The Best Kitchen Equipment

We have used a number of different types of kitchen equipment over the years and have found that the better equipment is more enjoyable to work with, lasts longer, and pays for itself in the long run. These are our recommendations. Search the internet for prices and compare with amazon.com. Save your pennies for the better equipment, but use what you have until it breaks.

Blender
	Vitamix (vitamix.com) The Vitamix is one of the best blenders for Green Smothies. We purchased directly from Vitamix. We found older versions sold by various vendors for less, but didn't have the features we liked. We highly recomend having variable speed. Also search the web for discount codes. You can probably get free shipping.
Dehydrator
	Excalibur (www.excaliburdehydrator.com) This is simply the best dehydrator and is essential for gourmet raw food preparation. In purchasing a dehydrator, it is important to have accurate temperature controls that is less than 110°F. Heat over 110°F can destroy the enzymes and lower the food value. The Excalibur model with a timer is very nice. We own the 9 tray model and could not survive with just 5 trays. We recommend buying the dehydrator from Amazon.com.
Juicers
	Tribest Citristar Citrus Juicer This is one of the better citrus juicers on the market; however, we were using $3.00 (on-sale) to $10.00 juicers for many years. We just had to replace them about every year. You don't need the top end to make wonderful juice.
	Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor We own this particular juicer and really enjoy it. Once we purchased this we stopped using our Greenstar. It has a large opening that will allow juicing smaller apples whole. Other juicers have smaller openings requiring more work. You could also consider some of the other Breville Juicer products.
	Tribest Green Star The Green Star is the best of the twin gear juice extractors. Twin gear juice extraction produces a superior juice in comparison to the Breville juicer; however, it tends to foam with soft fruit and does not juice it properly. It also has a smaller mouth and takes more work to produce the juice. For wheat grass, greens, and vegetables it is by far superior.
Food Processors
	Cuisinart Food Processors We would classify the food processors as a nice to have, but is not necessary. We use it for chopping vegitables and making nut sauces. We own the 7 cup version pictured here; however, we will probably purchase a larger one if and when ours breaks. We use ours several times a week and sometimes daily.