The Best Stand Mixer & A Very Smart Investment

Up to know I’ve studied a lot of kitchen appliances and read through many of the best stand mixer reviews. The overall benefits of adaptability, sturdiness and beauty in conjunction with hands-free mixing, numerous speeds, greater total capacity and fewer spills, make the stand up mixer one of the smartest investment available within the kitchen mixer and electric blender world.

1) KitchenAid Stand Mixer

From the brands available the KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer is probably the best stand mixer on the market today and is as well known for its quality as it is for its versatility.

For a while now, the KitchenAid brand of mixer has become the gold standard in kitchens all around the world. It is by and large one of the most popular and often wished for kitchen appliances – with good reason.

The KitchenAid Artisan has dozens of attachments that can be purchased in order to extend the scope and usefulness of this piece of equipment even further. Then there is the wide range of colors available that make this a good match for kitchens of all sizes, décor styles, and palettes.

The machine features 10 speeds for mixing, a 5-quart bowl that’s easy to clean, and comes equipped with flat beater, wire whisk, and dough hook attachments.

The 325-watt motor is quieter than you’d expect from a mixer of this size and well suited for handling all sorts of cooking projects.

The mixer itself is well-constructed. The lift-back head makes it easy to access your mixture and to clean the mixer after your task has been completed.

There are very few negative Kitchen Aid stand mixer reviews and they were all across the board and not one consistent problem or concern… Read The Full Kitchenaid Stand Mixers Review

2) Cuisinart Stand Mixer

The Cuisinart Stand Mixer has a lot to offer anyone who truly enjoys cooking or has the need to do a lot of cooking for friends and/or family.

This mixer is rapidly approaching the household stature of the KitchenAid brand but is still generally reserved for the more serious cook. It also carries a price tag that many deem to be more serious than its closest competition as well.

Like the KitchenAid Artisan mixers, there are optional attachments that can be purchased for the Cuisinart SM-70.

However, the SM-70 has a different assortment of attachments than the KitchenAid. Some of the notable extras include the 7-quart bowl, the completely sealing splash guard, a programmable countdown timer, and optional blender attachment, juicer attachment, and/or food processor attachments.

In other words, you can replace several common kitchen appliances with this one – plus the required attachments.

The details of this stand up mixer are very attractive. It features a 1,000-watt motor, 12 speeds for mixing, automatic shutoff timer, and it’s easy to clean.

This is a great mixer for someone looking to go one step further than the KitchenAid but not ready to commit to an actual commercial mixer… Read Full Cuisinart Stand Mixer Review

3) Viking Stand Mixer

This is yet another excellent choice for a professional quality stand mixer in almost any kitchen. The Viking Stand Mixer comes in four color options: black, red, silver, and stainless gray for easier integration into many different styles and designs in kitchens.

The powerful, 800-watt motor makes it suitable for your thickest, richest cheesecake or homemade bread recipes. The tilting-head feature makes it easy to remove the mixing bowl and clean the mixer afterwards.

The one feature that really makes this a standout model among all the stand mixers on the market is the fact that it has rear wheels to make it easier to move around and across your countertops.

The warranty is for one year and the most common complaints about this particular stand up mixer all seem to involve its durability. These complaints are rare enough that it doesn’t appear to be a prevalent problem with the mixer or the design however.

Overall, the Viking Professional Stand Mixer appears to be a high-quality product that’s a solid investment for any kitchen… Read Full Viking Stand Mixer Review

What Is A Stand Mixer, & How Does It Work?

Above you will find in depth stand mixer reviews and our opinion on the best stand mixer available. But for those that have’nt used a stand mixer before, let’s define exactly what it is and what it can do.

Essentially, it is similar to a hand mixer in terms of basic function with a few significant differences in features that endear a stand up mixer to professional chefs and amateur cooks.

In most cases whenever just light tasks are required in your kitchen, portable mixers will be the tools of preference for getting any job finished.

