Important features Stand mixers
Stand mixers generally come with one bowl and either single or paired beaters, whisks, and dough hooks. Some offer splash guards to prevent flour from spewing out of the bowl, plus attachments to make pasta, grind meat, and stuff sausage. Stand mixers generally have 5 to 16 speeds, though five or six well-differentiated settings are enough. You should be able to lock a mixer's power head in the up position so it won't crash into the bowl when the beaters are weighed down with dough—and in the down position to keep beaters from kicking back when tackling stiff dough. A slow-start feature on some prevents ingredients from spattering when you start up, but you can get the same protection by stepping through three or so speeds. An indentation on the underside of the motor housing lets the mixer sit on the edge of a bowl without taking the beaters out of the batter.
Stand mixers generally come with one bowl and either single or paired beaters, whisks, and dough hooks. Some offer splash guards to prevent flour from spewing out of the bowl, plus attachments to make pasta, grind meat, and stuff sausage. Stand mixers generally have 5 to 16 speeds, though five or six well-differentiated settings are enough. You should be able to lock a mixer's power head in the up position so it won't crash into the bowl when the beaters are weighed down with dough—and in the down position to keep beaters from kicking back when tackling stiff dough. A slow-start feature on some prevents ingredients from spattering when you start up, but you can get the same protection by stepping through three or so speeds. An indentation on the underside of the motor housing lets the mixer sit on the edge of a bowl without taking the beaters out of the batter.
