I’ve spent years putting the best stand mixers through their paces – these are the only models with ‘Star Baker’ status

Best stand mixer overall

Also available at Amazon

• Bowl size: 4.7 litres

• Wattage: 300W

• No of speeds: 10

• Tools included: Stainless steel wire whisk, dough hook and beater paddle

• Dimensions: H36 x W24 x D37cm

• Cable length: 145cm

• Guarantee: 5-year guarantee plus 15 years repairability

Let’s start with a full disclosure. I’ve owned a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer (in cream) for exactly 20 years at the time of review. As explained in my intro, it still earns its place on my worktop – looking as good and working as well as the day I bought it. However, the model tested was not my original, but a brand-new machine.

As I lifted the new pink version out of the box, it was like greeting an old friend. They say ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ and this iteration is pretty much identical to my decades-old design. The only slight tweak that I immediately spotted was in the finish. A lovely matt pink that wiped down beautifully after each use. 

KitchenAids boast a ‘planetary action’ – a back-and-forth looping rather than circular rotation – rather like a Spirograph (remember those?), which will catch ingredients that stick to the side of the bowl and bring them into the mix. This worked exceptionally well, capturing every last morsel of flour or margarine that felt the need to escape. Both cake batter and bread dough were perfectly blended, with barely any residue. And the specks that were left disappeared after a cycle in the dishwasher (all the main removable parts being dishwasher safe).

The sponge produced was delightfully fluffy, and the bread had an even rise and air holes distributed evenly throughout. I have honestly found it hard to criticise any part of the KitchenAid. Switching through speeds and lifting the head reminded me of clunking down the indicator lever on a classic car. Everything is so smooth and solid, and you know when it’s locked down. The machine barely moves, even at the highest speeds – which you won’t use anyway, as it does such a good job on the lower ones.

If there is one criticism, I suppose it must be the two-part plastic cover that stops flour from flying out of the bowl, as it’s a bit flimsy and doesn’t stop all the mix from escaping. But even this is better than the options shipped with the other mixers, as it’s wide enough to be attached after the bowl and mixing attachment are in place, and performs better. If you want a reliable stand mixer to bake cakes and bread for your family, I’d look no further. Granted, there are machines with more power, which will serve you better if you’d like to double up and attach a blender. But there’s a reason that this is a classic, and will remain so for years to come. 

Best budget stand mixer

Also available from Salter

• Bowl size: 5.2 litres

• Wattage: 500W

• No of speeds: 12

• Tools included: Chef’s whisk, dough hook and flat paddle

• Dimensions: H36 x W37 x D21cm

• Cable length: 100cm

• Guarantee: 3-year guarantee

If you’re looking to spend under £100 on a stand mixer, the Salter British Bakes is easily the best choice on the market. The included tools – especially the beater and 5.2-litre bowl – are right on par with a KitchenAid in terms of quality. While it isn’t superior overall, if you’re shopping on a budget, this is the exact model to buy.

Granted, a few design elements reveal its lower price point. The front cover for optional attachments drops off easily if the mixer is bumped or tilted, and components like the speed dial feel decidedly plasticky. Still, its actual performance is fantastic. It whips cream and mixes cake batter smoothly with minimal residue, though you might occasionally need a quick scrape at the very bottom of the bowl. Impressively, it handles heavy bread dough with far less shaking and rocking than appliances costing three times as much, and everything – whisk, beater, dough hook, and bowl – is dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup.

Like premium competitors, it supports add-ons like a pasta roller or meat mincer, though these extra parts are mainly sold in the US and need to be sourced via Amazon or eBay. Stylistically, while it can’t match the vast palette of a KitchenAid or Smeg, it looks far sleeker on the counter than bulky workhorses from Kenwood, ProCook, or Bosch. The glossy black and ice white finishes look smart and wipe clean effortlessly. Ultimately, for the build quality and performance you get, this Salter mixer is an incredible bargain.

Best hybrid stand mixer

Also available from Amazon

• Bowl sizes: 5 litres and 7 litres

• Wattage: 1200W

• No of speeds: 6, plus pulse

• Tools included: Stainless-steel whisk, dough hook, creaming beater and K-Beater

• Dimensions: H37 x W40 x D25cm

• Cable length: 150cm

• Guarantee: 2-year guarantee with 10-year motor warranty

Kenwood is arguably the biggest British name in stand mixers. Its first mixer, the A200, was launched in 1948 by the eponymous Mr Ken Wood, with a team of 20 staff and just £800 capital. Two years later, he conceived the Kenwood Chef and an icon was born, beloved by everyone from Michelin-star-holders like Raymond Blanc to have-a-go home cooks.

