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The 5 Best Stand Mixers of 2024

We found the must-have models of this kitchen must-have

Side by side of three stand mixers we recommend displayed on a white surface against a blue background

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

You could mix batters, whip creams, and knead doughs by hand, but cooking is supposed to be fun, not a workout. That's why an electric stand mixer is a must for pretty much every kitchen. This appliance saves on arm fatigue and gives you one powerful tool for a diverse set of tasks, from stirring to grinding.

A good mixer can be a serious investment, so we spent hours of time in our Lab finding the best out there. Clear some counter space for these stand mixers that came out on top.

Best Overall

KitchenAid 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer in black

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Design
    5/5
  • Performance
    5/5
  • Size
    4/5
  • Features
    5/5
What We Like
  • Powerful

  • Heavy-duty bowl with handle

  • Versatile

What We Don't Like
  • Wobbles at high speed

  • Somewhat small capacity

If we asked you to picture a stand mixer in your head, you'd almost definitely see this exact model. KitchenAid's Artisan Series mixer is iconic, attractive, and streamlined, making it easy on the eyes and easy to operate. This 10-speed mixer can mix a double-batch or beat just a single egg white with ease.

The 5-quart Artisan proved its worth in all of our tests, whipping up fluffy cream, thoroughly kneading bread dough, and powering through thick-and-chunky cookie dough. We were especially impressed with its performance on that last test, where the paddle attachment incorporated everything quickly, with no need to stop and scrape down the bowl.

The 23-pound machine is relatively stable on the counter, but it can get wobbly at high speeds, especially when it's fairly full. We'd recommend kneading bread dough at a fairly low setting; this might take longer, but you won't have to worry about any messes being made from the slight trembling. In our test with whole-wheat bread dough, the Artisan performed near the top of the pack, but it took the most time to finish kneading its batch, at 23 minutes.

This mixer comes with the standard paddle, whisk, and dough hook, but KitchenAid has an astonishing range of attachments you can buy separately to expand its abilities, including pasta machine, ice cream maker, meat grinder, and lots more. Since the brand is so popular, there are also third-party attachments and accessories available, like specialized silicone-edged paddles that scrape the sides of the bowl as they mix.

The KitchenAid's price feels high, but in reality, it's just barely above average for the dozen models we tested—and it's an appliance that's going to last for years and years if you treat it properly. Plus, the mixer comes in more than 20 colors so you can customize your look. However, if you're a high-volume cook who's going to be making multi-loaf batches of dough or whipping hundreds of macarons at a time, its 5-quart bowl could be limiting—you might want to look at a 7-quart KitchenAid instead.

Dimensions: 9.3 x 14.3 x 14 inches | Weight: 23 pounds | Power: 325 watts | Capacity: 5 quarts | Speed settings: 10 | Includes: paddle, dough hook, wire whisk, pouring shield

Best Budget

Hamilton Beach Classic Hand and Stand Mixer

Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic Hand and Stand Mixer

Amazon

What We Like
  • Inexpensive

  • Works as hand or stand mixer

  • Lightweight and easy to store

What We Don't Like
  • Unstable

  • Lower power

The value price of this mixer might not give you very high hopes, but it managed some surprisingly solid performance in our tests. It whipped cream to stiff peaks in a minute and a half, and it fully mixed a batch of cookie dough in less than a minute. It even managed a pretty good job kneading bread dough, despite only barely being able to fit a single batch: Its twin spiral dough hooks were actually better at the initial stage of combining water and dry flour than the more traditional shape. On top of that, you can detach the motor from the base to turn this machine into a hand mixer you can use with any bowl you like.

Where the Hamilton Beach suffers for its cheap price is in build quality. It weighs only 5 pounds and is easy to store, but it's quite wobbly and unstable when the comparatively weak motor is taxed. It's ideal for whipped cream, meringues, or cake batter, but it had some trouble with firmer cookie and bread dough. It moved around the counter while mixing both, so you won't want to leave it unsupervised. There are just six speed options, which is fewer than competitors but honestly enough for pretty much any use.

This Hamilton Beach combo mixer is an ideal low-risk choice for a beginner. It includes all the basic attachments you need, can do most tasks you want it to do, and costs just a fraction of the price of high-end machines.

