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

Investing in a KitchenAid stand mixer is a wonderful 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 obtainable yearly, the enjoyment of unboxing your new stirring, kneading, mixing toy will be dampened by the maddening course of of choosing the machine that’s best for you.

KitchenAid makes the most well-liked stand mixers in the marketplace, and just about everybody — together with me, knowledgeable meals author and newbie baker — loves them. So, I hope the model will forgive me after I say that its branding division appears to hail from the Kafka faculty 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 (colour, 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 completed the analysis and in contrast all the fashions of KitchenAid at the moment obtainable, and I now perceive what units every one aside. Right here then is every part 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 fundamental variations you’ll see amongst stand-mixers is whether or not they’re “bowl-lift” or “tilt-head”. For those who’re like me, you then have been (till looking for a mixer your self) seemingly solely conversant in 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 elements 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. For those who have a tendency to combine more durable 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 beneath the blending attachment. This is usually a actual ache to maneuver if you wish to add elements, however it 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 will 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 just a few fundamental traces 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 kinds 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 traces are the KitchenAid Traditional collection, the KitchenAid Deluxe Collection, and the KitchenAid Artisan Collection. The first variations between the three collection boil right down to engine energy and bowl capability.

KitchenAid

Traditional

The Traditional collection is supplied with a 275-watt motor and an ordinary 4.5-quart bowl with no deal with. For those who 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 probably 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 collection 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 basic and normally sports activities a barely increased price ticket in consequence, 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 everyday Traditional collection customers… or those that seen that the Deluxe is definitely cheaper than the Traditional proper now, and know a deal after 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 usually 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 enchantment, 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 adequate for many house bakers, but when your main curiosity is in bread and different knead-y doughs, you then nonetheless would possibly wish to contemplate a bowl-lift possibility.

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. That will sound small, however it may well nonetheless whip up a whopping 60 cookies in a single batch, in keeping with KitchenAid’s calculations. It’s described as the answer for ‘if you nonetheless want the facility however don’t fairly have the area,” making it a super selection for these in, say, a small residence with restricted counter and cupboard area.

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 needs the utmost variety of beautiful finishes and colour 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 concerning the Professional line?

Most house bakers, realistically, will desire a tilt-head mannequin — however when you’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 (at the moment 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 obtainable 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 no less than 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 greatest for these doing a lot of baking, whether or not for private or business use, and particularly those that want to combine a number of bread doughs. They’re additionally heavier than different fashions and have a bigger counter footprint, and so they have 11 speeds, together with a half-speed for folding in elements. The 7-quart mannequin could make 13 dozen cookies in a single batch — let’s simply say that’s a number of cookies. Attachments-wise, it comes with just a few 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 a lot of intensive duties.

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

For those who actually make bread — like on a regular basis and on your neighbors and are considering of opening a storefront to make increasingly more and extra bread — then there actually is just one possibility: 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 gear.)

This isn’t a machine for a house baker; that is restaurant gear 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 may well tear by means of, 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 steel cage (it type of seems to be just like the one you’d use to swim with sharks), and as an alternative of an everyday wire, it plugs into the wall with a thick orange industrial wire.

You nearly definitely don’t want one among these. However when you 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 a number of counter area

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

There are actually dozens of various colours, finishes, and kinds 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 yr’s good-looking Evergreen mixer with a horny darkish walnut wooden bowl, which triggered a near-frenzy, and let’s not neglect the very goth-looking studded black bowl that dropped just a few years in the past (and continues to be obtainable). (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 colour. 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 traits since millennial pink infantilized a complete technology, however I have to say, 2025’s colour is butter yellow and… I’m listening.

For those who’re DIY-inclined, you possibly can 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 would like to purchase attachments?

You don’t want to purchase something further 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 undertaking by cooking undertaking. That being stated, just a few of the most well-liked add-on attachments are the Gourmand Pasta Press, the pasta curler set, and the meat grinder. For those who get pleasure from making home made pasta or grinding up your individual beef, pork, or lamb, then sure, these attachments can definitely turn out to be useful. However for a typical house baker, you’ll be all set with what’s included within the field.

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