These light-duty tasks can include mixing cake batter for small cake, mashing potatoes for an average household and whipping cream for frosting on a homemade dessert – nothing too heavy or too many ingredients.

However, when heavy-duty tasks in the kitchen are the norm, only a cooks stand mixer will do the job well.

These heavy-duty tasks include but are not limited to mixing heavy dough, mixing cake batter for large commercial orders and mixing ingredients that incorporate more slowly.

Indeed, for commercial bakers and home bakers who must whip up large bowls of ingredients in a single session, only the best kitchen stand mixer will suffice.

• First, a kitchen stand mixer is obviously mounted on a standalone stand that, in turn, bears the weight of the entire kitchen appliance. In terms of portability, a hand mixer is lighter than a stand mixer but both are relatively portable when in use.
• Second, it has a larger and, thus, more powerful motor than a handheld mixer. Such feature allows for easier, faster and more thorough mixing of larger amounts and greater number of ingredients. With a handheld mixer, the ingredients must be divided into sections for mixing instead of being mixed in a single session especially for large orders.
• Third, a stand up mixer has its own stainless steel bowl that can be locked into place while the mixer is whirling. In the best stand mixer for commercial uses, the bowls come in many capacities from small to extra large (approximately 100 quarts or 95 litres). Such feature in a stand mixer allows for versatility in mixing different amounts of ingredients depending on the recipe.
• Fourth, it comes with various accessories to make mixing different ingredients a breeze. Even an average stand up mixer has a flat beater for batter for cakes; a wire whip for beating egg whites and cream into their desired consistency; and a dough hook for kneading the dough for breads and pastries. A few advanced stand mixers even have attachments for juicing fruits and vegetables, grinding meat and even making pasta. A handheld mixer often only has one – two, at best – attachments, thus, limiting its uses compared to a standard stand mixer’s versatility.

With all these features, it comes as no surprise then that the cooks-stand mixer relationship is a strong one.

Most Common Features

Reading through online stand mixer reviews reveals that most of the brands and models of this kitchen appliance share several features in common. Of course, the quality and quantity of these features will differ from one brand to the next and from one model to the next. It is then always a good idea to read the stand mixer reviews and specifications first before making a purchasing decision.

The most common features in a stand mixer are:

• The tilt-head feature is useful when changing the beaters used on the kitchen stand mixer such as when working with stiff dough.
• The bowl-lift feature is often used in place of the tilt-head. Basically, the bowl can be lowered and raised, thus, doing away with the need to tilt the mixer. This is useful for mixers that are placed underneath an overhead cabinetry.
• The speed of a stand mixer varies from 225 watts to 1,000 watts for commercial uses. In the case of a for-home-use only stand mixer, its speed varies from 325 watts to 500 watts. The best stand mixer will also have speed controls from 1 to 10 or from low to high.

All of these common features are in addition to the abovementioned different bowl capacities, attachments and lock mechanisms for a standard stand mixer.

Types of Stand Mixer

Our stand mixer reviews will not be complete without mention of various types. These are:

• Fixed Beater – This is the traditional style with a fixed beater and other attachments. The beater is lowered into the bowl that, in turn, spins on the stand. Be sure to monitor the cycle and to incorporate the ingredients on the side of the bowl.
• Rotating Disc – This type of stand mixer work more efficiently than the fixed beater type. While the bowl is stationary on the stand, the beaters do the work by moving in a so-called planetary mixing action. The ingredients are then incorporated in a better, easier and faster manner.
• Single Beater – This stand mixer only has one beater spinning in one direction. The beater can be used for a variety of tasks like whisking, kneading and beating.
• Double Beater – This stand mixer has two beaters spinning against one another. Take note that it cannot be used for kneading – only beating and whisking.

Indeed, with the benefits of versatility, durability and beauty coupled with hands-free mixing, several speeds, larger capacity and lesser spills, a stand mixer is the best investment in kitchen appliances that a chef or a cook can make now.