Where do you STAND on MIXERS?

One of the most talked about kitchen tools is the venerable stand mixer. They have become an indispensable tool for the modern home cook. The most popular name in stand mixers is KitchenAid, with very good reason.

Let’s begin with a little history on what we now call stand mixers. The first machine to be made for home use was created in 1919 by the Hobart Corporation. It was a miniature version of the 80qt mixers made for professional bakeries and initially called a food preparer. The term stand mixer came later as did the name KitchenAid, which tradition tells us was coined from a statement made by the wife of an executive who said, “I don’t care what you call it, but it is the best kitchen aid I have ever had.” It had a 5qt bowl, weighed in at a whopping 65 pounds and ran on a motor design almost identical to today’s version. Its original sales price would be the equivalent of $2000 today. The mixer changed in 1936, streamlined in size and price taking on the look we know today. The KitchenAid attachments have changed over the years but the base connection hasn’t, in fact a pea shucker attachment made in 1919 would still work on today’s mixers.

After KitchenAid’s success as a high end kitchen product, Sunbeam began making a stand mixer in 1930. It represented, as it does today, a better price alternative for the average homemaker.

From limited choice, we today have a greater array of styles and sizes than ever before. It might be said that it is this blessing of abundance that leads to the confusion.

The first question is “do I need a stand mixer?”

The answer is dependent on who you are as a baker. As I mentioned in my cookware article, each person needs to be honest with him or herself regarding their everyday culinary life. If you hardly ever bake homemade cakes, cookies or breads, then you don’t need a stand mixer. You would be best served by owning a hand mixer for the odd occasion when you need to cream butter and sugar for cookies or quick breads.

For those who bake more frequently, bake larger batches of goodies or are serious home bread baker, a stand mixer is almost a must have.

Certainly one can mix batter and make bread without it; our grandmothers and previous generations too numerous to count, made all their baked goods by hand. I myself started out mixing and kneading bread dough by hand. I thought those who made bread dough with a mixer were sell-outs. I have changed my tune and for the last 15 years owned a stand mixer. Some suggest, and I mostly agree, that before one makes bread in a mixer, one should begin mixing it by hand. Mixing and kneading dough by hand gives one an understanding for what the properly mixed and kneaded dough feels like. But if you like it old school, there is no better way to get Popeye-like forearms than mixing cookies and breads be hand.

The stand mixers were and are still today a time and effort saving device. Try whipping egg whites by hand with a whisk and bowl then do it in your stand mixer. Big difference. However, there are inherent dangers. With a stand mixer, particularly the more powerful models, one can easily over mix. It is very hard to over mix something when doing it by hand.

The next question is, “which mixer do I buy?”

Herein lies the most argued point of this topic. I will try to break this down into a simple categories. As I talk about these different categories, I don’t want anyone to think I am being arrogant or judgmental about your particular type of baking. Some people think that unless you are using a KitchenAid or other powerful mixer, you aren’t a serious baker. That is complete garbage. The size, style or make of your mixer will be based on the type of baking you do, not an indication of your skill or seriousness.

So with this in mind, let’s look at the details of various mixers.

Stand Mixers have two prominent selling features. They are bowl size and watts of power. These two features will determine the price of the mixer more than any other elements. In my opinion, these two points are over-hyped by evil marketing people.

The bowl size is a fairly obvious thing to understand. The idea is to match your baking with the bowl size you would most often need. Here, I think a 5qt bowl will suit 90%+ of all baking needs. It will of course depend on what you are mixing. You may have to buy a lesser expensive model to get bowls smaller than 5 quarts, in fact some of the more basic models give you multiple bowls of differing sizes. The idea of a smaller bowl gives one options for doing a little cream or egg white mixing without having tons of wasted space or trouble completely covering the bowl. This later point brings us to a common frustrating issue with the more powerful and costly mixers. Bakers find that the beater blades do not properly “cover” the bowl requiring the use of a spatula to clean the sides of the bowl. Various companies have redesigned bowls and blades to ensure that the blades scrape or cover all of the bowl area, however not all customers are satisfied. In fact the issue is so prevalent, one company has designed a beater blade with a rubber “flap” on the edge of the blade to give one better bowl coverage (that company is BeaterBlade+ ). All this is to say that larger is not necessarily better; the bowl must suit your needs and be sized to the task at hand.

The wattage is another huge selling point for the various manufacturers. Here again your needs should dictate what you buy. Most new mixers available today have at least 300 watts and go up to 1000 watts. Older models and real price point champions will have lower wattage. The old 4 ½ quart KitchenAid, was only 250 watts and the 6 speed Hamilton Beach mixer is 275 watts. The more power the mixer packs, the heavier the machine will be. Does more power translate to a better machine? Not necessarily. If you are only making cookies or banana bread once in a while, lower watt machines will do the job quite nicely. However, if you are making bread, you will need something more powerful. Simple breads and larger batches of cookie dough and the like should be just fine with 350 watts. If you are making denser breads or larger batches of breads and cookies, 575 or higher is probably a good way to go. Almost as important is the mixing action of the mixer. Mixing action has a major affect on the amount of time needed for the machine to run and will go a long way in determining if the power, or lack thereof, will cause it to overheat before completing the task. As always, it should match what you are primarily mixing. In other words if mixing something like a dense wheat bread with a machine whose mixing action is less efficient, the mixer will work harder and even a 1000 watt motor may overheat more quickly than a 575 watt motor. And no, overheating does not always equate to a burned out motor; it will cause an overload, stop functioning and require you to press a reset button to continue. Of course, continued overloads will shorten the mixer’s lifespan.

Another key consideration is size and weight. Will you be keeping it out on the counter? Will you store it in a cabinet or pantry? What are the dimensions of the mixer in relation to where you will store it in your home? Ultimately the weight may determine if you are going to leave it out on the counter; lifting and moving a 35lb mixer isn’t for everyone.

Other features you will see touted are speeds, attachments included (e.g. whisk, beaters, paddles, dough hooks), and attachments sold separately.

In regard to speeds, everyone has a different method of achieving control. But don’t be fooled into thinking a higher number of speed controls means anything in reality.

The more basic machines include attachments like dual beaters, dual dough hooks and so on. The more expensive models come with a single, center driven beater blade, single whisk and a dough hook.

As for attachments sold separately, this selling point depends on whether you think that you might want to use the machine to accomplish more than just mixing. Obviously spending more money on a mixer can make some people hesitate if it is a single function device. KitchenAid has the widest variety of attachments, but Cuisinart and Viking are quickly finding ways to close the gap.

Additionally, some mixers may have a timer function however this isn’t likely a useful function for most bakers.

After these items, color and/or finish are your only other considerations, although some mixers give you almost no choices.

And now the breakdowns….

Basic Models

Best for: value shopper, normal use bakers, infrequent bakers

Key features: inexpensive, light weight, twin beaters on most, tilt head, smaller bowls, speed adjusted with back side dial, multiple bowls (4qts and under), 325 watts and under.

All Purpose

Best for: More frequent baker, simple bread baker, those looking for additional feature function

Key Features: heavier, more power and durability (325 – 400 watts), some with attachments, generally larger bowl capacity (4.5 – 5qt)

Heavy Duty

Best for: frequent bakers, multiple batch bakers, serious, complex bread bakers

Key Features: max power and strength (450 – 1000 watts), large range of attachments, largest bowl capacity (6 – 8qt)

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