Compare the Best MixersDecember 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

The price range of mixers is from $10 to $599 and in total we found prices for 53 mixers. A new mixer costs on average $182 and 80% of mixers are priced between $23 and $396. The KitchenAid KSMC895DP is the most expensive mixer that we found at $599, and the Brentwood HM-48 is the cheapest at only $10.

Mixer Brands - Price Range

Smeg mixers range in price from $370 to $370, and the average price of Smeg mixers is $370 which is the highest average price of all mixer brands.

KitchenAid mixers start at $23 and their most expensive mixer costs $599. The average price of KitchenAid mixers is $298 which is the second highest average price of all mixer brands.

Clatronic mixers range in price from $295 to $295, and the average price of Clatronic mixers is $295 which is the third highest average price of all mixer brands.

Mixer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 6 expert reviews and 4,734 user reviews for mixers and used this data to determine the average rating for each brand of mixer. Kenwood is the top rated mixer brand with an average rating of 84%. KitchenAid is the second best brand with 78% and Bosch is the third best brand with 56%.

Biggest Mixer Retailers

We found 73 current offers for mixers from eBay making it the biggest mixer retailer. That is much bigger than the second biggest retailer, Overstock for whom we found 38 current offers for mixers. The third biggest retailer is Appliances Connection with 2 current mixer offers.

When Are Most New Mixers Released?

Most new mixers tend to be released between November and December. That means that most of the latest mixer technology was released in within the last 3 months, and now is good time to buy. November was the biggest month last year for new mixers, with 22 new mixers released that month. 37 new mixers were released in December 2016 making it the biggest month that year for new mixer releases. In March 2015 21 new mixers were released making it the biggest month that year for new mixer releases.

How Fast Do Mixer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, mixers drop in price by 4%. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $8 on a typical $182 new mixer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Available Colours

The most popular colour amongst new mixers is White. We found 137 mixers that are mixers that have a White coloured. Black is the second most common colour amongst new mixers. We found 58 mixers that are mixers that have a black coloured.

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 on sale for $496.04, has the biggest power and is a 1,600W mixer. The KitchenAid KHM926WH, which is on sale for $87.97, has the smallest power and is an 85W mixer.

Bowl Capacities

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

Comparing all mixers, the bowl capacities 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 sells for $599.00. The mixer with the smallest bowl capacity is the Bosch MMBH6P6B, which is a 2L capacity mixer and sells for $496.04.

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').

Amongst new mixers, the most popular type is stand mixer. We found 152 mixers that are stand mixer mixers. We found 137 mixers that are hand mixer mixers, making this the second most common type amongst new mixers.

Speed Levels

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 most mixers range from 5 to 7. The Nesco HM-350, which sells for $37.92, has the most speed level and is a 16 speed level mixer. The Braun HM5100, which currently retails for $53.76, has the least speed level and is a 1 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. 61 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. 83.6% of their mixer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.