KitchenAid Mixer Comparison Guide
KitchenAid has long been one of the go-to brands for home chefs, with the company’s famous stand mixers a fixture in millions of kitchens. That’s thanks largely to their durability – hence the company tagline "For the way it’s made" – and the opportunities to customize them for any job presented with a long list of attachments. But while it's easy to choose KitchenAid, it's not always as simple to decide which stand mixer is right for you or the home chef you love. In this guide, we'll run through a KitchenAid mixer comparison to help you find the right fit.
The company's earliest mixers were built for industrial usage, though they’ve come a long way since. With vibrant colors and a well-known, curvy design, today’s KitchenAid stand mixer is as beautiful as it is useful. For the serious home chef, having a KitchenAid mixer is considered a symbol of dedication to crafting fine dishes and baked goods, which is why many of them find room for them not in cabinets, but in prominent places on their counters.
After years of calls from chefs and seeing their products used in restaurant kitchens, the company introduced the KitchenAid Commercial stand mixer line. Distinguished by their orange cords, these units are manufactured to stand up to the higher demands of use in food service settings. We'll cover more on that later.
If you're looking for the best KitchenAid mixer for yourself or as a gift, you're in the right place. Click one of the links below to jump to a specific section, or keep reading to learn more about KitchenAid mixer differences across their full line, from classic vs. artisan to artisan vs. professional.
- KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Artisan Design Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Classic Tilt-Head Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Classic Plus Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Commercial Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Custom Metallic Stand Mixers
- KitchenAid Professional 600 Mixers
KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixers
The details on these models: Five-quart stainless bowls with handles, powerful high-performance motors, and a rainbow of colors make the Artisan stand mixers an attractive option.
Why KitchenAid Artisan stand mixers? Innovative planetary action that ensures even mixing, many color options to make it your own, and a bowl handle for easy moving.
With a large, 5-quart capacity and a high-performance motor, an Artisan Series mixer can handle mixtures that include as much as nine cups of flour. That means it’s capable of producing enough dough for four and a half loaves of bread or 9 dozen cookies in a single batch. Similar to the classic tilt-head stand mixers, these models allow for the top of the unit to lift out of the way for easy access to the bowl, which locks securely into place in the solid base.
KitchenAid Artisan stand mixers have a revolutionary planetary mixing action that sends the beater spinning clockwise while the shaft turns in the opposite direction. That means the entire bowl is involved in the process, leaving no opportunity for unmixed ingredients.
Included with every one of these models are a beater and dough hook, both of which are covered with a white enamel coating that makes them dishwasher safe. An also-included metal-finish whip needs to be washed by hand.
Those three attachments, which come with all KitchenAid stand mixers, enable you to get even, consistent results whether you’re making a meringue with the wire whip, a cake batter with the beater, or a loaf of bread with the dough hook.
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KitchenAid Artisan Design Stand Mixers
The details on these models: Elegant design with a 5-quart glass mixing bowl that is microwave safe.
Why KitchenAid Artisan Design stand mixers? An innovative glass bowl design that allows you to measure as you go thanks to markings on the side, see your ingredients to ensure even mixing, and move seamlessly from mixer to microwave when needed.
The KitchenAid Artisan Design Series brings all the benefits of the other models and adds a glass bowl that makes it even easier to use. Markings on the side allow for measurement as you go, while the clear glass helps ensure even mixing. This construction also allows the bowl to go in the microwave, which is a big plus if you have butter or chocolate to melt, or cream cheese to soften.
These KitchenAid stand mixers have high-performance motors with 10 speed options, sturdy metal construction, and bowl locks. You also get the planetary mixing action that spins the beaters clockwise as the shaft moves counterclockwise, hitting 59 touch points in the bowl.
KitchenAid Artisan Design stand mixers are available from KaTom in several colors, including sugar pearl, raspberry, azure blue, and apple red.
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KitchenAid Classic Tilt-head Stand Mixers
The details on these models: This unit has a 4.5-quart capacity and offers a tilt-up top that allows for easy access.
Why KitchenAid Classic Series stand mixers? Easy-to-use design, the durability that makes these stand mixers long-lasting, and a more accessible price than the other models.
This stand mixer is the direct descendant of the Model K, the model that introduced the world to that patented design. It comes with a great price that makes it an affordable entry into the world of KitchenAid mixers.
A heavy base anchors the unit to the counter, while the motor sits above in the head. The top part of this mixer tilts up, allowing for access to the beater for easy cleaning, loading, or removal of the bowl, and plenty of room for adding ingredients. The head can then be locked back into place when you’re ready to crank the motor up.
This model comes standard with a 4.5-quart stainless steel bowl, while the Artisan and Artisan Design mixers come with 5-quart bowls. All the bowls lock into place to help you achieve consistent mixing.
To ensure complete mixing action, KitchenAid designed these with a planetary mixing action rotated by a powerful motor that has 10 speed controls, spinning the beater clockwise as the shaft moves counterclockwise. That allows the beater to spiral to 59 touch points within the bowl, ensuring full incorporation of all ingredients.
Classic tilt-head stand mixer bowls, beaters, and dough hooks are all dishwasher safe, while included whips must be hand washed.
