Fancy mixers: You may need one if you knead

weighty issues The style can be contem-porary (Jenn-Air Attrezzi, with a frosted-glass bowl) or retro (Sunbeam Heritage, reminiscent of a Sunbeam from the 1950s). Their looks may matter: They weigh so much, up to 32 pounds for those we tested, that you might need to leave them on the counter.

Big, pricey stand mixers stand up to dough better and work faster than hand mixers or even less-expensive stand mixers. But our tests still showed differences in how well they perform.

They work in different ways, too. Some use two beaters, which spin against each other; others use one beater, which spins in one direction and moves around the bowl the opposite way. All but the three lowest rated have one beater.

With most, you tilt the mixer head up to remove beaters or bowl; with the KitchenAid Professional models, you turn a lever that lifts or lowers the bowl.


HOW THEY MEASURED UP

To test the mixers’ mettle, we whipped, mixed, kneaded, and mashed. If whisks or dough hooks were included, we used them. We judged loudness at the highest speed. We checked convenience by replacing beaters and adjusting speed, and found that all the mixers were about equally convenient.

Whipping. The best mixers made fluffy whipped cream and meringue in a few minutes. The Jenn-Air left unbeaten egg white in the bowl bottom. All but the two lowest rated come with a whisk.

Mixing. The best needed little help when they were creaming, blending flour, or folding chips into big batches of cookie dough.

Kneading. The best needed little help with a loaf of white-bread dough. Most easily handled two loaves’ worth. The three lowest rated vibrated a lot.

Mashing. We used the regular beaters to mash 2 pounds of potatoes. Most mixers performed similarly, leaving small bits but no large chunks.

Noise. Quietest was the Hamilton Beach Eclectrics. The Viking was uncomfortably loud and shrill.


THE BOTTOM LINE

If you use a mixer often or do lots of kneading, these should fill the bill. The KitchenAid Classic and Hamilton Beach Eclectrics offer the best combination of value and performance. The prices we’ve listed are approximate retail.