Precision Master Robins Egg Blue 55qt Stand Mixer
The best stand mixers of 2022
The best stand mixer will be powerful to quickly whisk, beat and whip up a storm in the kitchen. This is often the case if you love a bake-off to impress family or friends. In fact, the best stand mixers will do all the work to ensure every trace of batter around the bowl will get picked up, saving you the elbow grease.
But with so many stand mixers on the market, it can be tricky to choose the right one. Do you prefer a tilt-head stand mixer that allows you to easily add ingredients or a bowl-lift stand for added convenience? What bowl capacity is ideal for your home? Also, what special features or different attachments does it come with? Typically, stand mixers include a wire whisk, flat beater and kneading hook for breadmaking. But you can also purchase additional attachments such as a pasta maker, slicer or even a meat mincer. Also, what's your budget? The more powerful the mixer is, the more expensive it will be. You should also consider whether a hand mixer might be better suited to your needs. When it comes to the question of hand mixer vs stand mixer, both serve a similar purpose, but with very different designs.
We've rounded up a great selection of the best stand mixers to suit every lifestyle, need and budget.
What are the best stand mixers?
For most bakers, the best stand mixer is arguably the KitchenAid Artisan 5-quart tilt-head stand mixer. The capacity suits larger cakes and it can do much more than a regular stand mixer. KitchenAid offer multiple attachments which fit onto the front of the mixer, including a pasta maker, an ice cream maker and even a spiralizer — so the recipes with one of these is endless. This model also comes in a range of colors to suit most kitchens.
If you're interested primarily in the KitchenAid brand, check out our Best KitchenAid stand mixers page for our top recommendations.
There are other options though, whether you're shopping on a budget or looking for different features. We also like the Hamilton Beach 7-speed stand mixer if you want to save some dollars. Priced at less than $100, this 4-quart mixer comes with a two-handled stainless-steel mixing bowl and attachments like a dough hook and splatter shield. There's not as many accessories as KitchenAid, but it's an ideal mixer if you're just starting to bake and want to cover the basics.
Another option is the Cuisinart Precision Master Stand Mixer SM-50 which features a larger 5.5 quarts capacity, yet comes at a reasonable price of less than $200. If you're looking to splash out, then the Wolf Gourmet Stand Mixer (WGSM100S) might be the one for you. This mixer offers professional grade construction and capabilities, and will certainly get the job done.
If you're a fan of KitchenAid, but want to try something more advanced, we also recommend the KitchenAid Professional 5-Plus Series 5-quart bowl-lift stand mixer and the KitchenAid Pro Line Series 7-quart bowl-lift stand mixer. Both feature larger capacities and the same professional-grade quality. Ideal if you tackle bigger recipes more often.
Want to know which stand mixer I recommend? I test appliances for a living — here's what you'll find in my kitchen. You'll also need one of the best cutting boards for fuss-free preparation.
The best stand mixers you can buy today
With its iconic design, available in 46 stunning colors — including Orange Sorbet, Green Apple and Dried Rose — the KitchenAid Artisan 5-quart stand mixer is eye candy for your countertop. But it's also a real workhorse that tops almost everyone's list of best stand mixers, due to its fast, efficient mixing and quiet operation. It has the bowl capacity and oomph to mix up nine dozen cookies, four loaves of bread or 7 pounds of mashed potatoes. It has a Slow Start feature to avoid spattering your counter with a flurry of flour or a splash of milk when it first ramps up. Like all KitchenAid stand mixers, it has 10 speeds and a hub for attaching optional accessories, including a pasta roller and a spiralizer.
We won't lie. This stand mixer won't dress up your countertop the way a KitchenAid will, but it won't make as big a dent in your budget, either. And you won't sacrifice much in mixing results. This mixer turns out clouds of whipped cream, tender lemon chiffon cake and two tall loaves of whole wheat bread. The Hamilton Beach may take a little longer to mix than a KitchenAid does, but hey, you're not mixing the batter by hand. And when it comes to ease of use, the Hamilton Beach bests them all.
Not only is the speed dial easy to turn, but it also has big numbers, no reading glasses necessary. If you're never quite sure what speed to use, check out the guide matching tasks to speeds right on top of the mixer head. Handles on either side of the bowl make maneuvering the mixer easy, and all of the parts, including the whisk, can be popped in the dishwasher. As the mixer is relatively lightweight and has a handle on top, it's convenient to reposition or carry to a closet for storage.
