The Finest Stand Mixers of 2023

A overwhelming majority of baking recipes name for a stand mixer. And we’ve lengthy beneficial the KitchenAid Professional Series 600 Stand Mixer: it’s depraved highly effective, has a flat-bottomed bowl appropriate for double-boiling or utilizing on the stovetop, can deal with practically any recipe, and has a handful of different useful, notable options you could read about here. 

Nevertheless, stand mixers are costly—and take up a number of countertop actual property. You wish to be certain you’re getting the proper one for cash, wants, and area. So, we determined to (lastly!) take a look at 10 fashionable stand mixers (together with the Skilled Collection 600) to seek out the unequivocal greatest ones. 

The Winners, at a Look

The skilled 600 sequence has a beneficiant 6-quart bowl that permits for a considerable amount of dough or batter. Nevertheless, the attachments are designed to combine carefully to the underside and sides of the bowl, so even smaller batches combine up evenly. The extra vertical-shaped bowl additionally signifies that substances didn’t go flying or forking out of the bowl when added. And the highly effective 575-watt motor ensures the mixer doesn’t pressure once you’re kneading stiff pizza or bread dough.

The KitchenAid Artisan sequence mixer is a 325-watt tilt-head stand mixer that’s smaller, lighter, and fewer highly effective than the above Skilled Collection. But it surely sacrifices energy to be sufficiently small to both retailer in a pantry or on the countertop with out dominating your entire space. And it nonetheless had sufficient energy to cream butter, whip egg whites and heavy cream, and make pizza dough with out struggling an excessive amount of.

In case you bake professionally or bake massive batches of things steadily, the Wolf Connoisseur is a superb choice. The stand mixer is among the heaviest and largest machines we examined, and its bowl securely locks into its base. However the 500-watt motor simply creamed butter, whipped up heavy cream, and kneaded dough. And the beneficiant 7-quart bowl was massive sufficient to double the recipe quantity we examined.

With an extra-large capability, this super-stable stand mixer kneaded dough exceptionally properly (it additionally was surprisingly quick at aerating whipped cream). Whereas it is costly and has a studying curve, for severe bread bakers, it might be properly price it.

The Checks

• Whipped Cream Check: We whipped one cup of heavy cream (sans gums or stabilizers) to see how simply the stand mixers may deal with a small quantity of substances.  
• Pound Cake Check: We picked pound cake as a result of nearly all of its leavening is mechanical, created by whipping and creaming air into butter, with no or minimal help from chemical leaveners like baking powder or baking soda. We began out with a mixture of room-temperature butter and cream cheese, beating with the paddle attachment, to see how that fared. We then sprinkled in sugar to see how fluffy the combination obtained. Then, we slowly drizzled in a crushed egg to see if we may keep the emulsified combination. Then, we baked the pound cake to see if there was any distinction within the closing cake rise and crumb. 
• Pizza Dough Check: We made Neapolitan pizza dough to see how properly the mixer kneaded stiff and sticky dough with its dough hook. We checked to see how a lot the dough “climbed” up the hook, how usually we needed to cease to regulate the dough within the bowl, and the way the dough felt and taken care of the 10-minute kneading time. 
• Usability and Cleanup Checks: All through testing, we evaluated how simple every stand mixer was to function and the way easy it was so as to add and take away its attachments and bowl. After each take a look at, we cleaned the attachment and bowl by hand.

What We Realized

How Do Stand Mixers Work?

Stand mixers have a bowl connected to the bottom. Sometimes, they’ve one attachment that rotates in what’s referred to as planetary motion—which means it strikes in a round movement whereas the bowl stays put. It’s type of like how you can the earth rotates across the solar. This rotating, circulating attachment ensures substances are evenly distributed and blended (ideally).

Bigger Attachments Had been Typically Higher

To be an efficient stand mixer, the attachments have to suit the bowl form. Mixer attachments want to come back near the underside and sides of the bowl in order that substances can smear, fluff, or stretch correctly. The poorest performing mixers all had attachments that have been set too far-off from the underside and sides of the bowl. Whipped cream within the Instant 7.4-Quart Stand Mixer had liquid on the sides and backside, requiring you to continually cease the mixer to scrape and incorporate the liquid cream. Pizza dough crept up the dough hook of the Smeg 50’s Retro Stand Mixer sufficient that we needed to cease the kneading a number of occasions to drag it off the highest. And Breville’s The Bakery Chef Stand Mixer’s paddle attachment didn’t come shut sufficient to the steel bowl aspect to adequately cream the butter or incorporate the sugar, which meant we needed to continually cease and scrape down its sides. 

