Compare the Best MixersOctober 2018

Mixers are kitchen appliances that use a motor powered whisk or paddle to effortlessly mix and combine ingredients. They are used primarily for making cake batter, bread dough, pasty and desserts. Unlike blenders or food processors, they are not designed to cut or puree ingredients, but instead to whisk or knead far quickly and more efficiently than any human could. If you’ve ever felt your arms hurt from trying to whisk up homemade mayonnaise, then this is the appliance for you!

There are two main types of mixers on the market - handheld and stand mixers:

Handheld mixers: these devices consist of one or two whisks placed into a plastic or metal casing, with a button or trigger to activate them. The whisks can be immersed in the ingredients, and the whisks will mix far more efficiently than if done by hand. Handheld mixers are smaller and far cheaper than stand mixers, but are less powerful than their larger brethren. Also most handheld mixers only use whisk attachments - this is fine for most baking and kitchen prep tasks you’ll need, but won’t work for making bread dough or kneading.

Stand mixers: these mixers consist of motor-powered whisks, which are built into an arm and stand, allowing the whisks to be lowered into the attached bowl for mixing. They are far heavier machines, and much more expensive than handheld mixers, but are far more powerful and capable of a larger range of functions, such as kneading dough. Because they are heavy, stable machines they are far less likely to make a mess while mixing at high speeds, though of course this means they also take up a sizeable space on your kitchen work surface. However if you find yourself baking cakes or bread regularly, a proper stand mixer will save you countless hours of manual mixing and kneading!

Capacity

This attribute only applies to tabletop mixers, but is an important consideration - the bowl capacity will determine how much food/ingredients can be mixed at one time. The tabletop mixers on our site range from small 0.5L mixers (which would be most useful for sauces and small batters, such as cupcakes or muffins) to enormous 5L mixers (which will handle everything you could need, including the biggest cakes or bread dough enough for several loaves at once).

Power Levels/Speeds

All our mixers have a power rating, measured in Watts (W). The higher the power level, the more efficient the appliances will be at mixing and kneading. This in turn leads to smoother mixes, well-kneaded doughs, and better results!

Many of the models on our site also have multiple speed settings. This is important because different recipes require different speeds - making mayonnaise for instance requires a fairly slow speed, while cake batter can be mixed at a faster speed. The instruction manual with your machine will give better information on the specific speed to use for each type of cooking.

Included Accessories

Finally, many models of mixer come with additional accessories to increase the functions performed by the appliance. This can include dough hooks for more efficient kneading of bread dough, beaters specifically made for eggs, or a spatula for scraping out batter and dough from the bowl. They may also include chopper attachment for easily chopping small quantities of nuts, herbs or fruit.

While not necessities, these extras can make your cooking more efficient and easier, so are worth bearing in mind when choosing between models.

Mixer Prices

Mixers range in price from $10 to $750 and in total we found prices for 65 mixers. The average price of a new mixer is $193 and the 80% of mixers are priced between $31 and $466. The Brentwood HM-48 is the cheapest mixer at only $10, and KitchenAid KSMC895DP is the most expensive at $750.

Mixer Brands - Price Range

Hamilton Beach mixers range in price from $339 to $339, and the average price of Hamilton Beach mixers is $339 which is the highest average price of all mixer brands.

KitchenAid mixers range in price from $23 to $750, and the second highest average mixer price out of all brands is KitchenAid mixers with an average price of $315.

Oster mixers range in price from $31 to $599, and the third highest average mixer price out of all brands is Oster mixers with an average price of $315.

Mixer Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 17 expert reviews and 10,224 user reviews for mixers and used this information to calculate the average rating for each brand of mixer. The top three mixer brands are KitchenAid, Kenwood and Bosch. KitchenAid has an average rating of 93%, Kenwood has an average rating of 90% and Bosch has an average rating of 87%.

Biggest Mixer Retailers

We found 79 current offers for mixers from Amazon US making it the biggest mixer retailer. That is slightly bigger than the second biggest retailer, eBay for whom we found 72 current offers for mixers. The third biggest retailer is Overstock with 38 current mixer offers.

When Are Most New Mixers Released?

The most common period for new mixers to be released in is between November and December. If you wait until November 2018 then you might be able to get better features on your mixer. Also the price of the current mixers may drop off just before the latest models are released in November. 24 new mixers were released in November 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new mixer releases. December was the biggest month in 2016 for new mixers, with 45 new mixers released that month. The biggest month in 2015 for new mixer releases was February, with 20 new mixers released that month.

How Fast Do Mixer Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, mixers drop in price by 1% on average. On a typical new mixer costing $193, by waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $2.

Available Colours

White is the most frequently found colour amongst new mixers. We found 125 mixers that are mixers that have a White coloured. We found 52 mixers that are mixers that have a black coloured, making this the second most popular colour amongst new mixers.

Powers

'Power' represents the power level of the mixer, measured in watts.

Comparing all mixers, the powers range from 65W to 2,000W. The powers of the majority of mixers range from 200W to 400W. The Bosch MMBH6P6B, which is available at $501.58, has the biggest power and is a 1,600W mixer. The mixer with the smallest power is the KitchenAid KHM926WH, which is an 85W mixer and is on sale for $99.99.

Bowl Capacities

'Bowl Capacity' measures how much can fit in the mixer's bowl, measured in litres.

The bowl capacities of mixers range from 0.45L to 9L. The bowl capacities of most mixers range from 3.5L to 4.5L. The mixer with the biggest bowl capacity is the KitchenAid KSMC895DP, which is a 9L capacity mixer and is priced at $749.99. The Zojirushi BM-RF08-YA, which currently retails for $139.31, has the smallest bowl capacity and is a 0.75L capacity mixer.

Types

The type of the mixer denotes whether it has it's own dedicated bowl (a 'stand mixer') or whether it is just the mixing unit (a 'hand mixer').

We found 139 mixers that are stand mixer mixers, which makes stand mixer the most frequently found type amongst new mixers. The second most frequently found type amongst new mixers is hand mixer. We found 127 mixers that are hand mixer mixers.

Speed Levels

The number of speed levels the mixer is capable of mixing at.

Across the range of mixers, the speed levels range from 1 to 16. The speed levels of the majority of mixers range from 5 to 7. The Nesco HM-350, which is on sale for $26.89, has the most speed level and is a 16 speed level mixer. The mixer with the least speed level is the Braun HM5100, which is a 1 speed level mixer and is available at $69.95.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Mixers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying mixers. For each retailer it shows the total number of mixers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying mixers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was Amazon US. 63 of their mixer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Mixers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for mixers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of mixer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's mixer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Amazon US. 79.7% of their mixer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.