and cool blue and purple lights (indicating blade speed and power), this super-modern blender looks a little like a Dalek. Except it’s far more efficient at whizzing up soup than we imagine those fictional extraterrestrials to be.

Another cordless number, this was the largest and one of the heaviest blenders we tested. But if storage space is a concern, there’s no need to clear out your overflowing kitchen drawers for it – it sits in a matching charging dock, designed to be displayed on a countertop or a shelf.

It comes with three attachments – a whisk, masher and blender, all of which are dishwasher safe – which click into the handset easily and detach by way of a release button at the base. There are five speed settings, which you can flick between using a switch at the front.

This is a powerful and substantial blender, yet it’s still easy to handle and can mange up to 20 minutes of use when fully charged.

Best: Classic stick blender

Rating: 8/10

This 600W blender is one of the most compact in size that we tested. It’s relatively light compared to most of the others, has just one function and is really simple to use. It’s a great example of a straight-up hand blender without the frills.

The power button is positioned perfectly and, given its long shape, you can compress it with all of your fingers. That’s ideal if you’ll be working with it for long periods of time, when holding that button in can quickly become uncomfortable. It’s easy to control one-handed and the four-point blade achieved a happily smooth texture for our sauce.

This no-nonsense model is an affordable but robust piece of kit for blending jobs.

Best: Handling

Rating: 8.5/10

With a beautifully smooth soft grip texture and ergonomic shape, this blender is probably the most pleasing to hold of any we tested. When it’s plugged in, the power button illuminates blue, and there’s a dial at the top to select your speed.

With an 800W motor, it’s a strong and capable tool that makes short work of whatever job you’re employing it for – and its range of duties is wide. Stainless steel attachments for emulsifying (great for making homemade mayo), mashing, whisking and chopping come as standard – as does a large measuring beaker which is spot-on for smoothies.

It’s a bit of an investment, but its versatility, comfort and power justify the price tag.

Best: For retro style

Rating: 8.5/10

Also on the pricier end of the spectrum is this KitchenAid number. It’s cordless, meaning you can run around the kitchen with it (don’t run) without being tied to a socket. It reaches full charge in two hours, but we found we didn’t need to plug it in for long at all to get enough juice to whizz up our sauce. When the power is waning, the green light turns yellow to prewarn you.

Although it’s powerful, there’s happily not much vibration when it’s on, and it comes with a plastic pan guard to stop the metal blending arm from scratching those precious non-stick surfaces. The speed is variable too – the more pressure you hold the button down with, the faster the blade will spin.

We like the retro, classic KitchenAid look and the thoughtful positioning of the buttons, which make it easy to use with one hand.

Best: Mid-range blender

Rating: 9/10

We love this blender’s sleek style, with its brushed-steel  finish and cool blue lights around the buttons. It has a satisfyingly ergonomic shape and the buttons don’t require much pressure, making it really comfortable to use.

With 800W of power, it’s up to all kinds of tasks, and the blade speed is easily controlled by a dial at the end of the handle. For more robust, difficult-to-blend ingredients, there’s a turbo button too.

As well as a blender and a whisk, it comes with a chopping bowl that’ll see to everything from onions to nuts and veggies.

Best: Compact hand blender

Rating: 8.5/10

This stick blender works a little differently to the others we tested. The arm doesn’t detach – instead, you change the blades on the end, which just click on and off. It comes with one multi-purpose blade, but there are different attachments to buy separately – from aerators to choppers.

This was the most petite blender of our bunch although it is more stout – being a little thicker around the middle – and is quite hefty in terms of weight.

The cord is extra long (almost 2m), which makes it a really convenient plug-in model, and is great if power sockets are sparse in your kitchen. It’s super quiet – especially considering its power – and vibrations are really minimal when it’s on, meaning it’s easy to manage.

Best: Hand blender for under £15

Rating: 8/10

You can pick up this budget hand blender for just over £12 – and it’s all you need if you’ll only be using it occasionally for easy-to-blend mixtures like soup. It’s on the smaller side so is practical in terms of storage, and its plastic arm (which you twist to release) is simple to clean – just detach and wipe it down.

It has two speeds and a modest 200W motor. Despite its size and affordability, it was still powerful enough to see to our batch of leek and potato with decent results.