Over the last twenty five years we have owned one mixer and a handful of blenders. It’s always best to buy the best quality kitchen gear and this applies most of all to mixers and blenders. A high quality mixer can be passed down and can be repaired if something goes wrong with it. We believe strongly that purchasing a future throw away item is foolish and that instead it makes more sense to spend just a little more on something that can last a lifetime or more.
Stand Mixers
Mixers break down into two main groups – Stand Mixers and Hand Mixers. Stand mixers are large and bulky but can be used to mix large volume recipes and can be used to knead bread dough. Some stand mixers have attachments to grind meat or make sausage. They’re workhorses of the kitchen and deserve a place on most countertops.
Our experience with our 4.5 quart tilt head KitchenAid KSM90 has been mostly positive. We had a leak of oil from the motor early on that was repaired under warranty. Since that time the mixer has been rock solid. The tilt head model seemed easier to use than the 6 quart bowl lift version to us. We use ours to make bread and various other doughs . We can whip egg whites to stiff peaks with ease as well. Our version of the Classic model had a 300 watt motor while the updated version has 275 watts. With that in mind, we think that the 5 quart Artisan model with a 325 watt motor is the best buy in the KitchenAid line today.
Recommended Stand Mixers
KitchenAid KSM150PSBU Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield – Cobalt Blue
Hand Mixers
Hand mixers evolved out of manual hand beaters. I remember my grandmothers using hand beaters even after they had their electric replacements. Hand mixers, also sometimes referred to as beaters, are most useful for small batch recipes where a stand mixer may not adequately mix all of the ingredients.
In recent shopping to check out hand mixers we were impressed with offerings from KitchenAid and Cuisinart. The nine speed KitchenAid came with multiple beaters and can handle pizza doughs. The same can be said of the Cuisinart 9 speed mixer. We liked the fact that you can store the attachments in the storage case that the mixer sits on. Keeping attachments contained and easy to find rates high in our book.
Recommended Hand Mixers
Cuisinart HM-90S Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Handheld Mixer with Storage Case, White
Recommendations
- We prefer stand mixers over hand mixers
- Hand mixers do a nice job with smaller jobs
- Having an all-in-one storage solution for attachments is very nice