Best Stand Mixers 2021: best mixers for all your baking needs

The best stand mixers right now

Whether you’re whipping up a cake, making your own bread or just getting double cream into a thick side for a dessert, you need one of the best stand mixers. A staple of any good kitchen, a stand mixer is a powerful and flexible tool that will help you get more out of your baking.

There’s plenty of choice out there, with some models having been on sale for years and, with the KitchenAid Artisan even becoming a design and kitchen classic. Narrowing the choice down to get the product that bests suits you can be hard, which is where we come in. We’ve tested pretty much every single major stand mixer, plus all the smaller choices over the years, to bring you this definitive list of what’s best.

What to look out for when buying a stand mixer

If you know what you want, then skip down to our list. Otherwise, it’s important to get the right product for your needs, spending the right amount of money. Some of the questions you should ask yourself before buying are.

1. How big does your stand mixer need to be? Size is important as you need to find somewhere to store your new mixer, and the largest models can be huge, requiring a lot of cupboard space. Base your decision not only on your kitchen size but on how often you use your mixer, and how many you’re baking for. Traditional stand mixers will have a bowl around 5-litres in size, which lets you make big cakes and cope with larger dishes. This size is great for regular users. If you’re cooking smaller amounts or for fewer people, you can probably get buy with a smaller mixer, with a bowl around 3-litres in size.

2. What accessories do you need? The basic accessories should be a paddle for mixing cake batter, and a balloon whisk for getting air into ingredients, such as whipped egg whites and cream. If you want to make bread, then lookout for a machine with a dough hook. Look at the other optional accessories that you can buy, too: KitchenAid machines, for example, can have accessories that includes attaching a juicer and mincer to the front.

3. Do you need a glass bowl or steel bowl? Glass bowls look great and help you see the mixture more clearly as you use the mixer. However, glass bowls don’t tend to be as good when it comes to whipping eggs. A steel bowl is generally hardier, and gives you better results when mixing eggs, although you have to peer over the top of the bowl to see what’s going on.

4. What power mixer do I need? Mixers will have a power rating in Watts. The higher the figure, the more powerful the mixer, with more expensive models having 1000W or 1200W motors. Higher wattage makes it easier to mix tough ingredients, from mixing bread to working with larger amounts of cake mixture. However, power figures alone don’t tell you how good a mixer really is, and we’ve seen lower-power mixers do better than high power ones, so read our reviews for the full lowdown.

Now onto the full list of the best stand mixers.

The best stand mixer is the KitchenAid Artisan 4.8L Stand Mixer

Specifications:

Mixer type: Stand mixer | Size: 350 x 220 x 390, 11.17kg | Controls: 10 speeds | Motor power: 300W | Accessories included: 4.8-litre bowl, whisk, flat beater, dough hook

The Pros:

• Quiet, fast and efficient
• Splashguard with pouring chute
• Plenty of capacity

The Cons:

• Pricey
• Basic instructions

Read our full KitchenAid Artisan 4.8L Stand Mixer review

Think of a stand mixer, and the KitchenAid Artisan 4.8L Stand Mixer will probably be the model that pops into your head. There’s a good reason for this: as well as being gorgeous and available in a huge range of colours, this mixer is also one of the best. Although other mixers may have higher-power motors, the 300W motor here is excellent for speed and efficiency, whisking, whipping and kneading stealthily and silently.

This is a particularly mess-conscious machine, with a slow-start function to each of its 10 speed settings that ensures you don’t end up looking like a floury snowman the minute you switch it on.

Having a pouring shield is a big advantage, too – although you’ll probably find it hard to miss that cavernous 4.8-litre mixing bowl.

The other great boon with the KitchenAid Artisan is that there’s a hub for attaching more tools if you wish, such as food grinders and pasta makers. That might get pricey, but you might as well squeeze all the potential out of what’s sure to become a centrepiece of your kitchen. It may be expensive, but this stand mixer is truly the best.

The best stand mixer for style is the Smeg SMF02

Specifications:

Mixer type: Stand mixer | Size: 402 x 221 x 378mm, 9.5kg | Controls: 10 speeds | Motor power: 800W | Accessories included: 4.8-litre bowl, whisk, flat beater, dough hook

The Pros:

• Stylish design
• Good performance
• Recipe cards
• Most parts dishwasher-safe

The Cons:

• Speed control difficult to read

Read our full Smeg SMF02 review

Building on the success of the company’s first mixer, the SMF01, the Smeg SMF02 is a refined version. As we’ve come to expect from Smeg, the SMF02 is gorgeous with its 50s design and choice of colours, and it blends in seamlessly with other products in the range. Dare we say it, but the SMF02 is even more attractive than the KitchenAid Artisan.

The 800W motor is controlled via the power control on top, although our minor complaint here is that this is a little hard to read clearly. In the box, you get the three common tools: paddle, whisk and dough hook. We found that the SMF02 did well with dough and cake mixture, but the whisk didn’t quite get to the sides for all mixtures and needed a bit of scraping down and, for some recipes, a little more liquid to be added.

There’s a new Smeg SMF03 mixer available, but the SMF02 remains excellent value and a cheaper alternative to the KitchenAid.

