Methods to Choose a KitchenAid Stand Mixer: Traditional vs. Deluxe vs. Artisan vs. Professional

Investing in a KitchenAid stand mixer is an exquisite ceremony of passage for the house prepare dinner; it’s the second when the pandemic-inspired bread hobbyist turns into a real baker. However with increasingly more fashions of the equipment out there yearly, the enjoyment of unboxing your new stirring, kneading, mixing toy may be dampened by the maddening course of of choosing the machine that’s best for you.

KitchenAid makes the most well-liked stand mixers available on the market, and just about everybody — together with me, an expert meals author and beginner baker — loves them. So, I hope the model will forgive me once I say that its branding division appears to hail from the Kafka college of confusion and shapeshifting id: Do you fancy your self extra an Artisan? Or a Professional? When mixing dough, would you like one thing Deluxe? Or will the Traditional do the job? And that’s simply the bottom machine; I haven’t even touched on the myriad attachments or dozens of aesthetic decisions (coloration, bowl texture, matte or gloss?) that face the aspiring stand-mixer proprietor.

Don’t despair. I occur to be available in the market for a brand new mixer myself, and I take my analysis very severely. I’ve finished the analysis and in contrast the entire fashions of KitchenAid presently out there, and I now perceive what units every one aside. Right here then is all the things I’ve discovered about navigating the Byzantine world of KitchenAid stand mixers.

First, the age-old debate: tilt-head or bowl-lift? What’s the distinction?

So that you’re selecting a KitchenAid mixer and also you encounter the good dichotomy: One of many most important variations you’ll see amongst stand-mixers is whether or not they’re “bowl-lift” or “tilt-head”. If you happen to’re like me, then you definately have been (till searching for a mixer your self) possible solely accustomed to the “tilt-head” model — through which the top that holds the blending attachment actually leans backwards and tilts out of the bowl, making it simple so as to add components with out eradicating your paddle.

Tilt-head fashions are the go-to for house bakers as a result of they’re really easy to make use of, however, they could lack the oomph wanted for heavy obligation customers. If you happen to have a tendency to combine harder bread doughs, batters, and the like, then a tilt-head simply gained’t be as much as the job. In that case, you would possibly wish to select “bowl-lift”—through which the bowl lifts up and down below the blending attachment. This is usually a actual ache to maneuver whenever you wish to add components, but it surely makes up for that inconvenience with its stability and solidity. A lift-bowl mixer can deal with just about something you throw at it with out balking or burning out.

Nonetheless, tilt-heads may be completely appropriate as a house mixer so long as their engines are as much as the job. Which brings us to…

Artisan vs. Traditional vs. Deluxe vs. Professional — what’s actually the distinction?

There are a couple of most important strains of KitchenAid stand mixers for the at-home baker, and it may be difficult at first (or third) look to know what the distinction is.

Every is a tilt-head model mixer. Bowl-lift types don’t have a line identify; they’re simply referred to as “KitchenAid”, or within the case of their business model, “NSF Licensed Business.”

The three tilt-head mixer strains are the KitchenAid Traditional sequence, the KitchenAid Deluxe Collection, and the KitchenAid Artisan Collection. The first variations between the three sequence boil right down to engine energy and bowl capability.

KitchenAid

Traditional

The Traditional sequence is provided with a 275-watt motor and an ordinary 4.5-quart bowl with no deal with. If you happen to use your mixer to whip cream and make the occasional batch of cookies, a Traditional will completely do the job — however for something greater than essentially the most informal baker, you might have considered trying a bit extra energy.

Who it’s for: House bakers with very restricted wants — whipping egg whites and making packaged cake mixes, for instance.

Deluxe

The Deluxe sequence additionally comes with a 4.5-quart bowl, although the Deluxe bowl has a deal with — fancy! At 300 watts, the motor is extra highly effective than that of the Classics, though not too considerably. The Deluxe represents a small enchancment over the traditional and often sports activities a barely greater price ticket because of this, although on the time of writing, each have been promoting on the KitchenAid web site for $279.99.

Who it’s for: Customers whose mixing wants are barely extra superior than the standard Traditional sequence customers… or those that observed that the Deluxe is definitely cheaper than the Traditional proper now, and know a deal once they see one.

Artisan

The Artisan is one step up from the Deluxe, and is sturdy, high-performing, and nice for many who use their stand mixer extra typically than as soon as in a blue moon. It comes with a 5-quart bowl and a 325-watt engine, and as an added level of attraction, additionally is available in a greater variety of fascinating colours than the opposite tilt-head fashions. (Beneath, Scorched Orange; Matcha and Blue Velvet are additionally fairly rattling cool.) Plus, it ships with a pouring defend. The 325-watt engine needs to be enough for many house bakers, but when your major curiosity is in bread and different knead-y doughs, then you definately nonetheless would possibly wish to think about a bowl-lift choice.

There’s additionally, it ought to definitely be famous, a 250-watt Artisan Mini mannequin (see why this all fairly complicated?), which is smaller (clearly) and has a lighter weight (simply 14.3 kilos), a smaller counter footprint, and a 3.5-quart bowl. Which will sound small, however it could possibly nonetheless whip up a whopping 60 cookies in a single batch, in keeping with KitchenAid’s calculations. It’s described as the answer for ‘whenever you nonetheless want the ability however don’t fairly have the house,” making it an excellent selection for these in, say, a small condo with restricted counter and cupboard house.