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KitchenAid Classic Plus
The details on these models: This series includes powerful 275-watt motors with 10 speed settings and can make dough for as many as six-dozen cookies at a time.
Why KitchenAid Classic Plus stand mixers? Classic Plus mixers feature the same tilt-head design and styling as the Classic series, but with more powerful motors.
The KitchenAid Classic Plus stand mixer is essentially a beefed-up version of the Classic series. It's built with a more powerful motor that can handle dense ingredients. The included coated steel attachments feature a smooth finish that facilitates cleaning and makes for a long life.
This line of KitchenAid stand mixers features a 4.5-quart bowl that can accommodate more than six dozen cookies or three loaves of bread per batch. Its reliable planetary mixing action hits 67 touchpoints around the bowl per rotation to create a thorough mixture, while 10 speed controls include optimal settings for stirring, slow mixing, beating, creaming, and whipping.
KitchenAid Commercial
The details on these models: An 8-quart mixing bowl and 500 watt, 1.3 HP motor make the KitchenAid Commercial Stand Mixer the most powerful in their lineup.
Why KitchenAid Commercial stand mixers? With its large capacity, extra-thick orange power cord, and NSF and UL commercial listings, this line of KitchenAid Stand mixers is the only one that's rated for commercial kitchens.
These stand mixers are the only ones from KitchenAid built specifically for foodservice kitchens. They offer the most spacious mixing bowls, at a generous 8-quart capacity. Together with a high-powered, 500-watt motor, that's enough room to handle as much as 14 cups of flour, 12 dozen cookies, or eight loaves of bread in one batch.
Commercial Series mixers each include a brushed stainless-steel bowl with a "J" style commercial handle. The beater, whip, and dough hook are made from dishwasher-safe stainless steel, and the heavy-duty metal knobs stand up to repeated use. Like other commercial mixers, this one includes a bowl lift for getting heavy loads of ingredients to the agitator, providing ample clearance to add ingredients and remove the bowl when it's lowered.
KitchenAid Commercial mixers are built with Advance Sensory Feedback controls that monitor the machine's workload 15,000 times per second to consistently deliver the precise power needed for a variety of mixtures. That feature provides the results commercial operators need while extending the life of the mixer's motor by reducing wear and tear.
KitchenAid Custom Metallic Stand Mixers
The details on these models: These are essentially Artisan Series models with shiny, metallic shells. They provide the same 5-quart bowls, high-performance motors, and extensive functionality.
Why KitchenAid Custom Metallic stand mixers? As noted above, these provide all the great features of Artisan Series models with unique finishes perfect in kitchens loaded with stainless steel appliances and chrome.
These powerful stand mixers can crank through dough for as many as nine-dozen cookies at a time in their 5-quart stainless steel bowls. Each includes a flat beater, wire whip, dough hook, and pouring shield, so you're ready to get to work as soon as you get it out of the box. They also have multipurpose attachment hubs that turn KitchenAid mixers into do-everything kitchen tools.
Like their Artisan Series kin, these tilt-head units are equipped with high-performance, 325-watt motors with direct-drive transmissions that give them the power to mix thick dough and heavy batter. They offer 10 speed settings ranging from slow stirring to a very fast whip and their beaters hit 59 points inside the bowl on every rotation to ensure consistent, smooth mixes.
These units are finished with a custom, five-step plating process that should make their attractive luster stick around for many years, even in busy kitchens.
KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Stand Mixers
The details on these models: A super-sized 6-quart bowl, a lift that allows you to easily work with heavy mixtures, and a motor that can power through them.
Why KitchenAid Professional 600 Series stand mixers? These bowl-lift stand mixers provide professional results at home, for the home chef who really wants to expand the menu.
These are the workhorses of the legendary KitchenAid stand mixer collection. The most obvious difference between them and the other models is the size of the stainless-steel mixing bowl – a hefty 6 quarts. That offers room for big recipes, while a super-charged motor can handle mixtures that include as much as 14 cups of flour. That enables you to produce enough dough for more than eight loaves of bread or 13 dozen cookies at once.
KitchenAid Professional 600 Series stand mixers have, as the name implies, a mechanism that raises the bowl to the level of the beater with the lifting of a lever. The fact the bowl otherwise sits considerably below the mixing arm means it’s not in the way when you’re adding ingredients.
These Professional 600 Series stand mixers have even more impressive features than the other models. They can reach 67 touch points within the bowl, still with the planetary action that sends the parts working in different directions for even mixing.
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KitchenAid Stand Mixer Attachments
The thing that has made KitchenAid mixer models the true standard in kitchens around the world is the wide variety of attachments. Every model, from classic tilt-head to Professional 600, from Artisan to Artisan Design, includes a hub on the front of the mixer head that can support dozens of useful KitchenAid attachments. From meat grinders and juicers to pasta makers, there's an attachment for everyone.
Choosing Which KitchenAid Mixer to Buy
That wraps up our KitchenAid mixer comparison. If you need more information to decide which option is right for you or if you have questions about specific differences between KitchenAid mixers, please contact one of our customer care representatives at 800-541-8683.
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