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Your kitchen should have the right tools. Welcome to A Guide to Gearing Up Your Kitchen, a series where I help you outfit the space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you don’t).
Buying a stand mixer isn’t a purchase made lightly. You have to consider size, power, capabilities, and, of course, price. Shopping for the right one kind of feels like you’re buying a tiny new car for your kitchen, but it’s worth it. This powerful tool is indispensable for professional chefs, avid bakers, and home cooks alike. Once you’ve used one, it’s hard to go back to a twee hand mixer. Here’s what to look for as you shop around for your next stand mixer.
Stand mixers vs. hand mixers
Hand mixers and stand mixers perform similar tasks, on paper. They both mix ingredients in a bowl faster and more powerfully than you could with your arm and a spoon. The difference lies in what you’re mixing. A hand mixer is a small, hand-held appliance with long beater arms that can take down a box of cake mix or whip a bowl of brownie batter in no time. Kneading bread or making flaky pie crust? Well, that might be a problem.
The shape of the beaters, the engine’s power, and the fact that you have to hold and navigate a hand mixer, all factor in to make the stand mixer a more capable and versatile appliance. When you’re comparing models, considering these factors will help you narrow down your choices. (I should mention that commercial machines are in a whole different category, and I’m referring only to at-home options in this article.)
Size
A stand mixer is small when compared to a stove or a refrigerator, but all factors considered, they can still command a large footprint in your kitchen. Scope out your kitchen before you start browsing models. Think about where this oddly-shaped machine is going to live. How often will you use it? Whether you need it once a week or once a year will help you decide if you need to measure cabinet storage space or counter space.
How do the parts move? Some mixers have levers to pull the bowl up into position, and others have tilt heads. You’ll want to consider those extra inches and how they can fit under cabinets or next to other appliances.
Consider weight. A heavier model will probably require a permanent spot on the countertop, whereas a smaller, lighter model is reasonable to carry back and forth to a low shelf. Is this a gift for your great grandmother? Maybe a lighter model will be more attractive.
Generally, the more expensive models are greater in size. They have bigger bowls, heavier engines, and wider bases for more stability.
Power
How powerful a stand mixer is depends on how the beater attachments are shaped in conjunction with how much wattage the engine can put to work. Stand mixers have a range from around 275 to 600-watts. The lowest-price machines pull less power and are overall smaller than the higher-priced powerhouses. Consider what you plan on using the mixer for. If you’re looking for a quick assist with brownie batters, mashed potatoes, or cake batter that you make on a weekly basis, you won’t need a ton of power. If you’re planning on increasing your sourdough bread production, you’ll need a strong machine that can handle kneading stretchy dough consistently day after day.
Attachments
I think attachments are one of the coolest perks of stand mixers. Since mixers have a big powerful engine that’s just spinning and spinning, some genius out there thought, “Why don’t we fit other helpful tools onto this engine?” Great idea. You can buy a pasta roller so you can finally give your rolling pin a break, a sausage grinder because sausage is delicious, or even a spiralizer for some zoodles. If this is an added benefit you’re looking forward to, be sure to check for the mixer’s attachment capabilities.
Price point
I’ve kept you waiting long enough. Let’s talk about the most important thing: price range. It’s the first thing I think of when buying pretty much anything. If a certain line of equipment is out of my budget, I won’t even be teasing myself with those models. Since everyone has a different amount they’re willing to put toward a stand mixer, here are the brands and models that tend to hover in distinct price brackets.
Under $80
There aren’t as many options in this price range, but that doesn’t mean finding a stand mixer is impossible. The following brands offer reliable products and seem to be trying to meet customers where they can. In this case, you’re essentially buying a hand mixer with a stand to hold it. It won’t provide a heap of power, but at least you can multitask in the kitchen.
These are options for a home cook on a budget that could use a hands-free appliance but doesn’t need a machine to do heavy-duty mixing. If you’re interested in a stand mixer that can handle kneading bread and mixing thick doughs, go to the next price bracket and keep a keen eye out for sales.
$99 to $150
These trusted names in at-home kitchen gear offer true stand mixers for affordable prices (as you’ll see later on in the list, it gets wild), but they may lack in bowl size and power. Unlike the hand-mixer-meets-stand-mixers above, these models are the true stand mixers in the sense that their shape and beater rotation allow you to create a wider range of recipes.
As I mentioned above, these products often go on sale, so if $100 is still out of range, check back every now and then to lock-in one of their deals.
$200 to $500
Now we’re entering the thick of stand mixer offerings available. These machines offer a nice balance of price and capabilities. The following are listed from lower to higher retail price, but keep in mind that the Instant Pot mixer offers a larger bowl, and the KitchenAid is popular for its numerous attachment accessories.
$500 and up
These are the premium models of home stand mixers. Yes, they’ll cost you, but with proper use, they should churn out batters and doughs for a generation. For the cost of a new computer, you’d expect these machines to provide some kind of special feature. Well, they do. These mixers work with anywhere from 500 to 600 watts of power, which is nearly double that of some of the mixers mentioned above. This lineup includes a smart mixer that has an embedded digital scale, a mixer that is excellent at kneading large batches of bread dough, and one with plenty of attachments.
Soon, you’ll be well on your way to effortlessly mixing cakes and batters, or rolling out homemade ravioli. But don’t let all that power go to your head. You should sometimes whip egg whites by hand just to keep yourself in check. (Just kidding, it’s not fun.)
