# Thermomix - my wife wants one



## iralosavic (4/5/13)

So I know how much they cost and the basics of what they do. I'm impressed by a lot of the functions, but the price makes me feel very unimpressed.

We always research thoroughly and compare against competitor products etc. but nothing is more valuable than the advice from someone who has already been there, done that.

Anyone got any insight on the topic? Advice? A Review? A testimonial? Etc and ultimately is it a worthy purchase? I could buy a LOT of bling for my brewery with the savings by getting a thermochef!

Cheers


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## Florian (4/5/13)

I'd buy a Bellini Intelli Kitchen Master instead, available at Target for $329 or thereabouts.

In my opinion even a tad better than the Thermomix, with 12 month "carry back to target warranty", no snow ball bullshit. Of course a Thermomix owner will always talk any competitor product down as they have to somehow justify their $2000 waste purchase for something that's really only worth a fraction of it.

There's some good support online for the Target version if you look around.

Please note I have none of those kitchen gadgets, but I looked into them not long ago and decided that the Target version would be the goto item. 

Let me know if you want to know more, it's still pretty fresh in my brain. 

EDIT: The reason why there are now some copycat models cheaply available is that the original patent has run out.


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## bum (4/5/13)

Friend of mine, his missus is always talking about how much she loves her Bellini on Facebook, then how much she hates how quickly they die, then how much she loves her new Bellini.


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## Florian (4/5/13)

Yeah, I've heard that too, they seem to have a good lemon quota. Depending on your expectations and financials it might still work out alright taking the risk of having to carry the thing back to Target for an exchange or refund.

Anyway, I thought those things suit more a single persons household, or maybe a couple. That 2L pot that they all have is just too small to serve a family, especially if you want to be able to put some food aside for next day's lunch.

I reckon that a decent reliable food processor will be more of a time saver for us and still lets us cook 'normal', rather than this whole 'press this button for three seconds, than grind this for five, then turn this wheel to..." stuff.

That's what the wife is getting for mother's day anyway...


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## 431neb (4/5/13)

My old man bought a Bellini and promptly gave it to my wife and I. It's ok I guess but I prefer to cool the old fashioned way. 

It is a world class blender though. We chucked the old blender out. The missus makes soup and other slop in it. I used it to make meatballs and the blades gathered all the sinew from the meat and it overheated but I should have used the mixing jigger not the cutting blades. 

Yeah so what the hell am i saying? I guess I'm lukewarm on it. If 300 bucks seems like a lot money to you then skip it. I'm glad we got it for free.


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## 431neb (4/5/13)

Cook. Prefer to cook ffs....


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## tavas (4/5/13)

We bought a Jamie Oliver HomeCooker by Philips. Has a 3L bowl, comes with the cutting tower and can go up to 270*C whereas the Thermomix tops out at 2L and 100*C. The HomeCooker isn't a direct comparison because it does have a built in scale but does cook and stir while you take care of other things (meals, babies, hop additions etc). With 2 small kids my wife swears by hers.

I look at it like a kitchen version of a Braumiester.


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## Maheel (4/5/13)

maybe buy her one and then show her your new Braumiester

tell her it was a two for the price of two deal............


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## Florian (4/5/13)

But with the homecooker, doesn't it only have a few steps, like 90, 110, 180 and 270 degrees or something like that?

That cutting tower seems like a waste of time, but I do like the stirring thing, but then again the pan itself looks shite. 

Goodguys have them for $200 without the cooking tower, but i still skipped on it.


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## tavas (4/5/13)

Homecooker does have set temp steps, but that's no hindrance. You pick the temp you need ie 270 frying, The pan is solid, certainly no complaints about that. Cleans up well. Cutting tower is take or leave, but it does save a bit of time.

As I said, its not a direct comparison but for what it is it does, it does it well. 

I'm just not sure what a Thermomix is, other than an expensive sorbet maker.My wife wanted one until my SIL bought one and we realised it doesn't really do a lot. I couldn't justify the $2000 as we already have a food processor, blender and scales. I can see it being a fad that gets pushed to the back of the cupboard like a bread maker etc.

Having said that, if you didn't already have a kitchen full of stuff it might be worth it.

The reviews if Thermomix and competitors I read suggest if you want one you need to stump up the cash and get the Thermomix (not the cheaper imitators). Guess it just depends what you want it for.


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## Florian (4/5/13)

tavas said:


> The reviews if Thermomix and competitors I read suggest if you want one you need to stump up the cash and get the Thermomix (not the cheaper imitators). Guess it just depends what you want it for.


I found this only true for reviews written by people who own the Thermomix. People who own one of the cheaper copies seem mostly very happy that they didn't stump up the cash as their product is at least as usefull as the original. And I've read a lot of reviews all over the net. I found it quite hilarious how defensive Thermomix owners seem to get.

Anyway, all this is only from reading, I have never actually seen one of them other then in videos etc.

Interesting what you say about the homecooker, might have another look at the pan. Might be a good add on to the existing(well, in the present cupboard at the moment) Food processor.


