Kitchen Mixers & Attachments

• The flat beater is the most universal attachment that comes with the mixer.
• It is great for creaming butter, processing batter, and more.

• The hook attachment has a spiral or hook shape.
• It is important for kneading dough and I even like to use it for finishing/processing the dense batter of cookies.

A self-standing kitchen mixer is an essential tool in any kitchen. It is great not just for bakers but for regular cooking as well. There are a lot of different brands of kitchen self-standing mixers. If your budget is tight or space limited, you can also consider the small and budget friendly replacement — the hand mixer.

Self-standing mixers have a generally longer lifetime than inexpensive hand mixers since they are often built from better materials and have stronger engines. Another very important advantage of having a self-standing mixer is that you don’t have to hold them while processing, which will give you the possibility of performing other tasks at the same time.

I have had a chance to work with multiple kinds of kitchen mixers and I would recommend one from the KitchenAid brand since they perform generally well. They are generally well built, and they are the most versatile — buying additional attachments you can turn your mixer into multiple other tools, such as a juicer, pasta machine, etc. This saves money and space. But even with recommending KitchenAid, I have some reservations, which you should know about before purchasing it.

My reservations:

While KitchenAid in general makes very good mixers, none of them will last forever (unless you don’t use them very often). Based on my personal experience, the best options are the basic line called Classic, rather than the Artisan and Commercial. My first KitchenAid (a Classic) lasted 4 years of extremely intense usage (including usage in my restaurant) before one gear inside fell apart. On the bright side, with about only 30 minutes of my time, which included a little thinking, watching videos, and $10 for a new gear, I was able to replace the broken gear and make it work like new again. So that problem was totally manageable.

The professional 600 was a different story all together. Even though it is called a professional, has a professional look, and even has specifications which are better than the Artisans, it is easily the worst KitchenAid mixer line I have ever experienced. My reason for this may surprise you: it is extremely poorly built inside. I had about 7 total and some of them didn’t even survive one cycle of home baking. One even stopped working within only 30 minutes of light home usage. The others lasted longer, but not long enough. They always fell apart inside almost instantly, which I found very shocking especially considering that we are talking about the KitchenAid brand.

Over time I ended up gradually returning them all and trying to get new ones with the thought that I may just have had defective units from an otherwise great device. After going through about seven of them, I gave up on the “professional” line. I could possibly just be very unlucky, and have only gotten machines made with defective parts, but no matter what, the short life of these mixers is why I simply cannot recommend the professional line to anyone.

If you hear about tool that it is professional, it gives you the feeling that it is something well-built, which is designed to perform in a professional environment, but if you look at the fine print attached to the KitchenAid Professional book, it says “for light usage only”. So why mislead people by using the mixer name “Professional”?

Pros of KitchenAid:

• They are very space efficient.
• They have an incredible amount of additional attachments. This dramatically increases the abilities of the mixer and saves you some money and space since you don’t have to buy separate appliances.
• Even if they are considered generally expensive, you can buy them cheaply in special promotions. A few times, I paid less than $200 for the basic model during special promotions.
• Even though they don’t last forever, they last longer and handle more use than their competitors — so you save lot of money in the long run.
• They are easy and cheap to fix when they break. The parts are available everywhere for a fair price and replacing them is very easy. And, everything is even easier with the endless fixing video tutorials online.
• The best KitchenAid I have ever had is a commercial one. I have had one for my home usage for a little while now and it works great. The motor is powerful, it delivers consistent mixing, and the whole mixer doesn’t seem to have any issues at all. I have strong reasons to believe that this will be the longest lasting KitchenAid in my house.

Which one to buy? If you cook for a small family or your budget is tighter, I would definitely encourage you to buy the KitchenAid Classic. It has small mixing bowl (4.5 QT), but the motor is still fairly strong, and the price is great (it is the cheapest KitchenAid out there). It will do the work with the same results like other good KitchenAids, but with a smaller bowl (so you will have a smaller amount of the final product).

If your budget is not limited, you can consider the KitchenAid Artisan, which for an approximate additional $100, gives you a little stronger motor, (but not significantly stronger), 0.5 QT larger bowl, a selection of 20 colors, a handle on the bowl, and a splash guard with the package.

