Consumer mixer thoughts?

[mille162]

Don’t really use a stand mixer, but had a basic Kitchen Aide 5 qt for emergencies. It seemed to struggle with the few basic jobs I gave it, so I sold it
locally on CL.

Now I kind of need one for no other reason than I hate whipping egg whites by hand, so I want a consumer model that isn’t going to struggle with harder tasks down the road I might throw at it.

I have a vitamix and handheld wand for most blending needs, but think I need to look at a stand mixer.

My local gourmet shop has an Ankarsrum 6230 on display, looks like an interesting design, anyone have experience with them?

Besides upgrading to a higher level model Kitchen Aide, are there other consumer model stand mixers I should look at?

 

[Michi]

KitchenAid and (in Europe) Kenwood are considered the best brands.

I have a 1 kW Kenwood Chef that I’m very happy with. I prefer the Kenwood because some of the attachments are better quality (metal instead of plastic).

 

[AT5760]

I’ve been extremely happy with my Kitchenaid. It’s about 20 years old and still going strong. Mine was a cheaper model, but works for most tasks. If working a lot of heavier dough, look into something like this: https://www.kitchenaid.com/countert...7-quart-bowl-lift-stand-mixer.ksm7586pbk.html

 

[Bensbites]

One of my KA stand mixers have been rebuilt a couple times. I trash the gears making brioche...
The mixers have never had a issue whipping eggs or making batters/cookie doughs.

if you are just whisking eggs, why not a hand held mixer? Cheap, easy to store and throw the beaters in the dishwasher. Them more $$ for knives and stones.

 

[mille162]

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories on the KA motors/gears having issues with dough jobs and frequently burning out, but seems to be their more entry level priced models with complaints. The 7qt pro model has a retail of $1000 (but on sale as low as $500)

The Kenwoods seems to have a cult following praising it but I don’t see much about the negatives. Retail around $500

I’ve also been looking at the Wolf mixer, I have the Wolf countertop oven and it’s build quality and functionality is great, but I do mistrust most of the fancy looking gear WS tends to push, can’t find any real reviews of it online either. Retail around $900

The only complaint I can find on the Ankarsrum is the plastic gears wear out easily (same as KA). Retail around $700

The Hobart N50 countertop model seems to be a commercial model but if there was a deal on one/used it’s in the same pricerange as the other models at full retail. Can’t find anything negative about it in 5,000+ online reviews. Retail starts at $2600

 

[LostHighway]

Kitchen Aid was sold to Whirlpool in 1986 and quality took a dive. If you intend to regularly bake bread, especially whole grain breads, something like the Ankarsrum Assistant is a great choice. People in the bread baking community generally use that, or for even more muscle, older commercial Hobarts (original owner of Kitchen Aid and the marque for the commercial side) or something like the $3K Häussler SP-20. The Bosch Universal mixers are generally considered the closest competition to the Ankarsrum. I have no idea what the Ankarsrum is like for something trivial like beating eggs but IME the Bosch does a good job in that roll.
If you're not going to be baking bread all the above are overkill. Any decent stand mixer like the Kenwood, Kitchen Aid Pro, or even the little Bosch Compact should be more than adequate for pastry dough. For small amounts you can get by with a food processor.
I know nothing about the Wolff or the SMEG. The Cuisinart SM-50 is not well regarded

 

[Paraffin]

Our KitchenAide stand mixer is something like 25 years old and still works fine, although we don't use it very often. Mostly with an aftermarket grinder attachment for grinding steaks into hamburger.

I use the above-mentioned Anksarum Assistant for bread dough. It's the older version in a white color (can't remember the original name it was sold under). I'd buy another KitchenAide as a stand mixer if this one died in a way that wasn't worth repairing.

If the main thing you're looking for is mixing egg whites, why not a hand mixer? Then you can use a copper bowl for the ion transfer thing that stabilizes the egg whites. I bought a nice copper bowl recently and a cheap hand mixer just for that purpose. Get a hand mixer that comes with a "balloon" type whisk, not just the two normal attachments.

 

[daveb]

It's become somewhat trendy to bash KA - damn mixer snobs.......

My 7qt Pro takes everything I throw at it though I'm by no means a demanding user. Had a 5qt rebuilt a couple times, local shop would take em apart, replace internals as necc and relube for a flat $100. Gave that one to a niece when I got the 7.

Have used the Kenwood and didn't like it. Don't remember why. A small Hobart would be almost indestructible in a home environment.

 

[daveb]

 

[SeattleBen]

Now I kind of need one for no other reason than I hate whipping egg whites by hand, so I want a consumer model that isn’t going to struggle with harder tasks down the road I might throw at it.

Consider a whipping siphon?

 

[Michi]