It has seven high speeds for stirring, mixing, and whipping through (almost) any recipe and a built-in battery that lasts up to four uses before needing to be recharged. You’ll also love that the back of this mixer has a flat surface, which allows it to stand upright on its own. One of the great things about owning a KitchenAid stand mixer is that the motor can work with a number of KitchenAid-branded attachments for a variety of food-prep tasks. We tested some of KitchenAid’s most popular stand mixer attachments, from the pasta press to the grain mill. You can read more about which attachments we found are worth getting and which aren’t.
Other factors come into play, such as the quality of the motor. That can be seen in our ratings, where many top performers actually have lower wattage than some of those lower in the rankings. Tilt-head models allow the head of the mixer to hinge back on the neck while the bowl stays fastened to the base. They are on the smaller end of the spectrum capacity-wise, with 3.5-, 4.5-, and 5-quart options. See how a bowl-lift stand mixer offers more capacity to create. This classic mixer can tackle nearly any recipe without knocking around on the counter.
But again, rocking and walking while kneading and serious motor strain with the cookie dough were both dealbreakers. The head-release button on this model is positioned in the back, which is not a very intuitive design. With a lack of power hubs for extra accessories, this is a basic mixer that’s good for only cakes and lighter baking. The KitchenAid’s pouring shield—a plastic attachment that helps guide wet and dry ingredients into the bowl—is a helpful tool for curbing messes, but it isn’t essential. We like that it’s designed so you can slide it on and off at any time while mixing. On some other mixers, like the Cuisinart SM-55, you’ll need to stop the machine, lift the head, and remove the beating attachment before you can take the pouring shield off.
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We’ve been using the KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer since 2013, and we can definitively say that it is still the best for most home bakers and cooks. The Artisan is a sturdy machine that can power through thick doughs and aerate light batters without straining. KitchenAid also makes attachments like a meat grinder or pasta maker that you can use with this machine, and as an added bonus, the Artisan comes in a huge variety of fun colors. While some stand mixers have all the controls on one side, this one has the speed controls on the left and the tilt-head lock is on the right. Because of that arrangement, we felt most comfortable using the mixer with the nose facing forward, which meant that we could reach the controls with both hands at the same time if we needed to. We chose to make seven-minute frosting (which is the same as meringue) to test each mixer’s whipping prowess.
Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd. Unfortunately, the Pro 600 Series was by far the loudest, highest-pitched mixer in our testing lineup. Like the Artisan, it comes with just a one-year warranty, but in our experience working with it in commercial kitchens, it will last for many years. Oil leaking form a KitchenAid mixer is a common issue, and following this aritcle’s steps to replace the mixer’s gearbox grease will easily solve the problem.
New stand mixer owners might not think twice about the power hub, but it’s actually one of the things that make this mixer—as well as other KitchenAid stand mixer models—so desirable. While it’s a good idea to lock the head down while the mixer is in use to keep the head from bouncing, we found that it was only necessary kitchenaid chopper when we were working with dense doughs. For whipping or for mixing cake batter, the head didn’t need to be locked down. Since the head can be left unlocked, that made it easy to stop the mixer and lift the head to scrape down the bowl or check our mixtures without also having to unlock the head each time.
Moreover, you can purchase dozens of aftermarket attachments to meet any culinary desire. With over 40 colors and numerous aftermarket bowl options, this machine has style, too. Our tests revealed little to criticize, leading us to believe that this mixer will appeal to everyone from the casual baker to the creative home cook with many mouths to fill. While this mixer isn’t a professional model, it’s a beast of a machine for home cooks with its powerful and efficient 325-watt motor.
When testing the Breville Bakery Chef for a 2021 update, we repeated all the tests except for the sponge cake batter test. We thought that one duplicated the findings of our seven-minute frosting test, which also tested for how well a mixer could whip air into ingredients. We also made a genoise (a type of sponge cake), which requires whipping whole eggs with sugar to give the cake its light, fluffy texture.
Bowl-lift mixers are around 16 to 17 inches in height, tilt-head models are around 14 inches, and minis about 12 inches. If you have low-hanging cabinets and plan to use your mixer on the counter, it’s best to stay away from the taller bowl-lift models. The mixer also includes a pouring shield, which makes it easy to add ingredients to the mixer while it’s running. It’s also useful as a splatter guard to keep flour or loose liquids from flying out of the mixer. Just about everyone who has owned a stand mixer long enough has experienced the joy of accidentally moving to a high speed with flour in the bowl, sending a cloud of flour everywhere. The look of the KitchenAid stand mixer is so iconic that other kitchen appliances have been designed to evoke the same aesthetic.