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## iralosavic (4/5/13)

Thanks for the info so far, fellas. We have children with allergies and so have to produce a lot of things from scratch and, naturally, time is always short - hence the investigation in the first place. A few uses we would gain from such a device, other than the obvious food processing to save time on manual labour: producing yoghurt from nothing more than a culture and (coconut) milk; emulsifying (mayonnaise), creating dough that has been worked enough for the gluten to do it's thang (ie none of this "ready in 30 seconds crap" [if you know anything about bread, you'd realise that you'd lose the 10 minutes time saved in manual labour in waiting on the yeast in the prover], being able to create and cook sauces and purees that are automatically stirred, make custard (regularly), etc We generally chop vegies (and even onions) in bulk and freeze them in per serve portions to save time and money (nothing ever goes off due to lack of time/motivation etc).

So I have no argument against our family benefiting from such a device, I suppose. I'm just with Florian here - obviously anyone who owns a thermomix will be the kind of person who says "110%" and immediately loses all credibility and will be looked at by me with absolute cynicism. When a company has a single distributorship (think Apple), prices will always be way outside the competition range because they can legally and due to the simple premise that there are enough people in the world who shop by price tag and filter from highest down to fund their expedition.

I have heard that their build quality and post sales service is unbeatable in comparison though, but we're talking $1000+ extra, not a measly 5% or whatever premium you'd usually expect.


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## Florian (4/5/13)

iralosavic said:


> I have heard that their build quality and post sales service is unbeatable in comparison though, but we're talking $1000+ extra, not a measly 5% or whatever premium you'd usually expect.


Well, that's it, if you had the urge you could set yourself up with two Bellinis for about $600, and if one breaks down, you could use the second one immediately until you get the time to head over to Target for a replacement or wait for them to restock. And that's still $1400 saved right there, and you can't tell me that your Vorwerk representative can bring you a replacement Thermomix faster than you can pull the second one out of the cupboard.

EDIT: I have absolutely no problem with buying over priced gadgets if it saves me heaps of time or benefits the family in one way or another (both applies to my brewery purchase as an example), but if I can buy the same or a similar item cheaper, then I will (and again, same applies to my brewery purchase, though still over prised).


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## brettprevans (5/5/13)

Have u done a google seach? Im not being a smart arse. Its what I did wheny wofe came back from a thermomix party and wanted one. Heaps of good reviews on it and its competitors. Whirlpool has even posted up the Choice website conparison article which you nrmally need yo pay for. 

Theres a fairly comprehensive review on a blog called something like avgerage joe. No nonense. 

I dont have one and im no way convinced about any of the products. Esp for $2k. Im also not convinved aboit it suiting a family of 5 (which mine is). Youd have to cook everynight and thats just not going to happen. 

Therss quite a bit of info on importing tjem also. Most ate grey imports so id do research catefully before going down that road.


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## brettprevans (5/5/13)

citymorgue2 said:


> Have u done a google seach? Im not being a smart arse. Its what I did wheny wofe came back from a thermomix party and wanted one. Heaps of good reviews on it and its competitors. Whirlpool has even posted up the Choice website conparison article which you nrmally need yo pay for.
> Theres a fairly comprehensive review on a blog called something like avgerage joe. No nonense.
> I dont have one and im no way convinced about any of the products. Esp for $2k. Im also not convinved aboit it suiting a family of 5 (which mine is). Youd have to cook everynight and thats just not going to happen.
> Therss quite a bit of info on importing tjem also. Most ate grey imports so id do research catefully before going down that road.


http://outbackjoe.com/macho-divertissement/australian-places-and-general-travel/thermomix-review-a-mans-perspective/

http://www.google.com.au/search?site=&source=hp&ei=NSSGUZCfHIfIlQXolYCwBg&q=thermomix+whirlpool&oq=thermomix+&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.41l3j0l2.4836.7408.0.9485.11.8.0.3.3.0.271.1232.2-5.5.0...0.0...1c.1.12.mobile-gws-hp.IbMq0noVNzg&rlz=1Y1XIUG_enAU520AU520


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## komodo (6/5/13)

My mum has one and swears by it. She also has a 20odd grand AGA stove as well though so for my parents its not like the $ really means much. (Oh how I wish I was in that position).
I've used it and I'll be honest I'm pretty impressed by it. Mums would have to be 5 year old. Actually possibly older than that cause I was still living at home when she bought it and I've lived out of home since I was 21 pretty much (I'm 28 now).
I've not used a bellini or any of the other clones but I have looked at them and IMO they don't come close to the build quality just to look at and hold.

However I also own a kitchenaid because IMO they are the best as well even though I've looked at the kenwood and the sunbeam equivalents. I can see the pros to the others but I just felt more comfortable with the kitchenaid. Sometimes brand marketing works and maybe that's why I feel how I feel about the Thermomix.

Personally I couldn't swallow forking out $2k for one. My sunbeam blender, magimix food processor and my kitchenaid plenary mixer work for me. Though I suppose if I was buying again the thermomix isn't much more than those three items and pretty much does most stuff the three of them combined do plus more. Tough call.
I know the girl that runs the cooking school that I've done a couple of courses at has 3 kitchenaids in her cooking school and 2 thermomixes plus one of her own that she often brings in also. Interestingly she wont use the kitchenaid unless theres someone doing the course who has one at home and want to know how to do something with the kitchenaid.
This said she is a sales agent for the thermomix (though she doesn't tell you this unless you ask where you can buy one).

I think mum paid more like $1200 for hers though. Like I say this was quite some years ago. I could probably swallow $1200 for one in all honesty thinking about it but I don't think I could swallow $2k. YMMV.


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