Calling all master bakers…

[MiddleClassProblem]

Would like to finally get a mixer. The world of mixers seems to be very much Kenwood vs Kitchen Aid.

It may be that I need to suck up the price but I was wondering if there was any major difference in using a cheaper brand?

What are the pros and cons of your mixer? Do they have small capacity? Less attachments? Less speed options? Etc

And if it does come down to Kenwood vs Kitchen Aid, who is the best?

I'm really happy with my Kenwood Chef. I checked reviews and Which? before I bought it and felt the Kitchen Aid was style over substance.

The benefit of a Kenwood or KitchenAid is that you'll be able to buy spares and extras for it forever.

I have a basic Kenwood and it fab. But tbh I use my hand mixer more, so on a budget I'd pick a decent hand mixer and pair it with a large Mason Cash mixing bowl.

I also use a hand mixer for making cakes. It cost £15 from Sainsbury's about 10 years ago, and is still going strong. It has a whisk attachment and attachments for making bread, although I've never used those.

DH bought me a Sage one for Christmas, I'm v nervous i won't get the use out of it!

Check the reviews online for the Kitchen Aid as it might be like the Vitamix; amazing customer service in the US but not so much here. My Kenwood mixer is forty odd years old and still going strong. More modern ones might have less substantial insides though.

very happy with bosch mum

looks good.
strong motor can cope well with wholemeal bread dough.
lot's of usefull attachment options.
a lot smaller with attachments than kitchen aid.

I have a cheaper Kenwood, was about £90, and no complaints. Does everything I need it to do.

So I bake - a LOT! I also have both a KitchenAid and a Kenwood. The Kenwood wins hands down for functionality. The Kitchen Aid looks nicer, but in terms of use and size the Kenwood wins hands down. On the plus side, the Kenwood Chef XL is cheaper than the Kitchen Aid (or was when I bought it).

We have a Kenwood and love it. A while back DH left it on Mixing dough too close to the edge of the worksurface and it fell off on to the tiled kitchen floor. The top was slightly cracked, but otherwise it's still going strong - they're amazing.

I use a hand-held Bosch mixer, which cost about 20 euros. It's powerful enough to cope with everything I've ever made and fits in the cupboard. It's also got dough hooks although I've never used them

i have a Kenwood multione that DH got me (in the sale). I previously had a cheap lakeland one but the motor burnt out after a couple uses. Kenwood one is 2 years old and till going fine plus it comes with a blender and food processor

A hand mixer is way more versatile. I have a KA, and a tiny kitchen. The KA is in the loft.

I have a hand mixer but I recently had one burn out so I feel a bit weary for anything that needs extensive whipping, plus I wouldn’t have to stand holding it.

Also, I have mostly been doing bread by hand, therefore not doing it as much as I would like, so a decent dough hook that I could leave kneading would be amazing.

I have a 15 year old Kenwood that replaced the god only knows how old one my mum got off her mum, decades ago. It was older than me and I was 40+ at the time it broke.

It sits in the back of my worksurface and gets used every week. We use the blender and the food processor attachments a lot.

I also have a hand whisk, a stuck blender and a tiny processor, for onions. They also get used a lot.

If you cook from scratch or bake a lot it's probably worth watching Amazon, they do price drop sales on them quite regularly.

And yes, I really did want a pretty KA, but common sense prevailed.

The thing with the kitchenaid is, it's built like a tank. So if you want to mix, say, larger quantities of bread dough, that's the one you need. Haven't had a kenwood chef, but when I was looking for a mixer that could handle heavy doughs, the kitchenaid heavy duty was the only one that I could find with the power. If you're not going to need to go over about 500g flour in your dough/batter, then save your £££.

I think that’s the other thing, I can’t visualise litres as to how much dough that would be. I might have to take a measuring jug to my mixing bowls!

Thank you for your reviews guys. Lots to consider! It does sound like Kenwood might be better but maybe after measuring capacity it might change everything!

Kenwood - it's my job and I wouldn't use anything else. K-Mix is their attempt at styling similar to kitchenaid but I'd stick with a kenwood if it's performance you're after.

My Kenwood Chefette died in 2020. It had been in constant use since 1971.
I've kept the bowl to use with my hand mixer.

I love my kenwood. You can get attachments for grating and slicing - great for carrots for carrot cake, grating cheese to freeze and batch cooking hot pot with thinly sliced potatoes on top. Oh and crisps!

We also use the K beater attachment to make mash at least twice a week.

@Bloatstoat

We have a Kenwood and love it. A while back DH left it on Mixing dough too close to the edge of the worksurface and it fell off on to the tiled kitchen floor. The top was slightly cracked, but otherwise it's still going strong - they're amazing.

This happened to me though I have no one to blame but myself 😂 Only cracked slightly on the front attachment cover and makes a bit of a heavier grinding noise but still working 3 yrs later.