Verdict

While boasting an attractive design and a great range of speeds, the KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer is foremost meant for real enthusiasts of the brand. Due to the limited-edition nature of this product, it’s actually more expensive than the better-equipped KitchenAid hand mixer model. But with dishwasher-safe, durable tools, it’s a good investment for the frequent baker.

Pros

• Attractive design
• Great range of speeds
• Sturdy, dishwasher-safe tools

Cons

• Pricey
• No dough hooks

What is the KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer?

The Queen of Hearts 7-Speed is a special-edition KitchenAid hand mixer, part of a range to celebrate the home appliance brand’s 100^th anniversary. All appliances in the range are Passion Red, with the standard silver trim-band replaced by one with tiny silver hearts on a red background and a 100-year logo. (It’s more tasteful than it sounds.)

With an excellent variety of speeds, ranging from slow to extremely fast, this mixer is versatile enough to overcome my general aversion to hand mixers. However, it is also rather pricey and only comes with one whisk and two beaters – with the dough hooks sold separately.

Related: Best mixers

The special edition design marks the brand’s 100th anniversary

KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer – What you need to know

• Whisking: Egg whites took 3mins to reach soft peaks and 1mins 45secs to become stiff, using speeds 1 to 7.
• Beating: It took just 1min 25secs to combine everything for a muffin mixture and just 10secs to mix in additional ingredients. Even the slowest speed felt a little fast for this mixture, however. To make cookie dough, beating butter and sugar until fluffy took 1min 20secs at settings 3-4. The rest of the ingredients were combined in 2mins 25secs and chocolate chips evenly stirred in 20secs.
• Mashing: Chopped boiled potatoes were mashed into a fluffy consistency with a mix of warm milk and butter in 3mins, with only a couple of small chunks remaining.

The swivelable, lockable and long power cord makes the hand mixer easy to use around the kitchen

The KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer is an attractive hand mixer with user-friendly features

The handle is designed in an ergonomic way with a rubberised underside, making for a comfortable, non-slip grip.

This mixer also has a lockable swivel cord of a very generous length, offering you more freedom to move around your kitchen. You can lock the cord in place to the left or the right from the back of the appliance, which means it stays out of the way.

As a special edition, this mixer is only available in Passion Red. I don’t see that as a problem though, as its beautiful glossy red plastic body doesn’t seem to attract too many smudges. For anyone wanting something more modest, the KitchenAid 9-Speed hand mixer comes in a few different finishes.

As it’s a special edition, the mixer is only available in Passion Red with silver trim

The KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer has an LED speed indicator and buttons for gradual movement between the settings

The LED speed indicator, on/off switch and buttons for increasing and decreasing the mixing speed are all located on the top part of the handle, with the button for ejecting the tools situated at the very top.

Above the LED, you’ll find markings for 1, 3, 5 and 7, with the in-between settings marked by dots. Below, there are the on/off switch and the buttons with arrows pointing up and down, for increasing and decreasing the speed respectively. It’s all very intuitive.

Although this mixer has a soft start function, you’ll always start your mixing slowly anyway because the default starting point is speed 1 and you can only increase the speed gradually. You never have to worry about starting off with a splash.

The mixer’s controls are simple and intuitive

The KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer comes with a whisk and two beaters – but dough hooks are only available at extra cost

While the 16-wire whisk and the stainless steel beaters feel hefty and durable, it’s disappointing that the mixer doesn’t come with dough hooks – particularly at this price.

The manual says dough hooks are needed for mixing and kneading bread dough, but that these are ‘sold separately’.

Although somewhat basic and shared between several different models, the manual has a handy speed-by-speed breakdown of what particular settings and accessories to use for specific actions, from stirring to mashing potatoes and whipping mousses.

I found some of the speed settings suggested in the manual a tad too fast, however, adopting for one step slower on several occasions. Nevertheless, I appreciated the slowness of speed 1 here. More affordable hand mixers, such as the Swan Fearne 5-Speed, often have a more limited range of speeds, from fast to extremely fast.

The mixer’s range of speeds helps avoid spills

Should I buy the KitchenAid Queen of Hearts 7-Speed Hand Mixer?

If you’re a KitchenAid enthusiast, happy to invest in this limited edition product, the Queen of Hearts 7-Speed mixer has durable tools and a great range of speeds.

However, the KitchenAid 9-Speed hand mixer has a slightly lower RRP and comes with an even greater speed range, as well as dough hooks for kneading.

For those looking for something more affordable, the Russell Hobbs 24672 Desire Matte Black hand mixer isn’t too bad in terms of speed range, particularly considering its price.