Help me choose a cake mixer?

[Christmas101]

I am going to get a cake mixer this year. I will make - sometimes quite large - cakes and possible knead things like brioche and maybe occasionally bread in it. (I make bread fairly often but like a bit of kneading.)

I managed to burn the motor out on my last one but it was a cheapy one bought as a gift.

I love the look of the big kenwood one (patissiere?) with the proving setting and you can attach an ice cream maker and it knits bunting etc etc but it's £800. Which is doable for a real investment but I am nothing like a professional baker. I just like to bake for the family. But I do need something that will withstand me being quite rough with it. And I want a really good quality one that will last.

I couldn't find a thread already but was a bit surprised there wasn't one so if it exists it would be great to be signposted.

So what do I need great bakers of MN?

Oh and should this be a Black Friday thing?

TIA.

It's the Kitchenaid for me!

Kitchenaid. Had mine for about 8/10 years . Gets used regularly including bread / dough .

I've had a Kenwood titanium chef for over ten years and have been really happy with it, I use it very regularly - as well as the mixer it has food processor and blender attachments and I bought the small grinder attachment and the ice cream maker (which I used a lot when I got it but it's been stuck at the back of the cupboard for a couple of years).
It doesn't have a proving setting, but I've worked out a trick for that (heat up a couple of dinner plates in the microwave, put one under the bowl, one on top of the bowl and wrap it in a towel).

When I bought it, I was weighing up between a kitchenaid and a Kenwood and the Kenwood ended up being better value for money.

I have to say the ice cream attachment might be swinging it a bit...

Doe sthe kitchenaid have anything like that? I agree that proving isn't a game changer (and I like your microwaved plate!).

If you also cook a lot of savoury food the kenwood is hard to beat. I'm more of a cook than a baker so the attachments were what sold it for me. The multi mill jars get used at least twice a week for whizzing up curry pastes, salsas and dips. Storage of leftovers is as simple as putting a lid on one of the jars and clean up is much easier than a blender/processor. I mostly use the mixer for pizza dough but since buying it I bake cakes more often as it's less of a hassle. Cakes have been lovely and light and making buttercream icing isn't the 20 minute ordeal it used to be.

Yes I'm definitely a cook rather than a baker. I have a magimix but I burnt the motor out in that too and it needs replacing

Which kenwood is best though - are there billions? It's the one down from the patisserie that we are talking about is it? That's the 4/500 mark? Black friday-able?

JL have a range from £300 - 600 I think it's the 600 we are discussing and that is sold out at JL at least.

I've got a K-mix which is great for baking, but not for cooking stuff. Was around £300 bought about 6 years ago and I love it.

Mine is the lower range Kenwood Chef. It looks like the KVC3100 one but is a few years older. The only thing I'd say it "doesn't" do is make pasta and that's only because the pasta attachments are so eye-wateringly expensive that in my mind they don't exist.

Oh wow I've just found the multi mill jars 😀😀

I have a kenwood chef xl and it's great can definitely handle dough mixing and is quite sturdy

My Kenwood Chef is a war horse. I make a Christmas cake in it (amongst many other delights) and my recipe has 1kg of fruit alone! Did initially worry it wouldn't handle it but many Christmas cakes later it's been a dream. That and 1kg of pizza dough/bread dough on multiple occasions!

I have had my Kitchenaid for 10 years now. It is of course beautiful but it's also a real workhorse. I use it 3 or 4 times a week. It knead bread beautifully but I also use it for cakes, buttercream, mashed potato, ice cream as I have the attachment.

In my opinion it is both style and substance!

Kitchen aid vote here , you can get loads of attachments , ice cream maker, spiraliser , pasta press , pasta maker, sausage maker , meat grinder / mincer, veg / cheese slicer / shredder , look at the website , loads of little tutorials on video on YouTube , I've had mine for about 5 years and still get a big smile on my face whenever I use it ( or even see it ) still learning loads of new techniques, this week I used it to make pulled pork - gorgeous evenly shredded and deliciously soft to eat

Kitchenaid love it had it 8 years 😊

My kenwood chef is fab, I just have the mixing bowl, liquidiser, spice mill and food processor, its going great about 10 years on. It is a KM010 but that's an old model now. My mums gets lots of use and was a wedding present over 50 years ago now. She's replaced the liquidiser (glass got cracked) but otherwise no issues at all.

I am reading this thread with envy. Oh, to have the funds to buy one! But I can live vicariously through the rest of your.

Kitchen Aid. Fantastic

Funnily enough when you google kitchen aid one of the returns is 'kitchen aid vs kenwood'

I had no idea I was opening a can of worms.

And now I want both worms...

The built in scales seem like a game changer to me though. Which pushes me to the upper end of kenwood doesn't it?

And I now find out that 1200 shiny pounds gets me a kenwood that cooks my dinner. Like one of those German thingies they come round to your house to demonstrate.

Oh my.

@AlfonsoTheUnrepentant

I am reading this thread with envy. Oh, to have the funds to buy one! But I can live vicariously through the rest of your.

If it's any consolation I made, and iced, a cake using a fork the other day?

Thank you. I am a demon baker and don't need a heavy-duty mixer (even for bread!) I just enjoy being envious. {grin]