How to choose a food mixer
9 Factors to Consider When Buying a Kitchen Mixer
To hone in on the best kitchen mixer for you, you should consider some of your main needs and preferences before starting your search. Below are nine factors you should consider during the buying process.
1. Your Cooking Needs
Really sit down and think about what you`re likely to use this mixer for – both in terms of the recipes you`ll make and the quantity of food you typically need. If you make gifts of bread for all your friends every holiday season, or like to make big batches of cookies for parties, you should go for a mixer that allows you to make a lot of dough at once.
Life is What You Bake It
Stand mixers can be used for a lot more than your typical pastries and desserts. With the right attachments you can use them to make pasta, ravioli, meatballs, tamales, butter and all sorts of other recipes that may have seemed overly complex previously. So think both about what you regularly make now, what you`d like to try to make, and what kind of quantities you`d ideally like to work with.
That will help give you a clear idea of the type of mixer to go with, the size to pick, and what attachments you should make a point of getting.
2. Price Range
If you`re sticking with hand mixers, you can find a lot of options for under $100 (some closer to $20). If you`re ready to invest in a stand mixer, most models will cost you somewhere from $200-$700. Some commercial models get over $1,000, but you`d only need one of those if you intend to make especially large quantities of food (and you`d probably want a commercial oven to match).
For most home chefs, a $200-$300 model will do the trick, but the higher end mixers could be a good choice for those who:
Make lots of recipes that involve a lot of heavy duty mixing (like regular bread makers).
Want a big enough mixing bowl to make especially large quantities at once.
Want lots of different settings options for precision in making different types of food.
3. Weight
For a hand mixer, you`ll probably want to stick with something light and easy to hold for a while as you mix. Keep in mind, the more stuff you have to mix, the longer you will be holding it. For some, this could be a deal-breaker in itself.
For a stand mixer, you want to aim for the opposite. The heavier a stand mixer is, the sturdier it will be as it mixes. On the one hand, you want it to be good and sturdy, so it doesn`t bounce around on the counter. On the other, you want to be able to actually handle it.
Kitchen Mixers Buyer's Guide
If you`ll be keeping your stand mixer on the counter, the weight may be a minor concern. If you`re going to be getting it out of a cabinet every time you use it, you should go with a model that`s not too difficult to lift. If getting it out is a major inconvenience every time, you may find yourself not actually using your mixer enough to justify the investment.
Typically, mixers of at least 20 pounds will do the best job of staying stable while mixing thick dough. With lighter models, you might risk there being some general movement around the counter so you`ll have to keep a closer eye on it.
4. Speed Settings
Different types of foods will call for different speeds of mixing. Most models of both hand and stand mixers offer several speeds - usually somewhere from 3 to 12 different options.
All mixers should have a [slow start" setting, which makes it easy to add ingredients like flour to the mix without making a huge mess. Most models should also include a fast enough setting for making a meringue. Many bakers will be able to make do as long as they have at least three speed options, but if you`re especially ambitious and want to bake with absolute precision, going for a model with more speed settings could pay off.
5. Size
You have two main considerations when it comes to size:
How much space do you have available in your kitchen?
How much food are you typically hoping to make in your mixer?
Hopefully the answers to both those questions can work in conjunction and you won`t have to sacrifice one for the other.
You can find a wide range of sizes on the market and, as you might expect, the prices will generally go up as the models get bigger. If you`ll often be baking for large groups and have the space, then investing in a larger kitchen mixer will likely make your life easier, at least enough to make the cost worth it. If you`ll mostly be cooking for your own small family, you can probably make do with a small-to-medium sized model.
6. Attachments
What you can do with a stand mixer starts to expand as you invest in more attachments. If you want inspiration to try making new foods, look no further than the list of attachments available for a stand mixer.
2021 11/01