Best Stand Mixers – The Right Baking Option For Your Kitchen

If you’re into any kind of baking – cake, cookies, bread, pastries, meringue – or simply love cooking food, then you’re probably in the market for the best stand mixer. That is, if you don’t already have one. But whether you are planning on owning your first or your second (because we all know how long a good mixer should last, right?), you still need to make sure you’ve found the right one.

Because, like most things in life, not all hand mixers are made equal. While most of them will save you from having to stir for the umpteenth time, not all of them will have the features or attachments you need like a grinder for meat or a pasta maker. And this is why we decided to do all the research for you. So, sit back and enjoy the read.

Top 10 Stand Mixers of 2020 Reviewed

1. KitchenAid Artisan

Stand Mixer For Bread Dough

The KitchenAid Artisan is quite possibly on every home baker’s wishlist. It has a powerful motor, a 5-quart capacity, 10 speed settings, a stainless steel bowl with a handle, a tilt-head design, and a 1-piece pouring shield with large chute for adding ingredients. The versatility of this machine comes from the numerous attachments available with this mixer. And KitchenAid even throws in 3 of those attachments with the mixer – a nylon coated flat beater, a nylon-coated dough hook, and a 6-wire whip.

KitchenAid Artisan

Pros:

  • Impressive performance
  • 9 cups of flour capacity
  • Bowl, beater, and dough hook are all dishwasher-safe

Cons:

  • Expensive
  • Cannot be used frequently on the stiff dough
  • Some users have complained that the pouring shield does not fit snugly on the bowl

2. Cuisinart SM-55

Cuisinart’s SM-55 may be small but it’s definitely not less powerful. In fact, it has one of the most powerful motors in our top ten picks! Aside from its 800-watt motor, this mixer has several features that placed it on the 2nd spot in our list. It has 12 mixing speeds, a 15-minute countdown timer, an automatic shutoff feature, a slow-start function, an ultra-gentle fold function, several attachments, and a 3-year warranty!

Cuisinart SM-55

Pros:

  • 3-year warranty
  • Capacity for 12 cups of flour
  • Automatic shutoff feature to prevent burnout

Cons:

  • Noisy
  • Plenty of crevices to clean
  • Some users have complained that the mixer doesn’t last longer than the warranty

3. Cuisinart HM 90-S Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Mixer

Hand Mixer For Bread Dough

While stand mixers are preferable for frequent home bakers, a hand mixer is ideal for those who just want to do some light baking and smaller batches. In the world of hand mixers, Cuisinart’s HM 90-S is king. Not only does it perform really well when mixing cake batter, cookie dough, and frosting, this hand mixer allows you to keep its attachments inside the machine for easy storage.

Cuisinart HM 90-S 9-Speed Mixer

Pros:

  • Limited 3-year warranty
  • Easy to use and store
  • Powerful 220-watt motor

Cons:

  • A burning smell during the first few uses (does go away after awhile)
  • The slow start is very brief
  • Loud

4. MURENKING Stand Mixer MK36

Looking for an easy way to mix various food ingredients in your kitchen? The MURENKING Stand Mixer MK36 is capable of blending, kneading, whip beat, and combine multiple things in the kitchen, including cream and eggs. It has a powerful 500-watt motor, which is more than capable of carrying out any task. The good thing is that it operates at a low 80 dB noise. With the convenient 6-speed control, you can tailor the machine to meet any needs you might have. Some of its useful attachments include the pouring shield, dough hook, and flat beater.

The stand mixer has been certified by the FDA and ETL to have a 5-Qt detachable bowl that is made from food-grade stainless steel. The container is large enough to mix food of all kinds of weight between 0.44 pounds and 3.3 pounds. It has a standout planetary trajectory design, which allows the round cut point to go beyond the maximum 360 degrees. The five suckers at the base hold the mixer firmly in place while at work. Don’t expect any rocking or movement during the mixing process. It comes with a two-year warranty as an assurance of its quality.

MURENKING Stand Mixer

 

Pros:

  • It comes with a powerful 500-watt motor that can mix virtually any ingredient
  • The detachable bowl is made from food-grade stainless steel and won’t poison you
  • It has five suckers to the bottom to hold it firmly in place during the mixing process

Cons:

  • Some users complained of taking a lot of time to mix simple ingredients
  • Reports of the device failing to start when first switched on
  • There are complaints about the motor making a weird noise once it was turned on

5. Hamilton Beach 63232 Eclectrics All-Metal Stand Mixer

This stainless steel stand mixer has a powerful 400-watt motor, 12 speed settings, and three attachments – dough hook, whisk, and flat beater. What’s unique about this mixer is the professional 2-way rotating mixing action. The head of the mixer turns one way while the beater turns in the opposite direction. This means that your ingredients are incorporated faster. Even better, the dough gets mixed more completely in a shorter amount of time.