Our winners had attachments that completely match their bowls, letting the machine do its job with minimal assist from the consumer. 

A Stand Mixer Should not Be Robust to Use

Our successful stand mixers all had intuitive buttons, knobs, switches and levers that we may instantly work out. The KitchenAid Professional 600 and the Artisan stand mixers had switches on the aspect that you simply use to extend or lower the pace of the mixer. Simple.

The Wolf Gourmet had a big management knob dial in Wolf’s signature purple colour (although the mixer comes with exchangeable black and chrome steel dials) that easily turned on the mixer. It has 10 settings, with clear, printed numbers on the dial. There’s even a “pulse” mode on the Wolf—a pleasant addition once you don’t desire a steady spinning paddle, like when including dry substances or mix-ins like chocolate chips.

We’ll admit that the Ankarsrum has extra of a studying curve to function (you do not add substances within the typical approach, which you can read about here), however as soon as you bought the cling of it, it was high quality. What wasn’t high quality: touchscreens. With this fashion of interface, including or growing pace grew to become annoying, as you needed to press the plus or minus button repeatedly, then press begin. 

We Most popular Bowls with Handles

Although it looks as if a small element, having a deal with on the bowl truly made a distinction. Pouring batter or scraping out the dough was considerably simpler to do when you might maintain the bowl with one hand and tilt it.

Mixers that had bowls with massive, snug handles have been additionally simpler to carry off and place again on the stand mixer. The KitchenAid Classic bowl specifically tended to jam tightly after we kneaded pizza dough because of the route the dough hook spun, and it was exceedingly troublesome to take away the handleless bowl afterward.

Your Stand Mixer Shouldn’t Go for a Stroll

Strolling is nice, except you’re a stand mixer. Through which case, you need it to face nonetheless when it’s working. Some mixers are vulnerable to “strolling” throughout the countertop as they knead dough or quickly cream butter. Most stand mixers are heavy for a cause, as their weight helps maintain the mixer stationary. For instance, our favourite stand mixers from KitchenAid and Wolf weighed 19.4 to 25.8 kilos. 

Some lighter mixers have suction cup ft to maintain them regular. Nevertheless, we discovered these annoying to make use of and transfer. 

The Standards: What to Search for in a Stand Mixer

The perfect stand mixers can combine, cream, and knead substances totally with none points. Attachments ought to correctly match within the bowl, with minimal clearance on each the bowl backside and sides, guaranteeing the stand mixers can deal with each massive and small quantities of substances with ease. 

Search for a stand mixer that can also be simple to function. The mixer ought to have easy and intuitive pace changes in addition to easy strategies of including and eradicating its bowl and attachments. Heavier stand mixers are extra steady and fewer vulnerable to strolling. Extra highly effective motors be sure that the mixer can knead doughs of all hydrations and stickiness, with out pressure.

What we favored: The Skilled sequence 600 stand mixer is a strong machine with a 575-watt motor that kneads stiff and sticky doughs with ease. As a result of its attachments are well-designed and are correctly aligned carefully to the perimeters and backside of the bowl, it does properly with smaller quantities of substances as properly. It whipped up a cup of heavy cream simply and easily and creamed butter to make a traditional pound cake.

The big 6-quart bowl is large enough for double batches, although, and is formed in such a approach that dry substances don’t fly up when added and liquid substances don’t splash out when initially blended. The lever on the aspect of the mixer makes it simple to decrease the bowl, supplying you with higher entry so as to add substances or scrape down the perimeters when wanted. Lastly, it’s totally simple to regulate its pace.

We’ve recommended this stand mixer for years, and our advice holds up after testing. 

What we didn’t like: The bowl doesn’t twist on, however as a substitute has arms and notches it rests on. Ensuring the bowl is on and settled generally is a little finicky at occasions. It’s a reasonably large stand mixer, too, for these with restricted countertop area. 

Value at time of publish: $550.