While the Cuisinart Precision Master Stand Mixer is solidly built of die cast metal, it's not overly heavy, which makes it very convenient to store in a closet or cabinet when you're not using it. It has a large 5.5 quart mixing bowl and the oomph to mix batter for 5 dozen cookies. However, it can only knead dough for about 2 loaves of bread so if you're a heavy duty bread baker, this might not be the model for you. For its capacity, however, it is a very affordable and handsome choice.
The Cuisinart is easy to use and all the parts except the whisk are dishwasher safe. It is available in a selection of colors including ruby red, white, black, periwinkle blue, robin's egg blue, and silver. You can purchase a variety of attachments from a pasta roller to a spiralizer.
If you have a professional-style kitchen and want a mixer that fits right in, you'll love the Wolf Gourmet Stand Mixer. It has the same impressive stainless steel design, complete with a red knob, as the Wolf range. And as you would expect, it also costs top dollar. This is one big heavy countertop appliance designed for people who bake often and in large quantities. In fact, the bowl can handle enough batter for 14 dozen cookies or dough for 8 loaves of sourdough bread.
While on most bowl lift mixers, you turn a crank to lower and raise the bowl, on the Wolf you rotate the bowl itself to adjust its height. There are a dozen settings on the speed dial but you can stop anywhere in between for lots of fine tuning. There's a pulse setting for cutting butter into flour for pie dough or just not overbeating a cake batter when you add in the dry ingredients. When you turn the Wolf on, it starts off slowly so never get a big splatter. There's a hub up front for optional attachments but to date, none are available. If you're not a fan of the signature red knobs, black and stainless steel ones are included with the mixer.
With this mixer in your kitchen, you can go ahead and double up on recipes; it has the power to handle the dough for six loaves of bread or 72 cookies. At Thanksgiving, it can mash 7 pounds of spuds, leaving you free to carve the turkey and whisk up the gravy. This mixer is big and heavy and is definitely for bakers who bake a lot and bake often and want to give a stand mixer pride of place on the countertop. Of course, you can use all the KitchenAid attachments, from the meat grinder to juicer to the spiralizer, so this device can replace several appliances. That's good, because it's easier to store lots of accessories than several machines.
If your kitchen is practically a factory for bake-sale cookies, this is the mixer model for you. The most powerful stand mixer for home use, it has the horsepower to mix up the dough for 14 dozen oatmeal cookies at once. Its Slow Start feature keeps flour from being spewed around the kitchen at the beginning of mixing. As you may expect, it will set you back more than any of our other picks, and it will occupy a major chunk of countertop space, so be sure you need this appliance before you click Add to Cart.
While it's not the cheapest stand mixer at $399, we love the innovative, heavy-duty design of Breville's Bakery Chef. It comes with an assortment of accessories including a 5Qt glass bowl and a 4Qt stainless steel bowl, so you have the option to make smaller quantities. It also features a lamp which illuminates the bowl so you can better see how your recipe is coming along and an integrated timer, meaning you can actually walk away and the mixer will stop itself. There are 12 speeds to choose from and the load sensing technology means that this mixer will adjust its power based on the resistance of the ingredients. It comes in 5 colors as well.
Three things to consider before you buy a stand mixer
Will it fit?
Stand mixers can be bulky in size, so be sure you have enough room for it on your countertop. To do this, measure out where you plan to place it, taking into account the added height clearance if you're looking at a tilt-head model.
How much can it mix?
Some manufacturers will mention how many batches their stand mixer can make at once, such as how many cookies or cakes. These are important stats to pay attention to, more so than the bowl size or wattage, because they represent the efficiency of the motor. If you love to bake bread for instance, some stand mixers can only handle one loaf at a time, whereas others can make two.
Tilt-head or bowl lift?
With a tilt-head design, you tilt the head back so you can look into the bowl and add ingredients. This also allows you to remove the bowl and change the attachments when necessary. On a bowl lift model, you raise or lower the bowl using a crank. Tilt-lift designs tend to be shorter and smaller in size than bowl lift models, but you will need additional height for when you tilt it back. Bowl lift designs wont need the extra height clearance, but are slower and less convenient in terms of checking the bowl and scraping it down.
