Laura Ashley's stick blender is the perfect example of a stylish appliance - and it's perfect for small kitchens

The Laura Ashley VQ China Rose Hand Blender is more than just a pretty face. After testing it, I've decided that it's one of the most versatile kitchen accessories on test. Even better, it's one of the prettiest too.

When you picture the best blenders on the market, this probably isn't what springs to mind. However, if you live in a small space, picking up a stick blender can save you a lot of cupboard space without much compromise, especially when they look as good as this one. 

I've been excited about all of the Laura Ashley VQ launch, but this has to be my favourite. Here's everything you need to know about how to get your hands on one of these. It's even available on Amazon.

Specifications

Unboxing

As you might expect from a very giftable appliance, this comes in a simple, but beautiful box. The hand mixer and its various accessories seem almost impossible to have squeezed into a box that small, but they fit in nearly. 

Alongside the beautiful, robust body of the hand mixer, you’ll get a blending jar and blender attachment as well as a whisk and mini food processor. This makes the whole appliance incredibly versatile — it’s a great kitchen assistant. And the real cherry on top is that this comes with a Laura Ashley bag for storage. 

Who would it suit?

My first thought when I saw these was that they’d make a great wedding present. The elegant blue and white design has gorgeous gift written all over it — and I could see the whole collection in a cottage, a homely kitchen, and a light, traditional space. They look and feel as robust as the kind of KitchenAid appliances that they’d sit amongst.

The hand blender is particularly useful for small kitchens because it covers a lot of basic functions. The mini food processor is powerful enough to make breadcrumbs, hummus, and nut butters, which is really handy; the whisk boasts some impressive power; and the blender and blending cup are effective too. If you need versatility compacted into one appliance, you’ll have it here.

Whilst a limited edition collection is always going to be a little more pricy than main lines, if you’re a magpie like me, the extra spend is really worth it. 

What is it like to use?

As I said, I wanted confirmation that this can boast brains and beauty, which is why I put it to the test across a range of different functions and, as you would expect from VQ, it’s impressive.

Test 1: blender

Stick blenders, also known as hand blenders, are popular for making soups and sauces really simply. You can stick these straight into the pan that you’re using or pour your mix into the blending cup that comes with the whole kit. Make sure most of the head of the blender is underneath your food and then blend away. It’s simple. 

I tested this with hot and frozen ingredients. For my hot soup, I blended roasted vegetables and lentils straight in the pan to make a chunky soup. This was quick, powerful, and nice to hold. There are two different speed settings and the lowest was more than enough to blend, whilst still leaving the texture that I wanted in my pan. All in all, it took just two painfree minutes to make my soup.

Test two was making a smoothie. I know you wouldn’t normally opt for a stick blender here, but I wanted to know, if you’re really short on space, whether this can cover the functions of more appliances than you’d think. I put oats, spinach, banana, frozen blueberries, and almond milk into the blending cup. This gives the blades a tricky combination to work with: spinach leaves are tough, oats are fibrous, and frozen fruit is like little balls of ice. Whilst this took about a minute more than my NutriBullet, it still achieved an impressive smoothie at the end. Pushing down on the frozen berries almost compacted them into an ice block, but with the second, powerful speed, this was chipped away into a silky drink in no time. It is possibly marginally less smooth than dedicated smoothie blenders, but as a compromise for small spaces, it’s a great hack.

Test 2: food processor

I was keen to see how this would fare making peanut butter, hummus, and crushed nuts. In theory, small blenders like this should be good for little jobs like this, but the whole thing is made from plastic, so I wasn’t sure whether it would be a little fragile and to gentle on my ingredients. My concerns were entirely unwarranted, because this was brilliant. The lead gives enough room to comfortably get the food processor into place and it whizzed a can of chickpeas (with all the hummus extras — lemon, salt, cumin, tahini, and olive oil) into a delicious dip. The texture was faultless.

I tried the same with tougher tasks, such as making peanut butter from raw peanuts and breadcrumbs from a dry slice of bread. Each and every time it delivered speedy, impressive results. I’d buy this just for the food processor attachment.

Test 3: whipped cream

For a long time, I survived hand-whisking in my kitchen. This was mostly because I wasn’t ready to give up space to an electric hand mixer. Had I known I could get a stick blender with a very simple whisk attachment, I think I could have saved myself a lot of arm ache. This works incredibly quickly and effectively. On the top speed, if whipped 500ml of cream into stiff peaks in just under five minutes. It’s incredible and surprisingly quiet too. 

Cleaning

All of the ports are dishwasher safe — aside from the electrical body, of course. This is unusual, especially for the food processor parts, as you often have to hand wash these. It makes clean up very easy, because you can bung them away and let the machine do the work. That being said, I would err on the side of caution and wash these by hand. If the print fades, it’ll be because of the wash and harsh detergents. If you need a recommendation, I always use Ecover or Method, which you can buy on Amazon or in supermarkets too.

Should you buy it?