Dimensions: 8.2 x 13.3 x 14.3 inches | Weight: 5.2 pounds | Power: 290 watts | Capacity: 4 quarts | Speed settings: 6 | Includes: 2 beaters, 2 dough hooks, whisk

Best Splurge

Wolf Gourmet High-Performance Stand Mixer

Wolf Gourmet WGSM100S High-Performance Stand Mixer

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Design
    4.5/5
  • Performance
    5/5
  • Size
    4/5
  • Features
    4.5/5
What We Like
  • Large capacity

  • Powerful

  • Works with large or small quantities

What We Don't Like
  • Large and heavy

Wolf is known for high-end appliances that will hold up in both home and professional kitchens, and its stand mixer is no exception. It boasts a huge 7-quart bowl and a 500-watt motor that can take on even the thickest and densest of doughs, but its attachments can still reach small quantities of egg whites or pancake batter in the very bottom.

This model made the most evenly mixed cookie dough of our tests, and it also did so the fastest in just 30 seconds. It whipped cream with no trouble at all, and it powered through kneading whole wheat bread dough. (We did, however, have to stop and scrape down the sides of the extra-deep bowl a few times to make sure all the flour got incorporated.) Unlike mixers with a set number of speed options, the Wolf's dial lets you adjust things infinitely, for absolutely precise control.

This is a heavy-duty machine that only shook slightly, and only under the heaviest of strain. That's partially down to it being simply heavy, but it's exceptionally well-built. For example, it comes up to speed slowly rather than spinning at full speed immediately, which prevents it from flinging flour and other dry ingredients out of the bowl before they start to mix together. For all those bells and whistles, though, you're paying a high price.

Dimensions: 17 x 10.5 x 17.6 inches | Weight: 36.2 pounds | Power: 500 watts | Capacity: 7 quarts | Speed settings: variable | Includes: flat beater, dough hook, whisk

Best for Bread

Ankarsrum Original Kitchen Machine

Ankarsrum Original Kitchen Machine

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Design
    4.5/5
  • Performance
    4/5
  • Size
    4/5
  • Features
    5/5
What We Like
  • Large capacity

  • Effective kneading action

  • Very stable

What We Don't Like
  • Expensive

This Swedish-made mixer looks quite different from most other models—and it works quite differently, too, with a rotating bowl and stationary attachments—but that did not stop it from doing a great job in the Lab. It's designed especially for kneading dough, with a four-piece attachment set that gives you multiple options. There's a traditional dough hook included, but we got the best results using its unique combination of roller and scraper. That setup did a great job of combining the ingredients initially, and its folding-and-smushing motion resembles hand-kneading much more closely than other machines. We didn't need to stop and scrape down the bowl at any point, and we got fully kneaded whole wheat bread dough in less than 10 minutes.

The unique design of the Ankarsrum puts the heavy motor in the base rather than suspending it over the bowl, which makes for a very stable machine. It didn't so much as shake in any of our tests. You get a ton of accessories with this model, including a large metal bowl for doughs and big batches and a smaller one for whips or batters, the aforementioned dough set, a pair of beaters, and a pair of whisks.

The Ankarsrum whisked whipped cream in a flash in our test, but it had a bit more trouble with cookie dough: The scraper wasn't as able to handle a thick, dense dough and needed some stopping and starting for thorough mixing. It'll also take a little learning how to take apart all the (hand-wash-only) pieces, though once you figure that out it won't be a problem anymore.

Its performance flaws are pretty minor; the biggest stumbling block with the Ankarsrum is cost. It's a high-quality machine that comes at a correspondingly high price.

Dimensions: 18 x 13 x 18 inches | Weight: 28.2 pounds | Power: 600 watts | Capacity: 7.4 and 3.7 quarts | Speed settings: 12 | Includes: 2 mixing bowls, 2 beaters, 2 balloon whisks, dough mixing set (hook, roller, scraper, knife), bowl cover

Best for Small Spaces

KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer

KitchenAid Artisan Mini 3.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Design
    4.5/5
  • Performance
    4/5
  • Size
    3/5
  • Features
    4.5/5
What We Like
  • Small footprint

  • Plenty of power

  • Quiet

What We Don't Like
  • Couldn't fit a whole bread recipe during testing

Got a tiny kitchen? Only cooking for one or two? This KitchenAid is 25 percent lighter and has a 20 percent smaller footprint than the classic Artisan above, with the exact same design. It comes fully equipped with 10 speeds, and the standard paddle, dough hook, and whisk attachments most any stand mixer should include. It's just smaller in capacity, with a bowl that holds only 3.5 quarts.