In my opinion, none of the previously mentioned things are worth that additional amount since the only extra thing included is the extra splash guard, which you can buy separately for just for $10 along with the handle on the bowl. The splash guard is helpful, but you can live without it. If you like the wider selection of colors and have extra money, you can buy the Artisan.

If you are cooking for a larger family or if you just simply cook a lot and have it within your budget, your choice should be the KitchenAid Commercial. It is a truly commercial and NSF-certified mixer, which is very durable, extremely strong, and is just a pleasure to work with. At the same time, it is still fairly compact, even for a home kitchen. And what I especially enjoy is that I can do a double batch of bread by taking advantage of its’ 8 QT bowl. Considering the quality, capacity, and NSF certification, the price is justified. And, of course, all original additional attachments still fit (with the exception of the splash guard).

Do not buy the KitchenAid Artisan Mini since it just a more expensive, smaller version of the KitchenAid Classic. For about an extra $60 you will get the same engine strength and performance, but a 3.5 QT bowl which is simply just too small for almost anything (even if you are single person). The whole machine is just slightly smaller, but not enough to save a significant amount of space on your countertop. The only thing you get extra is the possibility to select from 10 colors, along with a cute compact look.

Kitchen Mixer attachments in packaging

Most kitchen mixers come with 3 attachments in the box:

• Whisk attachment (read more here)
• Flat beater attachment(read more here)
• Hook Attachment (read more here)

Some kitchen mixers also come with a splash guard (read more here).

The pasta press is a great alternative to the regular pasta attachment. It is great for making spaghetti, but also allows you to prepare shapes that you will be not able to prepare with a pasta attachment, such as fusilli, bucatini, large macaroni, rigatoni, and small macaroni. Even though I like this pasta press, I ended up using my regular pasta attachment much more often since is much faster and more efficient.

Easily upgrade your KitchenAid with the powerful meat/food grinder. You can grind anything from burger meat to salmon to vegetables. It is easy to setup, operate, and also to clean (all units are dishwasher safe).

You can also purchase the food tray extension for the grinder attachment (for working with larger amounts of food). You can also optionally combine this with the sausage stuffer if you want to prepare homemade sausages, hot dogs, and similar products. All three attachments are inexpensive. If you also like to strain and puree a variety of different fruit and vegetables, you should consider the slightly more expensive version of the food grinder which has this added function.

This is a very good attachment, which will not fully replace a food processor, but will do some operations even better. There are two options for the food processor attachment. The cheaper option can shred, slice, and cut to julienne. The little more expensive option (extra $20 – $30) can also dice, which is my favorite function, especially when I prepare potato salad (for uniformity and great size).

In comparison to a regular processor, the advantage is that the food goes through and does not get stuck in the mixer. You can start with your bowl under and continuously process without stopping by simply replacing the bowl. Even with the difference in how they process, both versions of the attachments are generally a little more expensive than I wish. However, I still believe they are worth it, especially the version that dices.

If you want to take your baking one step further, you can consider the grain mill attachment. You can use it to grind any low moisture and low oil grain, such as wheat, oat, corn, rice, and other.

This is a very affordable ice cream maker, which is very easy to use. Before using, the bowl needs to be in a freezer for at least up to 10 hours. Then simply mount it to your KitchenAid and the ice cream can be processed!

This is easily my favorite KitchenAid attachment. It’s a high quality tool that changes any KitchenAid to an automatic and very precise pasta machine (so no more cranking). It is really easy to set and use. You can buy just the sheet maker (great for lasagna too) or the 3 pack, which I have, and I would recommend as the best value option (it also includes a spaghetti and fettuccine cutter).

There are also five packs with two extra cutters, which I don’t consider that useful, but you may have a different opinion. The one pasta attachment usually sold separately is the Ravioli maker, but I cannot recommend it to you as it needs to be operated (turned) manually (even after mounted to the KitchenAid). You need to be very precise when using it. I personally find any other way of making ravioli more effective. If you make a lot of pasta, you might also consider purchasing their pasta dryer (pasta drying rack). It is easy to use and, when done, can be compactly folded. See recipe “Pasta from Scratch” here.