Stand Mixers

Stand mixers are certainly in the “popular crowd” of kitchen appliances. The hands-free luxury they offer saves both time you did not realized you were wasting.

Time Savers

One machine which whips, beats, kneads and mixes can take you from breakfast to midnight snack – with only having to clean one mixer and one bowl. Walking away froma mixing in progress allows you to clean up and move ahead – in the end creating more time to do the things you want to do!

What to Look For

1. Planetary action: meaning the beater rotates around the bowl, and is not just stationary.
2. Power: not in the form of watts, but cups of flour it can knead. You will want to aim for no less than 10 cups.
3. Accessories: Should have, at minimum the three basics: a beater, a dough hook and wire whip.
4. Weight: over 20 lbs should prevent the mixer from jumping around at the highest speed
5. Mixing Bowl: a bowl greater than 5 quarts is necessary for heavy duty usage, but 6 quarts is recommended.
6. Personal preferences: warranties over a year and sliding wheels are always nice, too.

KitchenAid Artisan

1. price range:~$300
2. planetary action:Yes (great)
3. Mixing Bowl size: 5qt (ok)
4. Power in cups:9 cups (ok)
5. Speeds: 10 speeds (great)
6. Three Basic Accessories (beater, dough hook, wire whip): Yes (great)
7. Weight: 22.5 lbs (great)
8. Cool others: 1 year warranty (good); 25 different colors (great)

KitchenAid Proline

KitchenAid Professional 600 Series

KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus

Viking: 7 quart

Viking: 5 quart

Cuisinart: 5.5 quart