There are several iterations of the Kenwood Chef currently on the market, but we tested the Titanium Baker XL – a powerful 1200W machine with a built-in digital scale designed with home bakers in mind. 

As we unboxed the mixer, we certainly understood why it’s called the XL. At 11.5kg it was by far the heftiest of the models on test, meaning you’ll probably want to keep it out on the worktop rather than lug it in and out of a cupboard (if you can fit it in one). Its modern design is easy on the eye, and the metal finish is by and large easy to keep clean. Though we did notice that the top cover that concealed the blender input was hard to keep free of dust and finger marks. 

When it came to kneading dough, the Baker XL was mightily impressive. That powerful motor beat ingredients into submission fast. On first use, we did notice a faint electrical burning smell, but this had disappeared by our third mixing session. The machine is quite noisy due to this power compared to the other mixers we tried, but not off puttingly so.

We loved the idea of the built-in scale, and in practice this was very accurate, though it did have a tendency to flicker between weights at the slightest nudge of the bowl. After a few goes, we got used to it. And you can reset the weight after adding each ingredient – just be mindful, if you rest a sieve on the top, that will be weighed, too!

This mixer was honestly impressive in all areas - cake batter mixes were light and fluffy, meringues baked to perfection, and nothing got left behind in the bowl. We didn’t test additional functions such as blending, as the mixer isn’t supplied with those extra attachments, but there are a lot of options if you want to harness the power of the motor as an all-purpose kitchen machine. 

If you’re after a high-capacity and versatile machine, you really can’t go wrong. We still felt the KitchenAid pipped it in terms of guarantees, looks, noise levels and build quality, but it’s a worthy competitor. 

Best occasional hybrid stand mixer

• Bowl size: 3.8 litres

• Wattage: 1000W

• No of speeds: 4 plus pulse

• Tools included: Whisk, dough hook, beaters, 1.25L blender, food processor (3 discs), citrus juicer, meat grinder

• Dimensions: H26.6 x W26.6 x D27.7cm

• Cable length: 110cm

• Guarantee: 2-year guarantee

If you’re working with limited space and need one kitchen machine to do it all, the Bosch Series 2 MUMS2VM40G is easily one of the best choices on the market. In addition to functioning as a compact stand mixer, this 7-in-1 model comes loaded with attachments to serve as a food processor, blender, citrus juicer, and meat grinder. While it isn’t ideal if you plan to bake massive vats of cake batter or large family loaves, for small-to-medium everyday baking, it punches well above its weight.

Its 1000W motor combined with Bosch’s 3D Planetary Mixing system does a brilliant job incorporating ingredients from every corner of the bowl with minimal residue. It handles cake batters smoothly and excels at whipping cream, though pushing it to its capacity limits with a 500g flour bread dough will result in noticeable rocking and motor noise.

Design-wise, the body relies more on lightweight plastics than premium metal, meaning it won’t serve as a luxury countertop showpiece like a KitchenAid. Changing attachments also requires a bit of firm force to push and pull them into place, which makes you wonder about slot wear over long-term use. Still, the clever cord storage, dishwasher-safe tools, and compact footprint make day-to-day usability effortless.

For first-time buyers or anyone looking for a versatile multi-tool without buying three separate appliances, the Bosch Series 2 offers unbeatable utility for the price.

Best stand mixer for baking cakes

Also available from Amazon

• Bowl size: 4.8 litres

• Wattage: 800W

• No of speeds: 10, with slow start

• Tools included: Stainless steel wire whisk, dough hook and beater paddle

• Dimensions: H37.8 x W22.1 x D40.2cm

• Cable length: 100cm

• Guarantee: 5-year assistance warranty including parts and labour

First impressions of the Smeg machine are good. Its design is a mix of retro and space age, which, if you’re already a fan of the brand, you’re going to love right away. The slate grey colourway we were sent to test is no longer available, but it does come in six colour options: red, black and white, and pastel pink, blue and green. The mixer is well packaged in polystyrene for protection, and comes with three attachments, as well as some inspirational recipe cards for pasta dough, bread, biscuits and cakes. A nice touch. Like the KitchenAid, the Smeg mixer boasts a planetary mixing action. This means both the head and the attachment move in opposite directions, ensuring ingredients are fully combined. In reality, the results are mixed, to excuse the pun. Cake batters were no issue; the rubberised edges of the paddle did an excellent job of sweeping up ingredients from the sides of the bowl. We really were very impressed, and it was the top performer on test in this regard. 