Hamilton Beach 63232 Stand Mixer

Pros:

  • Attachments are dishwasher-safe
  • Quiet
  • Affordable (half the cost of a KitchenAid)

Cons:

  • No scraper paddle
  • Not good with stiff/bread dough
  • Short power cord

6. KitchenAid KP26M1XER 6 Qt. Professional 600 series

Professional Stand Mixer

This KitchenAid mixer is for the culinary professional or the heavy duty baker. If you bake 13 dozen cookies or 8 loaves of bread at a time, then this is the mixer you’re looking for. It has a 6-quart polished, stainless steel bowl that has a handle, a spiral shaped dough hook, a burnished aluminum flat beater, a 6-wire whisk, and a 575-watt motor. The bowl-lift design ensures that the bowl remains stable even when the mixer is whipping up large batches of dough.

KitchenAid KP26M1XER Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer

Pros:

  • Can mix large batches
  • A variety of attachments available (over 15 pieces)
  • Auto shut-off feature

Cons:

  • Hard to get the bowl out
  • Expensive
  • Very heavy, may need to be left on the counter so you need to have space

7. Sunbeam FPSBHS0302 250-Watt 5-Speed Stand Mixer

Affordable Stand Mixer

This stand mixer from Sunbeam is not an ordinary stand mixer. It’s also a hand mixer! That’s right! With just a touch of a button, you can switch between these two kinds. The mixer has a 250-watt motor, 5 speed settings, a Burst of Power button, chrome beaters, dough hook, and a 3-quart stainless steel bowl.

Sunbeam FPSBHS0302 5-Speed Stand Mixer

Pros:

  • Affordable
  • Can be used as a stand mixer and hand mixer
  • Easy to store

Cons:

  • For occasional bakers only
  • Small capacity
  • Not for heavy loads

8. Oster Planetary Stand Mixer

If you have a small kitchen or can only spare a small amount of space for your mixer, then Oster’s Planetary Stand Mixer is for you. While it isn’t as big as some of our picks, this mixer does do a good job kneading bread dough. The mixer comes with a splashguard, a slow start feature, a 4.5-quart bowl with handle, and the usual 3 attachments – whisk, paddle, and dough hook.

Oster Planetary Stand Mixer

Pros:

  • Small footprint
  • Can handle bread dough
  • Comes with a splashguard & slow-start feature for a no-mess mixture

Cons:

  • Can only do small batches
  • No additional attachments sold separately
  • Higher speeds cause the bowl to shake

9. Sunbeam 2371 MixMaster Stand Mixer

The Sunbeam MixMaster is an affordable mixer that has a 350-watt motor, 12 speed settings, a Soft Start mixing function, and 3 attachments (a pair of whisks, a pair of beaters, and a pair of dough hooks). It also comes with 2 glass mixing bowls – 2 quarts and 4 quarts. This is a good choice for home bakers who want something easy to use and good enough for performing various tasks in the kitchen without placing an enormous hole in their pocket.

Sunbeam 2371 MixMaster Stand Mixer

Pros:

  • 2 glass bowls
  • Affordable
  • All attachments are dishwasher-safe

Cons:

  • The plastic beaters don’t reach the bottom of the bowl
  • Glass bowls are fragile and heavy
  • Not for kneading bread dough

10. Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic Hand Mixer

Affordable Hand Mixer

If you really can’t afford a stand mixer because you lack funds and counter space, then you need to consider getting the Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic Hand Mixer. Not only is this mixer less than $30 (at the time of this review), it comes with a snap-on storage case, allowing you to put everything away (including attachments) in one small space. But what we really love about this mixer is that it comes with two sets of beaters, one of them is a pair of old-fashioned or classic beaters (not wire-style). As an added bonus, the mixer has a bowl rest feature which means that it was designed to sit firmly on the edge of the bowl to prevent messy drips getting everywhere.

Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer

Pros:

  • Powerful motor for a hand mixer (290 watts)
  • Two types of beaters
  • Can handle stiff doughs

Cons:

  • Some users have complained about the mixer breaking down after a few years.
  • Comes in only one color
  • The lowest speed is too fast for some users

While we were able to review several mixers and find our top 10 favorites, there are several others that we wished we had time to check out. These are the Bosch Compact Mixer mum4405, the KitchenAid Ultra Power Stand Mixer, the Cuisinart 7-Quart Stand Mixer, and the BODUM 11381-01US Bistro Electric Stand Mixer.

How to Choose the Best Stand Mixer for Your Kitchen: The Ultimate Buying Guide

Whether you’re an infrequent baker or a veteran pastry maker, you’ll greatly benefit from having your own mixer. After all, stirring your ingredients for the umpteenth time to make batter or dough can only lead to a lot of time spent slaving away and a really sore arm. Let’s not even talk about the unevenness of your arm muscles (yes, one is definitely getting more exercise than the other). With a mixer, you don’t have to expend so much energy prepping your ingredients for baking or cooking. Now that you know how much of a lifesaver these babies can be, let’s talk about how you find the right one for you and your kitchen.