The best stand mixer for flexibility is the Kenwood by Mary berry Special Edition Hand Mixer HM680CR

Specifications:

Mixer type: Stand and hand mixer | Size: 270 x 345 x 390mm, 1.04kg | Controls: 5 speeds and pulse | Motor power: 350W | Accessories included: 3-litre bowl, two beaters, two dough hooks

The Pros:

• Hand or stand option
• Bowl and splashguard included
• Sturdy build
• Dishwasher-safe tools

The Cons:

• On the heavy side
• No whisk attachment
• No recipe booklet

Read our full Kenwood by Mary berry Special Edition Hand Mixer HM680CR review

Sometimes a hand mixer is an easier way to whip up ingredients, so why not have a tool that can do the job of both a hand and stand mixer? That’s where the excellent little Kenwood by Mary Berry Special Edition Hand Mixer HM680CR comes in.

Weighing 1.04kg, the hand mixer is a little on the heavy side but it’s sturdy and powerful. Besides, as you can clip the hand part onto the stand and use the mixer over the 3-litre bowl, you’ll probably find that you mostly use this product in stand mode. All of the controls are located in the hand mixer’s handle, giving you five speeds plus a pulse.

There’s a 3-litre bowl provided with this mixer, which is good enough for your average cake and smaller amounts of liquid and eggs. It’s a nice deep bowl, too, which is great for handheld mixers. Cleverly, the bowl rotates in use to give even mixing; stand mixers have orbitary mixer heads that move around the bowl.

In the box, you get beaters and dough hooks, but no whisk. You can use the beaters for whisking egg whites and cream, although this takes longer than using a regular whisk. Mixing dough and cake mixture was easier, although you may need to scrape the side of the bowl down to combine everything.

Good for smaller jobs and for people that want a stand mixer with the convenience of a handheld one, the Kenwood HM680CR is a great mixer for smaller jobs.

Best stand mixer for more than just mixing is the Bosch MUM59340GB Kitchen Machine

Specifications:

Mixer type: Stand mixer and kitchen tool | Size: 282 x 280 x 270mm, 7.49kg | Controls: 7 speeds | Motor power: 1000W | Accessories included: 3.9litre bowl, shredding attachment, citrus press, beater, dough hook, whisk

The Pros:

• Multiple functions
• Range of tools and splashguard
• Automatic cable rewind

The Cons:

• Only available in silver
• Only juices citrus fruit
• Mincer not dishwasher safe

Read our full Bosch MUM59340GB Kitchen Machine review

Part stand mixer, part multi-functional kitchen machine – if the Transformers did small appliances they’d look like this. The Bosch MUM59340GB Kitchen Machine is equipped with a three-zone moveable arm, seven mixing speeds and all the attachments and functions you’d expect from a premium price mixer – but without the premium price.

In its stand mixer role it beats, mixes, whisks and kneads, while a continuous feed shredder covers five types of chopping, slicing and shredding both finely and coarsely, and grating. A citrus press attachment transforms it into a juicer, plus there’s a mincing attachment for meat and a blender.

Add to that a large-capacity mixing bowl and a handy storage bag for all of those precious tools, and you’ve got yourself a versatile, powerful mixer for every stage of food prep.

The best stand mixer for accessories is the AEG UltraMix KM5540-U

Specifications:

Mixer type: Stand mixer and kitchen tool | Size: 360 x 370 210mm, 9kg | Controls: 10 speeds and pulse | Motor power: 1200W | Accessories included: 4.8-litre and 2.9-litre bowls, two beaters, dough hook, whisk, fermenting lid

The Pros:

• Two bowls
• Built-in LED light

The Cons:

• Heavy
• Whisk isn’t dishwasher-safe
• Accessories require storage

Most mixers come with few accessories, beyond the basics, in the box, but the AEG UltraMix KM5540-U is different, as it comes with everything you could possibly need including two bowls (large and small), beaters, dough hook and whisk. There are two beaters in the box, one for harder mixtures and a SoftEdge one for creamier mixtures.

It’s nice to see a lid, too, which can cover either bowl for proving dough or covering mixtures. It’s a neat eco touch and will save on using single-use plastic wrap.

Want more? On the front, an attachment hub can power optional accessories, such as meat grinders, pasta rollers and cutters, so its capabilities are easily expanded. All of this means that you need space to place all of your accessories, but that’s not always a bad problem to have.

There are 10 speeds and a pulse option, giving plenty of fine control. Mixing batters proved easy, and we only needed to scrape down the bowl once at the end of the process. Whipping was just as efficient and quick, too, getting us stiff peaks from our egg whites. The only tool that wasn’t so good was the dough hook, which ended up wrapping our test dough around it, rather than kneading it. Even so, once we’d removed the dough, it cooked well in the oven.

If you want a well-priced and powerful mixer with a large range of accessories, this really is a great choice.

• Best stand mixer: KitchenAid Artisan 4.8L Stand Mixer
• Best stand mixer for style: Smeg SMF02
• Best stand mixer for flexibility: Kenwood by Mary berry Special Edition Hand Mixer HM680CR
• Best stand mixer for more than just mixing: Bosch MUM59340GB Kitchen Machine
• Best stand mixer for accessories: AEG UltraMix KM5540-U