Can anyone recommend a stand mixer please.

[Londongirl888]

Hello I want to start Christmas baking and general baking.

I would adore a Kitchenaid but way out of my budget as I am not sure I would bake enough. Saw an Aldi one in red looks lovely but does anyone have any feedback it is less than £50!! .

Really not fussed with brand but it goes need to look nice because if I tuck it out is site it may not get used much, the functions would need to be good I.e. do you have to keep stopping to scrape mixture from sides or just buy a hand mixer.

Someone mentioned wilko ones as being good. Many thanks. 

Sorry I was talking kitchen aid !

I've got the kitchen aid mini I think it is as it's too big to have the huge one.
I know kenwood is meant to be great. I've also just seen a friend get the Smeg one. She said it has more power then all the others she's had including the kitchen aid. She is a bit boastful about stuff though so maybe she was trying to make her smeg one sound better then my kitchen aid birthday present
She claimed she broke her kitchen aid as it wasn't powerful enough..
I use mine honestly at least 4 times a week as I like to know what we are eating and putting into our bodies at home instead of packaged cakes which have so many unnecessary additives

KitchenAid mini here too and I love it. Have the kenwood as well but it’s now put away.

I had a Kenwood chef that lasted 30 years with almost daily use

Kenwood owner here too. Around 30 years old and still works well. Bought DD one the same a couple of years ago and she loves it. Amazon and John Lewis are good on prices generally and you might get an offer fromJL leading up to Christmas.

careful with amazon. some of their 'good' deals are for machines with lower wattage.

I bought the Andrew James Food Mixer from Amazon for £79.99 as I decided I couldn't justify an expensive one as occasional use only.

So far it has been really good, makes superb cakes and bread is so simple to do - reason I got this one is it comes with a silicon edged beater (which is fantastic) and that's an extra for most others.

I used to bake professionally - sold my kitchenaid to buy a Kenwood as its much more effective (I use a Kenwood Major due to increased capacity - the small one, Prospero maybe - just isn’t as good as Kenwood Chefs).

The Kenwood KMix was used in the top end cake decorating school where I used to teach although not sure if they still make them.

Older Kenwoods are often still going after 40 years but IME the newer ones are nowhere near as sturdy.

If you’re only making cakes etc, you’ll be fine with most stand mixers really - just make sure they come with a paddle attachment. If you want to make doughs then you need something more powerful and reliable as it knackers the motor.

The problem I’ve found with several stand mixers I’ve had is that the beaters don’t get to the bottom of the bowl. I bake at least 4 times every week, often 5 or 6 and big batches, but I use a hand mixer.

I bought a Kenwood on offer for £100 from Sainsbury's a year or two ago and the paddle doesn't reach all the bits of the bowl. So you have to do it by hand which of course completely defeats the object.

Don't buy anything before Black Friday - most retailers have out their prices up now so they can lower them for Black Friday.

KitchenAid here, I bought it in the Black Friday sale for about half price a couple of years ago, definitely wait until then. Harts of Stur sometimes have good offers on mixers

I've had a few cheaper mixers and they drove me crazy with not reaching the whole bowl. Making buttercream icing took forever and was so frustrating. I finally gave in and got a KitchenAid and I love it. I don't use it as often as I would like to, but I've never been disappointed by it. I'd have saved money by getting one in the first place.

boach paddles/whisks reach the bottom of the bowl.