Tilt-lift models tend to be less expensive and more lightweight, but bowl lift mixers offer more power and larger capacities. If you're not sure which to buy, consider what you will be making in it. If you want a stand mixer for everyday baking, such as beating cake mix and whipping cream, opt for a tilt-head design. If you love to bake bread or need a mixer which can dish out countless cookies, then a bowl lift model is the way to go because of its power and size.
Which attachments do I use?
Stand mixers now come with a host of attachments and accessories for different purposes, so many that it can be a little intimidating to a new baker. Here's a breakdown of what the main tools do so you know which to use:
Flat Beater: This attachment should come with every stand mixer. It's used for everyday beating and mixing — great for creaming butter and sugar together for cakes as well as batters and frosting. Some flat beaters also come with a rubber or silicone edge so they can better scrape the ingredients from the edges of the bowl.
Wire Whip: Used for whisking, this attachment whips air into ingredients. It's commonly used to make whipped cream or meringue.
Dough Hook: As the name suggests, this attachment helps mix and knead doughs, so it's what you need to use if you plan to bake fresh bread or pizza. Dough hooks can appear in a 'C' shape or can also look like a spiral.
Other useful tools include a splash guard or pouring shield. These sit on top of the bowl while the mixer is running and prevent ingredients from splashing out. Some brands also sell glass bowls in addition to stainless steel. With a glass bowl, you can better see the ingredients being mixed, but they are naturally more fragile.
How to use and care for a stand mixer
- Check the beater-to-bowl clearance. The bottom of the beater shouldn't touch the bottom of the bowl, but it shouldn't be too far away from it either. Getting this just right means better mixing and less stopping to scrape with a spatula. The manual will give you instructions on how to make an adjustment.
- Before deciding to double (or even triple) up on a recipe, look in your mixer's user manual to find out how many pounds of flour your device can handle at once.
- Unless your mixer specifically has a soft-start feature, always start mixing on low, then ramp up to a higher speed, to avoid spattering.
- Don't be tempted to use a spatula while the mixer's running, even if a recipe says to scrape constantly as you beat. If you don't stop the mixer first, the spatula can get caught in the attachment and you'll wind up with a beater or whisk that's twisted out of shape.
- For the loftiest, fluffiest whipped cream, chill the bowl and the whisk before whipping.
- After you're finished mixing, raise the beater or whisk slightly above the surface of the food and run the mixer starting on low, then high, to spin off any excess mixture.
- Check the manual to find out which parts can go in the dishwasher. If you disregard its advice, you could wind up with discolored or damaged parts.
When to replace your stand mixer
Most stand mixers will come with warranties ranging from one to five years, however, a stand mixer itself should last from six to 10 years. If you own a KitchenAid stand mixer, you're in luck, as this brand claims its mixers will last for at least 15 years. Some KitchenAid owners have reported that they can last even longer than this as well. Funnily enough, more consumers replace their KitchenAid stand mixer because they want the latest colorways, rather than because it has stopped working.
Some brands will sell extended warranties, but we don't recommend these because they tend to cost more than any potential repairs.
If your stand mixer won't start, the head might just need adjusting. You can do this easily by following the manual's instructions. You might also hear some strange noises from your stand mixer — this could be a sign that the parts need lubricating or a worn gear might need to be replaced. All of these repairs are fairly easy to make and inexpensive, making them worthwhile. However, if your stand mixer stops altogether, it could be that the motor has failed. If a repair costs more than half the price of a new stand mixer, we recommend simply replacing it instead.
You might find a more suitable stand mixer if you opt to replace it as well. Stand mixers come in plenty of sizes now depending on your needs. So, whether you want to save some countertop space or you're an avid loaf baker, there's a model to suit every kitchen.
Some of the latest models also come with lots of features including timers, lamps and speed guides. KitchenAid's not alone either, lots of brands introduce new colorways which can make the stand mixer 'pop' in your kitchen. From red to blue to gold, there's colors out there to suit every whim!
How we tested
Our guide for the best stand mixers were based on extensive, consumer report research and online reviews. We rated things like power and how well each performed at various tasks and speeds. This includes whisking, mixing batter and kneading bread. In addition, we looked at how user-friendly and practical it was to use, design, capacity, noise levels and selection of attachments.
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-stand-mixers
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