How to Buy a Kitchen Mixer

By eHow Food & Drink Editor

Rate: (0 Ratings)

Kitchen mixers remain an indispensable tool for serious and non-serious bakers alike. They cut preparation time in half by taking the labor out of home baking. There are so many kitchen mixers on the market, you'll have to decide which features you need, what size you want and how much you're willing to spend before you start shopping for a kitchen mixer. Here's how to buy a reliable kitchen mixer.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1
Consider your baking needs in order to determine how much to spend. Inexpensive kitchen mixers whip egg whites and combine cake mixes. Select a more expensive model if you need the machine to spend several hours tackling stiff bread and cookie dough.
Step2
Get a machine with a bowl size measuring no more than 5 quarts. Machines with larger bowls sell for heftier prices. In addition, working with the larger bowls gets messy when you have to scrape down ingredients.
Step3
Choose a kitchen mixer with a wide-bottomed bowl and equally wide mouth. Wide bowls distribute ingredients more evenly than narrower, deeper bowls.
Step4
Buy a mixer that comes with 3 standard attachments: a whisk that whips, a paddle for low and high-speed mixing and creaming and a hook that kneads dough.
Step5
Find a model allowing you to adjust the standard attachments to provide more or less direct contact with the mixer's bowl. Adjusting attachments helps when you must dislodge ingredients clinging to the attachments during mixing time.
Step6
Test the machine immediately after buying it. Allow it to run for 15 minutes while observing its performance. Return it to the store if the machine shakes, trembles, smokes from its motor or stalls during this time.

Tips & Warnings

  • Avoid judging a mixer's effectiveness on its wattage power. Wattage power doesn't relate to the machine's capabilities and performance. Only output wattage indicates a mixer's effectiveness, but most manufacturers don't provide this information on their machines.

Post a Comment

POST A COMMENT

Request a New How-To Article

Looking for more How To information? Chances are there’s an eHow member who knows how to do what you’re looking to do. Submit an article request now!

eHow Article:  How to Buy a Kitchen Mixer

eHow Food & Drink Editor

eHow Food & Drink Editor

Category: Food & Drink

Articles: See my other articles

Related Ads

Food & Drink

Bethenny
Meet Bethenny Frankel eHow’s Food & Drink Expert.