Key Specs

• Weight: 23.2 kilos
• Dimensions: 16.5 inches excessive x 14.5 inches lengthy x 11.25 inches large
• Said bowl capability: 6 quarts
• Wattage: 575 watts
• Twine size: 40 inches 
• Attachments: Paddle, dough hook, whisk, plus splash/pouring guard
• Care directions: Paddle, dough hook, protect, and bowl are dishwasher-safe; whisk is handwash-only 
• Supplies: Chrome steel bowl, steel, plastic 

What we favored: For folk who don’t bake as usually however nonetheless desire a top-of-the-line stand mixer, the KitchenAid Artisan sequence is a superb choice. With a 325-watt motor, it’s much less highly effective than its Skilled sibling, however nonetheless does a terrific job creaming butter, whipping heavy cream, and making cake batter and cookie dough. The smaller measurement means it doesn’t take as a lot area on the countertop, however the 5-quart bowl continues to be large enough for many baking initiatives.

As a result of the Artisan sequence has much less energy and a tilt-head, it does battle a bit with stiffer bread and pizza doughs. Nevertheless, it nonetheless obtained the job accomplished, producing a clean dough with out heating up or changing into too loud. The Artisan sequence is solidly constructed and doesn’t transfer a lot when in use, so long as you knead the dough at a decrease pace. It additionally has a wide range of attachments you could buy for it, making it an exceptionally versatile kitchen equipment.

What we didn’t like: The motor is rather less highly effective than different stand mixers, so it does battle a bit with stiffer doughs. 

Value at time of publish: $400.

Key Specs

• Weight: 19.4 kilos
• Dimensions: 13.5 inches excessive x 13.75 inches lengthy x 8.75 inches large 
• Said bowl capability: 5 quarts
• Wattage: 325 watts
• Twine size: 38 inches 
• Attachments: Paddle, dough hook, whisk, plus splash/pouring guard
• Care directions: Paddle, dough hook, protect, and bowl are dishwasher-safe; whisk is handwash-only 
• Supplies: Chrome steel bowl, steel, plastic 

What we favored: In case you’re an expert baker or steadily bake in massive batches, the Wolf Connoisseur Excessive Efficiency Stand Mixer is perhaps the machine for you. It has a big 7-quart bowl that twists and strikes up and down as you lock it into place, which helps maintain the machine ultra-stable—even throughout sticky, robust duties. 

The big bowl additionally mixes up smaller batches simply high quality. It made ethereal whipped cream, creamed butter, and simply kneaded the pizza dough with out struggling. It additionally had some good options, like a pulse choice and extra adjustable pace settings.

What we didn’t like: There’s no strategy to get round it: it is a large machine.  It takes up a number of actual property in your countertop, and won’t match beneath some cupboards (measure first). And it weighs quite a bit, so shifting or storing it’s fairly troublesome. It’s additionally a really costly machine—practically twice as a lot because the KitchenAid Skilled 600. 

Value at time of publish: $995.

Key Specs

• Weight: 25.8 kilos
• Dimensions: 17.5 inches excessive x 16.75 inches lengthy x 10.5 inches large
• Said bowl capability: 7 quarts
• Wattage: 500 watts
• Twine size: 38 inches 
• Attachments: Paddle, dough hook, whisk, plus splash/pouring guard protect
• Care directions: Bowl is handwash-only; attachments and protect are dishwasher-safe (high rack-only)
• Supplies: Brushed chrome steel, die-cast development

What we favored: In contrast to many stand mixers, which use planetary rotation (e.g. the blending arm spins whereas the bowl stays stationary), the Ankarsrum spins the bowl—we all know, thoughts blown. As we famous in our review, this setup permits it to have a bigger bowl capability (seven liters versus the 6-quart of the KitchenAid Skilled Collection) and in addition means it may possibly combine at greater speeds. It additionally contains a distinctive kneading paddle, fairly not like the dough hook you is perhaps used to. In our testing, we discovered it shortly and effectively kneaded bread—which is why many bakers of loaves find it irresistible a lot. We additionally discovered that the whisk attachment excelled at aerating whipped cream, doing so in a mere 35 seconds (!!). 