Despite the size and its comparatively puny 250-watt motor, the Artisan Mini managed to perform exceptionally well in our tests. Cream whipped beautifully. A batch of cookie dough came together in only 38 seconds—faster than the full-size Artisan—and without much noise. However, that single batch is about the absolute maximum you can fit into this thing. The bowl could accommodate our bread recipe, but the small hook wasn't able to knead it thoroughly, and the whole machine skittered around the counter while running.

On the other hand, you're not likely buying a mini-sized mixer if you want to make full-sized recipes. And this one has all the quality and heavy-duty construction of its larger KitchenAid cousins.

Dimensions: 7.8 x 12.3 x 12.3 inches | Weight: 18 pounds | Power: 250 watts | Capacity: 3.5 quarts | Speed settings: 10 | Includes: paddle, dough hook, whisk

Final Verdict

The KitchenAid Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer is our top pick for its iconic design and powerful performance, and it more than proved itself in testing. For a more budget-friendly option that still proved itself in the kitchen, try the Hamilton Beach Classic Hand and Stand Mixer instead.

Hamilton Beach stand and hand mixer with cookie dough

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

How We Tested Stand Mixers

Based on the results of previous home testing and extensive online research, we chose 12 stand mixers to purchase and compare side-by-side in our Lab. We put each one through a trio of standardized tests and made notes on a wide variety of other characteristics.

We Observed

  • Whipping performance: Using the whisk attachment and highest speed setting, we made whipped cream with sugar and vanilla extract in each mixer, measuring the time needed to reach soft peaks and then stiff peaks. We also noted if any of the whipped creams failed to incorporate the sugar and vanilla evenly.
  • Mixing performance: Using the paddle attachment, we made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough with chopped walnuts. We measured the total time required to fully combine the ingredients and noted whether any machines' motors struggled with the thick dough.
  • Kneading performance: We made a standard whole wheat bread dough in each mixer, using the dough hook (or roller, in the case of the Ankarsrum) to mix flour and water, and then knead the dough. We measured the time needed to get the dough to a reasonably even and stretchy texture, and noted if we had to stop and scrape down the sides to get everything to mix thoroughly. We ran the mixers at various speeds with the bread dough, looking for any shaking or moving around on the counter.

We Rated

  • Ease of assembly and cleaning: In between tests, we disassembled and thoroughly cleaned each mixer's parts according to the user manual. We noted if any areas were likely to collect splashes and spills, especially if they were on the tough-to-clean motor base. We also considered how intuitive each machine was to put back together and to change attachments.
  • Design: We considered many different design aspects as we tested the mixers, including overall size, bowl capacity, control placement, loudness, and whether the layout made it easy to load without spilling. We also kept looks in mind, considering the color options available and general attractiveness.
  • Value: We completed all of our other tests and ratings without knowing the costs of the mixers, but at the end of the process we revealed the retail prices. We compared prices to the average for the full set of 12 tested mixers, and considered whether additional features offered by more expensive models are worth the additional cost.

Other Options We Tested

  • Cuisinart 5.5-Quart Stand Mixer: Featured in a previous version of this roundup, the Cuisinart has a very reasonable price for its capabilities. It did great with whipped cream, but it struggled a bit with cookie dough and delivered sticky, under-kneaded bread dough. If you're willing to pay a bit more, you can get a much better mixer, and there are cheaper models than this one that did just as well.
  • Dash Stand Mixer: Dash's miniature kitchen appliances save space, are cute, and won't break the bank. Its stand mixer is impressively cheap, but it also feels cheap. It left liquid in the whipped-cream bowl, didn't have enough room to hold a single batch of cookie dough, and could only barely handle bread dough.
  • Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Electric Stand Mixer: While we were impressed with Hamilton Beach's Hand and Stand Mixer, this cousin costs more, is smaller, and performed worse. It made good whipped cream but had lots of trouble with both doughs.

