[philiplu]

Yep. I paid something like $650 for a Vitablend at a restaurant supply store about 20 years ago. That's the commercial version of a Vitamix. Thing is a tank, and has blended many many gallons of soups, smoothies, grain into flour, etc. over the years. Cleanup is hot water and a couple squirts of dishwasher liquid and run it on high a few seconds. Had to replace the jar a few years ago, but the base will outlive me.

[kjellsbells]

The other huge advantage: you can get parts for decades. With good kitchen gear you want to buy it once for life. Need a new cap, or jug, for a 2001 model? No big deal. You dont get that with the stuff from Target. (It is also not correlated to price, eg my zojirushi rice cooker offers the same capability but was way cheaper than the fancy korean rice cookers in the store.)

[philiplu]

Past the edit time, but I had the name wrong. It's a Vita-Prep 3, not Vitablend, that's the commercial model I bought.