This is my old olive green Osterizer Galaxie blender, circa 1970. I think I got it for a wedding gift in 1972 and it’s been handling what little blending I’ve done for the last 45+ years. It’s never given my any problem and never really saw a need to upgrade…until last week.

My daughter-in-law works at a company that does shipping and occasionally there’s a snafu of some type with a shipment which causes the shipment not be able to be sold commercially. That’s what happened with a shipment of Vitamix blenders. My son has one of these and he says they are so powerful they will actually cook food. Oh my.

This Vitamix 5200 retails for about $400 so, when the opportunity arose for me to purchase one of these at a ridiculously low price (gambling that the insides weren’t damaged like outside of the box), I jumped at it. I eagerly unpacked the box and read the instructions. I took it in and set it on my counter, fully intending to leave it on the counter under the cabinet…but it’s too big. It won’t fit under the cabinet. And, it won’t fit in the cabinets. My husband suggested that I put in on top the refrigerator in front of the small cabinets that no one ever uses because they are so impractical, but, the darn thing is so big and heavy that I’d have to climb up on a chair each time I wanted to get it on and off the refrigerator. It might fit in the bottom of the hutch, but then what do I do with all the stuff I have in there? My island shelves are full as are the almost totally useless blind corner cabinets that I have on both sides of my sink. Speaking of blind corner cabinets, I actually keep a flashlight in the cabinet so I can see to find the things that somehow get pushed to the back and once or twice I have had to literally wedge my shoulders inside the cabinet in an attempt to retrieve some lost piece of cookware.

As much as I hate to do it, I think I’m going to box it up and keep it as a gift to give to someone else. In this case, better isn’t better, it’s just different, newer and way too big.