Compare the Best MixersJune 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

In total we found 4 mixers ranging from $49 to $460. A new mixer costs on average $215 and 80% of mixers are priced between $50 and $460. The Smeg SMF01 is the most expensive mixer that we found at $460, and the Cuisinart HM-70 is the cheapest at only $50.

Mixer Brands - Price Range

The highest average mixer price out of all brands is Smeg mixers with an average price of $460. Smeg mixers range in price from $460 to $460.

The second highest average mixer price out of all brands is KitchenAid mixers with an average price of $296. KitchenAid mixers start at $296 and their most expensive mixer costs $296.

The third highest average mixer price out of all brands is Nesco mixers with an average price of $52. Nesco mixers start at $52 and their most expensive mixer costs $52.

Mixer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 17 expert reviews and 7,121 user reviews for mixers available online and used these reviews to evaluate the average rating for each brand of mixer. KitchenAid is the top rated mixer brand with an average rating of 92%. Kenwood is the second best brand with 90% and Bosch is the third best brand with 81%.

Biggest Mixer Retailers

We found 79 current offers for mixers from eBay making it the biggest mixer retailer. That is much bigger than the second biggest retailer, Amazon US for whom we found 44 current offers for mixers. The third biggest retailer is Overstock with 41 current mixer offers.

When Are Most New Mixers Released?

Most new mixers tend to be released between November and December. If you wait until November 2018 then you might be able to get better features on your mixer. It's also worth keeping in mind that the price of the current mixers tend to drop off when the next models are released. 26 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 44 new mixers released that month. In 2015 most new mixers were released in March, with 21 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 7% on average. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $16 on a typical $215 new mixer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Available Colours

We found 121 mixers that are mixers that have a White coloured, which makes this the most frequently found colour amongst new mixers. The second most popular colour amongst new mixers is black. We found 57 mixers that are mixers that have a black coloured.

Powers

This represents the power level of the mixer, measured in watts.

The powers of mixers range from 65W to 1,500W. The powers of most mixers range from 200W to 350W. The mixer with the biggest power is the Smeg SMF01, which is an 800W mixer and is available at $459.95. The mixer with the smallest power is the Cuisinart HM-70, which is a 220W mixer and is priced at $49.95.

Bowl Capacities

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

Comparing all mixers, the bowl capacities range from 0.45L to 6.9L. The bowl capacities of the majority of mixers range from 4.5L to 5L. The KitchenAid Professional 600, which sells for $296.49, has the biggest bowl capacity and is a 5.7L capacity mixer. The Smeg SMF01, which is on sale for $459.95, has the smallest bowl capacity and is a 4.8L capacity mixer.

Types

Amongst new mixers, the most common type is stand mixer. We found 118 mixers that are stand mixer mixers. The second most common type amongst new mixers is hand mixer. We found 112 mixers that are hand mixer mixers.

Speed Levels

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

The speed levels of mixers range from 1 to 16. The speed levels of the majority of mixers range from 5 to 7. The Nesco HM-350, which is available at $51.95, has the most speed level and is a 16 speed level mixer. The Cuisinart HM-70, which sells for $49.95, has the least speed level and is a 7 speed level mixer.

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 eBay. 62 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 eBay. 78.5% of their mixer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.