Bread dough was more of a struggle, with the hook failing to reach right to the bottom of the bowl. We had to scrape out sticky dough from the bottom and turn up the speed higher than recommended before it eventually combined fully. All this slightly compromised the rise and look of our loaf. Two other bugbears were the cord length – at 1m, it is a little shorter than the likes of the KitchenAid, which you may find limiting  – and its head-tilting mechanism. To tilt back the head, you must push in a button to the rear of the head. Sometimes I had to be quite forceful to do this, as the button could stick. It definitely makes this a two-hand job. On the plus side, however, if you lift the head while the machine is switched on it will automatically turn off – a safety feature not all our mixers offer.

There are lots of things to recommend about the Smeg. Though heavy at close to 9kg, it’s sturdy and doesn’t rock too much on the worktop despite its powerful motor. It’s also one of the quietest mixers we tested. For cake bakers, it’s fabulous. The beater is well designed, and we loved the pouring shield and splashguard, which funnelled ingredients well and were easy to add and remove without needing to lift the stand mixer head or remove the attachments. I was less impressed with its dough mixing, but that’s probably its biggest flaw – and the larger the loaf, the more easily the dough combined.

Best stand mixer for bread

• Bowl size: 6 litres

• Wattage: 1800W

• No of speeds: 6, with pulse function

• Tools included: Stainless steel wire whisk, dough hook and beater paddle

• Dimensions: H38.5cm x W34cm x 25.5cm 

• Cable length: 100cm

• Guarantee: 2-year guarantee

The smart ProCook has a build quality similar to the Smeg machine, despite being half the RRP. And though it’s not quite as pretty (and comes in any colour you want, so long as it’s grey) it is nevertheless  impressive out of the box, its metal attachments oozing quality. 

One thing that immediately struck us was the large bowl size. This, coupled with the powerful motor and pulse function, suggested it would be great at mixing bread dough. We weren’t wrong – it was exceptional in this regard, although a little loud and wobbled slightly at speed. But the dough was quickly combined and the loaf produced was light and fluffy with a delicious crispy crust.

Mixing cake batters was less successful. Ingredients tended to stick to the sides of the bowl and needed to be folded in with a spatula before restarting the mixer. We did like how the splashguard fitted around the attachment head. This did ensure less flour escaped when making cakes and bread, though we found the gap left for adding ingredients a little too small and awkward to use.  

Again, this mixer had a short cord at 1m. Given the layout of the controls, this could make things tricky if your plug socket isn’t immediately behind or to the right of the mixer. We also found the lever that releases the mixer head to tilt it to be slightly stiff to start with, though we imagine this would loosen up with long-term use.

For the price point, this is a decent mixer and I’d especially recommend it to bread makers. The price (it’s currently reduced to £210) also makes it a good ‘starter mixer’ that will look good on your worktop. 

Best for style lovers and collectors

• Bowl size: 4.7 litres

• Wattage: 300W

• No of speeds: 10

• Tools included: Stainless steel whisk, dough hook, and flat beater (plus scraper)

• Dimensions: H36 x W24 x D37cm

• Cable length: 106cm

• Guarantee: 5-year guarantee

KitchenAid has taken their iconic silhouette and turned it into something straight out of a fairytale with the brand-new Artisan Design Series Luminaire (5KSM50GSV). The star of the show is an absolute showstopper—a gorgeous, heavy-cut glass mixing bowl that looks as if it was crafted for Cinderella’s kitchen. We have genuinely never seen a glass bowl stand mixer executed quite like this; the textured finish catches the light beautifully and turns an everyday appliance into a genuine work of art.

Beneath its enchanted appearance in Blue Peppercorn, it delivers the rock-solid performance KitchenAid is famous for. The 4.7-litre capacity is ideal for standard baking tasks, effortlessly handling everything from light meringues and whipped cream to rich cake batters. The direct-drive motor operates with a reassuring, quiet purr, and watching your ingredients come together through the semi-translucent glass bowl is surprisingly mesmerising.

That stunning glass bowl does come with a couple of practical trade-offs, however. It is significantly heavier than the standard stainless steel bowls, requiring a careful touch when lifting, pouring, or washing up by hand. You’ll also want to give it a quick scrape with a spatula near the base when working with sticky doughs. Additionally, while the 300W direct-drive motor handles typical bread recipes with ease, it isn’t built for non-stop, heavy-duty commercial loads.

If you view a stand mixer as a permanent centrepiece on your kitchen counter, this model has no real rivals. It is an investment piece that trades pure utilitarian utility for pure magic, elegance, and unmatched aesthetic appeal.