Milkeshake Maker - How to choose between Hamilton Beach, Oster, and Waring

Over the last century, milkshakes have been the sweet treat of choice for millions of people. To imagine a time when people couldn't enjoy a nice tall glass of this delicious concoction is, well, simply unimaginable! Although most fast food or sit down restaurants will sell you a milk shake, the most gratifying, enjoyable, and healthy way to get your fix is to make it yourself at home. To do that you'll need a quality milkshake mixer. 

The Hamilton Beach Drink Master is an affordable entry level mixer that lets you make a variety of frozen drinks. With it's subdued retro styling, it's comfortable on any counter-top, and it's tilting head ensures that no matter what you're mixing, it'll come out consistent. Be aware that this low end device is chromed plastic, not metal. It should still be more than sufficient to meet occasional use needs, and you can't really beat the thirty dollar price tag!

Hamilton Beach's Eclectrics All Metal Drink Mixer is the next step up in this product line, similar to the Drink Master, but with a durable metal frame. It is a little more expensive because of this, and you'll pay anywhere from eighty to a hundred dollars. With a full metal body, however, this device will grace your counter-top for many, many years.

The Oster Milkshake Maker is similar in features to the offerings from Hamilton Beach, with a  comparable motor, spindle, and cup size. It's even got the same kind of retro twenties styling, but is only sold with a die cast body. With its all-metal frame, it's more expensive than the Drink Master at around fifty dollars, but it's cheaper than the Eclectrics mixer. A pretty good compromise if you don't feel a particular brand loyalty.

Waring also has a consumer milkshake maker, in its PDM112 Drink Mixer. This one is good bit  taller than the mixers from Oster and Hamilton Beach – at twenty-one inches, it may not fit underneath low cabinets! The styling on this device is a bit different, and more in line with this companies commercial offerings, but it does come in four different colors. The frame is metal, but that shiny chrome on the motor housing? Plastic. Fortunately, the motor is mounted to the frame, and the housing is just cosmetic, so function isn't affected at all. The tallest and most colorful milkshake mixer, it's also got the biggest price tag at one hundred and thirty dollars, but worth the price if you want to bring some decorative bang to your counter-top.

All of these companies offer commercial level machines, which have motors rated in fractional horsepower, multiple spindles and cups, and multiple speeds for mixing. You won't find them at Walmart, but sites like Amazon and eBay usually have them. If you need multiple milkshakes in a hurry, a commercial maker is probably your best bet. You will, of course, pay more – anywhere from four hundred, to over a thousand dollars.

            No matter what brand you get, the ability to make milkshakes from your home can be a bigger boon than you expected. Let's be honest – No kid is going to balk at cleaning a room if there's any chance of getting a sweet, delicious, (and preservative free) milkshake after dinner!