Every year housewares companies debut new products at the International Housewares Show in Chicago. In 2008, one of the standouts was Hamilton Beach’s new Dual Wave Blender. The blender is larger than most–it holds about 10 cups. In less than 30 seconds this blender can crush 80 ounces of ice.

A unique feature in this blender is the dispenser. A nozzle on the side of the blender lets you pour the drinks directly into the cups. The blender comes with special cups that you can use to make two different drinks at the same time. The cups snap on the blender, and you can make drinks in them. Once the drinks are done, you can take the cups off the blender and use them as mugs.

Steve Cummings, a Hamilton Beach spokesman says, “What Hamilton Beach wanted to do with this is give versatility to the blender user at home. You can do the large party for 10 cups and dispense it or you can have individual servings for two different people.” Versatility was a big theme at this year’s International Housewares Show, and Hamilton Beach has it covered with this blender.

Cleaning the blender takes very little time because the blender jars are dishwasher safe. Depending on what you need, you can order additional accessories on the Hamilton Beach Web site: www.hamiltonbeach.com. This blender is available now on the Hamilton Beach Web site for $89.99.

Another blender to consider is the Proctor Silex Plus Spacesaver 8 Speed Blender. This blender saves space on your countertop and helps to save the environment. By designing a smaller blender, Proctor Silex can use less packaging. “Over the course of a year we’ll be able to save the amount of packaging that it would have taken out of 600 trees, about 6000 gallons of oil and hundreds of thousands of pounds of CO2,” Cummings says.

Aug. 12, 2008.