What to Look for When Buying a Stand Mixer

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer on a kitchen counter
 The Spruce Eats / Donna Currie

Capacity

Bowl sizes in home stand mixers can range from less than 4 quarts to as many as 8. Obviously a larger bowl can handle more food at a time, but it's also likely to be more costly, and it may not work as well with small volumes. Keep in mind that a mixer bowl needs a lot of empty space for mixing; you don't want to come close to filling it when you use it. As a rough estimate, a 5-quart bowl can comfortably mix enough batter for a half sheet pan–sized cake, two loaves of banana bread, three dozen cupcakes, or two dozen (2.5-inch) cookies. If you plan to make more than that at a time frequently, you're going to need a bigger bowl.

Style

There are two main styles of stand mixer: tilt-head and bowl-lift. The motor head of a tilt-head unit tilts up to allow you access to the bowl, then tilts back down to lock in place for mixing, while a bowl-lift one lifts the bowl up into the mixing blade. The tilt-head style is most common for consumer-level mixers, while bowl lifts are generally for larger-capacity models, including the huge ones you might find in a professional bakery. Another less common style is the bottom-drive mixer, where the motor is located in the base of the machine and turns the bowl around stationary attachments. (The Ankarsrum above is one of these.)

Accessories

Most stand mixers come with at least three attachments: a whisk for whipping, a flat beater blade for general mixing, and a dough hook for kneading. A few models include additional attachments, and sometimes extra mixer bowls and shields to help prevent spills. Many brands have additional accessories that can extend your stand mixer into a juicer, a pasta machine, a meat grinder, and more, but these are sold separately and might not be worth the price if you don't actually use them.

KitchenAid Pro Line 7-quart mixer with batter on a counter

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

FAQs

What can you make with a stand mixer?

What can't you make with a stand mixer would be a better question! A stand mixer is built to handle liquid and solid ingredients of just about any kind, and different speed settings and attachments can be used to whip cream or egg whites, cream together butter or sugar, mix up any kind of batter, or knead dough for pizza, bread, and similar baked goods. Any time you need to combine ingredients together—especially large amounts of ingredients—a stand mixer is probably the right choice.

And that's not considering accessories that can make a stand mixer even more versatile. Many stand mixers on the market these days come equipped with attachments, making them even more versatile. There are attachments that roll pasta, grate and slice vegetables, juice fruits, grind meat, stuff sausages, and even freeze ice cream.

How do you knead dough with a stand mixer, and for how long?

Most stand mixers come with a dough hook attachment that’s designed specifically to stretch and manipulate bread dough in order to develop gluten. Many bread recipes are written specifically for stand mixers and will tell you how long and at what speed to mix, but you can still use one for a hand-kneaded recipe. You should run the mixer at relatively low speed to knead dough, and 10 minutes of kneading is a good rule of thumb for a basic bread. You want to mix until the dough is smooth and elastic in texture, and doesn't stick to thebowl. If you see the dough forming a ball and pulling away from the sides, or if you hear it slapping against the bowl, those are good signs that kneading is complete.

Wolf Gourmet stand mixer with cookie dough on a wood table

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

What is a planetary mixer?

Many stand mixers work by spinning an attachment in a circle at the same time that it rotates around the inside of the bowl. This resembles the way the Earth spins while it rotates around the sun, so it's called planetary motion. It's a more effective way of mixing than just spinning or just rotating.

Can a stand mixer replace a food processor?

Not really. A food processor has a sharp blade designed to chop or shred food, while a stand mixer's dull attachments are made to stir and combine ingredients more gently. You can use a food processor to whip egg whites or cream and get similar results to a stand mixer's whisk attachment, but for the most part, you can't use a stand mixer to chop, and you can't use a food processor to stir.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Jason Horn is a commerce writer for The Spruce Eats, with nearly 20 years of experience covering food and drinks. He's written about everything from cocktails in Antarctica for Playboy to the chemical that makes banana taste like banana for Serious Eats. His first KitchenAid stood up to more than a decade of weekly bread-making but he's now on his second model.

Donna Currie is the author of the cookbook Make Ahead Bread and specializes in product reviews and kitchen gadgets so she knows a thing or two when it comes to stand mixers. In fact, she personally tested three of the mixers for this roundup.

Originally written by
Donna Currie
Donna Currie
Donna Currie is a food writer and blogger specializing in recipes and kitchen gadgets. She covers kitchen tools and gadgets for The Spruce Eats and is the author of Make Ahead Bread.
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