Who it’s for: The passionate house baker who’s able to department out to tougher doughs, however who can’t afford (or just doesn’t like) the unique bowl-lift mannequin. Somebody who desires the utmost variety of beautiful finishes and coloration choices. For the Artisan Mini mannequin, somebody who bakes lots however in comparatively small batches and who doesn’t have an abundance of cupboard space of their kitchen.

What in regards to the Professional line?

Most house bakers, realistically, will desire a tilt-head mannequin — however if you happen to’re nonetheless excited about going for a bowl-lift mixer, you’ll wish to peruse the Professional line, which incorporates the Skilled 500, Skilled 600 (presently out of inventory on KitchenAid’s web site), and past. A wide range of fashions fall into this class, a few of which have “Professional” of their identify and some of which don’t, such because the 7 Quart Bowl-Raise Stand Mixer. Some have additionally been discontinued, however are out there refurbished occasionally (for round $200–300 — a wonderful deal contemplating their high-end options).

Relying on the mannequin, the Professional bowl-lift mixers have double the oomph of the lean head fashions; all of them appear to have at the least 475 watts of energy, though KitchenAid is extra keen on utilizing horsepower as a metric on its web site. The bowl sizes run from 5 to eight quarts, and these larger-capacity, high-powered machines are finest for these doing a lot of baking, whether or not for private or business use, and particularly those that want to combine lots of bread doughs. They’re additionally heavier than different fashions and have a bigger counter footprint, they usually have 11 speeds, together with a half-speed for folding in components. The 7-quart mannequin could make 13 dozen cookies in a single batch — let’s simply say that’s lots of cookies. Attachments-wise, it comes with a couple of extras, together with a double-flex edge beater for bowl scraping.

Who it’s for: Bread makers, these baking giant batches of cookies or pastries, and residential cooks with numerous intensive duties.

OK, so that you’re actually, actually severe (aka the Business Collection)

If you happen to actually make bread — like on a regular basis and in your neighbors and are pondering of opening a storefront to make increasingly more and extra bread — then there actually is just one choice: the NSF Licensed® Business Collection. (NSF, as soon as generally known as the Nationwide Sanitation Basis, is a nonprofit that units well being and security requirements for meals service tools.)

This isn’t a machine for a house baker; that is restaurant tools and is priced as such — a cool $950 and even $999.99. Nonetheless, this machine is a beast. With an enormous eight-quart bowl and a 1.3 horsepower motor—that’s 500-750 watts—it could possibly tear via, combine, knead, and completely abuse even the thickest doughs (as much as eight kilos in a single batch) with out slowing or overheating.

You’ll be able to inform this machine means enterprise as a result of the bowl is protected by a metallic cage (it sort of seems just like the one you’d use to swim with sharks), and as a substitute of a daily wire, it plugs into the wall with a thick orange industrial wire.

You virtually definitely don’t want certainly one of these. However if you happen to do get one, please invite me over, and let’s make a whole lot of cookies.

Who it’s for: Professionals (bakers, sandwich store house owners, cooks and business kitchens) and gear-obsessed amateurs with beneficiant budgets and lots of counter house

What about that wood bowl? (and extra ideas on KitchenAid colours and finishes)

There are actually dozens of various colours, finishes, and types of bowl for KitchenAid stand mixers. Do you know there are bowls on the market with a bronze end, or ceramic, and even wooden?

The limited-edition Design Collection has produced some extremely covetable iterations, akin to final 12 months’s good-looking Evergreen mixer with a horny darkish walnut wooden bowl, which brought about a near-frenzy, and let’s not neglect the very goth-looking studded black bowl that dropped a couple of years in the past (and continues to be out there). (I’m on the fence in the case of the Evergreen. It’s undeniably pretty if a bit intense.)

2022’s Design Collection mannequin was additionally beautiful, with a nuanced mint-green coloration. I’m particularly keen on the hammered copper bowls (like that one options) and the earthy clay ceramic ones, which add an incongruous farmhouse aptitude to what is usually a decidedly industrial-looking piece of equipment.

I’ve been doubtful of color-of-the-year developments since millennial pink infantilized a whole technology, however I need to say, 2025’s coloration is butter yellow and… I’m listening.

If you happen to’re DIY-inclined, you’ll be able to at all times purchase a refurbished mixer and customise it to your coronary heart’s content material — the sky, fairly actually, is the restrict.

Lastly, do I want to purchase attachments?

You don’t want to purchase something additional from the bounce. Each mixer features a flat beater, dough hook, and wire whip. Begin with the machine, after which see how your wants evolve as time goes on, cooking venture by cooking venture. That being stated, a couple of of the most well-liked add-on attachments are the Connoisseur Pasta Press, the pasta curler set, and the meat grinder. If you happen to take pleasure in making selfmade pasta or grinding up your personal beef, pork, or lamb, then sure, these attachments can definitely come in useful. However for a typical house baker, you’ll be all set with what’s included within the field.

There you will have it! A mixer for each doable eventuality. Right here’s to your lives being stuffed with recent doughnuts and meringues!