What we did not like: There is no getting round it: the Ankarsrum is not precisely intuitive to make use of when you’re used to a planetary stand mixer. It requires including substances in a sure order (liquids and comfortable issues, like butter, go first earlier than dry substances) and finagling the top, which might be adjusted to swing nearer to the middle of the bowl or the sting, takes some getting used to.

Key Specs

• Weight: 28 kilos
• Dimensions: 18.5 x 18 inches
• Said bowl capability: 7 quarts
• Wattage: 600 watts
• Twine size: 78 inches 
• Attachments: Dough curler, scraper, kneading hook, two single-wire beaters, two multi-wire beaters, plastic bowl, lid, steel bowl
• Care directions: Attachments and bowls are dishwasher-safe; to wash the outside of the machine, wipe down with a moist rag earlier than drying
• Supplies: Plastic, chrome steel

The Competitors

• Breville’s Bakery Chef Stand Mixer: This stand mixer had a number of nice options, together with a built-in timer and a light-weight that shines proper into the bowl when the mixer is turned on. It additionally got here with extras like a glass mixing bowl and a scraper blade. However after we examined the steel bowl for whipped cream, we discovered the whisk attachment didn’t combine fairly as near the bowl edge or backside as different mixers, leaving a liquidy part. The smaller steel bowl additionally had a decrease capability and its skinny, steel deal with wasn’t snug to carry.
• Smeg 50’s Retro Stand Mixer: This retro-, futuristic-looking stand mixer appears prefer it got here off of the set of Bewitched or The Jetsons. And the slick-coated attachments have been tremendous simple to wash. However, sadly, the paddle attachment blended too far-off from the aspect and bottoms of the bowl, leaving a movie of greasy butter that wanted to be manually scraped and integrated steadily whereas making pound cake. The mixer does include a scraper blade, which could clear up this situation, however kneading the pizza dough was additionally problematic. The dough saved creeping up the hook.
• Instant 7.4-Quart Stand Mixer Pro: This budget-friendly stand mixer, from the parents that introduced you the Immediate Pot, appeared like a terrific concept. It weighed lower than different mixers however had suction cup ft to assist compensate and forestall the mixer from shifting. Nevertheless, we don’t love these ft: they make it more durable to carry and transfer the mixer. It additionally had efficiency and value points (we didn’t just like the touchscreen interface). 
• KitchenAid Classic Series Tilt Head Stand Mixer: This entry-level KitchenAid mixer had a low-powered 275-watt motor, however nonetheless did a good job creaming, whipping, and kneading. However there was some noticeable pressure on the motor when kneading the pizza dough and the smaller bowl and lack of a deal with on it made it much less user-friendly.
• Cuisinart 5.5 Quart Stand Mixer: This cheap stand mixer was simple to make use of and clear. It did a terrific job with whipped cream and cake batter, but it surely struggled to knead pizza dough. The motor grew to become extraordinarily heat and made an alarming sound.
• Frigidaire 4.5 L Retro Stand Mixer: This stand mixer appears cool and was very fairly priced. But it surely carried out poorly in all of our exams, with the motor operating too sizzling and combating dough. The light-weight mixer additionally moved regularly across the countertop when on.

FAQs

What’s a stand mixer? 

A stand mixer has a bowl connected to a stand or base, and a motor that powers attachments that blend, whip, or knead substances contained in the bowl. Stand mixers are available in a wide range of colours, kinds, and shapes. They’re used to make the dough and batter for baking initiatives like cookies, desserts, brownies, and breads, automating the in any other case tedious repetitive activity of stirring, whisking, or kneading.

What’s the most effective KitchenAid stand mixer? 

The Skilled 600 sequence stand mixer is the most effective KitchenAid stand mixer. It has a sturdy 575-watt motor that simply kneads stiff bread and pizza dough, but in addition does a terrific job at smaller duties.

Are any stand mixers pretty much as good as KitchenAid? 

We love KitchenAid stand mixers, however we additionally discovered the Wolf Connoisseur stand mixer to be a terrific choice, particularly when you’re an expert baker that wishes a big capability stand mixer. It contains a 7-quart bowl and has a extra variable pace dial.

What’s the most effective tilt-head stand mixer? 

We discovered the KitchenAid Artisan sequence had the most effective tilt-head mixer in our testing. It creamed butter effectively and kneaded pizza dough with minimal pressure. It was additionally simple and intuitive to make use of.