What’s the Best Upright Mixer?
Dear Amy,
I was watching America’s Test Kitchen; they reviewed stand mixers. The Kitchenaide Professional came out on top. It’s expensive and heavy to lift. It kicked ass in the time to blend and didn’t bog down doing bread dough. It even beat out the $1,500 Hobart mixer. But I don’t think I want something that heavy duty. Which model did you get and how do you like it—especially with respect to making bread dough?
Dr. Karl
Dr. Karl,
My upright mixer is the Artisan Series stand mixer by KitchenAid. KitchenAid makes several upright models: the Artisan (5-quart, rising head, $299) and the Professional(5-quart, cranking bowl, $299) are the most well known, but they also have the Classic(4.5-quart, rising head, $199) and several larger and more expensive versions of the Professional.
I own the Artisan mixer and I prefer it to the Professional despite the price difference just because of the fact that the head of my Artisan Series mixer lifts up whereas the bowl of the Professional Series mixer cranks down. The Classic looks fine, but I’ve never owed a modern version (and therefore can’t give an honest plug for it) and the mixing bowl is half a quart smaller than the other two KitchenAid models.
Anyhow, KitchenAids last forever. My parents have one that they bought in the 70’s and my grandparents have one they bought in the 50’s, both are still in commission after decades of abuse. I use my own Artisan for everything from mashed potatoes to cookie dough to egg whites to bread dough. The motor has never overheated on me and it slows down only slightly when I mix very thick bread dough.
Another nice thing about the KitchenAid upright mixers are the attachments that you can buy for them. I have purchased and experimented with the meat grinding attachment, the sausage stuffing attachment, and the pasta rolling attachment, all with good results. I’m thinking about buying the ice cream maker attachment before the summer starts. It’s nice to have just one main appliance that can do just about anything instead of worrying about five smaller appliances.
My final plug for the KitchenAid is this: Cook’s Illustrated actually has bread recipes designed just for it. I especially like their Rustic Italian Bread recipe for the upright mixer.
Hope this helps!
Posted by admin on December 3rd, 2007 under Equipment | Comment now »
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