Two Main Types of Mixers

Just in case you weren’t aware, there are two kinds of mixers in the market – the hand mixer and the stand mixer. Now, both of these appliances will have the necessary features to incorporate ingredients thoroughly without requiring you to stretch those muscles (much). But the main difference is one has a stand (hence the name) which allows you to go hands-free and the other requires you to hold the mixer in place (preferably over a bowl) while it does its magic.

What are Hand Mixers For?

Hand mixers, in general, possess a less powerful motor compared to their counterpart. They are primarily designed for performing lighter tasks and mixing smaller batches. These include occasionally baking a batch of cookies, making whipping cream, or mixing cake batter. While some hand mixers like the Cuisinart HM 90-S Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Mixer are powerful enough for kneading bread dough, most are not. Some things you need to keep in mind about hand mixers – they are easy to store, take up a really small space on your counter, and allows you to mix ingredients in a bowl, pot, or pan. One last thing, hand mixers are generally a great deal more affordable (easy on the pocket) than stand mixers.

What are Stand Mixers For?

Stand mixers have more powerful motors in comparison. This is because these babies are designed to handle more heavy duty tasks such as kneading bread dough or mixing big batches of cookie dough. If you want to do some serious baking, then this should be the type of mixer you are looking to buy. Most stand mixers come with three attachments – a beater, a whisk, and a dough hook. Most of the best stand mixers utilize an x-point planetary action which means that it will reach different points within the bowl, allowing the mixer to efficiently and completely incorporate the ingredients together. Some examples of stand mixers with this kind of motion are the KitchenAid Artisan, Breville BEM800XL Scraper Mixer Pro, and the Hamilton Beach 63232 Eclectrics All-Metal Stand Mixer.

Some stand mixers, particularly those on the lower end of the price scale, have stationary beaters that rotate independently of each other while the bowl rotates on a turntable. One good example of this is the Sunbeam 2371 MixMaster Stand Mixer.

Hand or Stand, the More Attachments You Have, the Merrier

Choosing between a hand mixer and a stand mixer is really up to you, your available kitchen space, and your cooking/baking frequency. Whichever you do end up choosing, you will need to look at the attachments that come with the mixer as well as those that are sold separately. Preferably, you should get mixers that will provide you with the most versatility. For example, the KitchenAid Artisan and the KitchenAid KP26M1XER 6 Qt. Professional 600 series have more than 10 attachments sold separately. You can buy attachments that will allow you to shred cheese, grind meat, and make pasta. Some hand mixers such as the Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic Hand Mixer add the classic beater style to the set of attachments included with the mixer.

Does Your Mixer Come With a Slow-start Feature?

This is a really important feature that you should not overlook. Unless you are willing to clean up splatter all over your kitchen, then it’s fine. When mixers have this feature, it will start mixing at a slow enough speed to prevent flour from flying up all over you and your kitchen. It’ll then slowly start to pick up speed until it reaches the setting you prefer.

Does the Mixer Have a Decent Number of Speed Settings?

When it comes to mixing ingredients, it’s not a one-speed fit all kind of thing. So at the very least, your mixer should have three settings available – low, medium, and high. For the serious home baker, you’ll need more than just these three basic ones. A lot of hand mixers offer 5 to 6-speed settings, although the Cuisinart HM 90-S Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Mixer has 9. Stand mixers, on the other hand, have 10-12 speed settings that enables you to be more precise about the kind of mixing you want to do.

What Other Things Should You Factor in When Making Your Choice?

How powerful your motor will help you determine how well it will perform heavy duty tasks. But you should also consider that even the most powerful motors can end up burning out because they can’t handle large batches of stiff mixtures such as bread dough. So if you plan on making loaves for a large community, you might want to look for a mixer that has an auto shut-off feature. This ensures that the mixer shuts down when it heats up too much.

You should also consider space. If you’re planning on frequently making a dozen cookies or a cake, then a small stand mixer should do just fine. If you plan on frequently making large batches of baked goods such as 9 dozen cookies, 4 loaves of bread, and the like, you should definitely get a larger sized mixer (5-quarts or more). Another aspect of space you should consider is your counter space. You should check to see if your new appliance will fit. Is there enough room beneath your cabinets for you to tilt the head of your mixer?

One other thing you should consider is decor. Yes, function over aesthetics should win every time. But if you had the option, you want to get a mixer that blends well with the rest of your kitchen decor, right? KitchenAid mixers usually come in more than 10 colors for you to choose from. Lower-priced mixers, on the other hand, tend to only have one color available.

Last, but definitely never the least, you should consider comfort and convenience. How comfortable is the hand mixer to hold? How easy is it to use? How about the stand mixer? Are the controls intuitive? What about clean up? Are the attachments dishwasher-safe? A hard-to-use and pain-in-the-behind-to-clean mixer will ensure that the appliance will become the most expensive doorstopper you’ve ever bought.

When it comes to buying the best stand mixer for you and your kitchen, you need to make sure that every little detail is taken into account. These are investments that should make great memories for you and your family. They shouldn’t make you feel like you wasted money.