Breville unseats stand-mixer champ KitchenAid

It's been many batches of cookies dough since a brand other than KitchenAid occupied the top spot in our Ratings of stand mixers. Indeed, the company that invented the device back in 1919 has been number one for as long as we can remember. But KitchenAid's impressive run comes to an end with our new Ratings, in which a model from Breville is our top-scoring stand mixer.

The Australia-based Breville has been slowly asserting itself throughout the small appliance category. Consumer Reports' top-rated food processor and toaster oven are both Brevilles, and the manufacturer does well among blenders and juicers. But its stand mixer supremacy is arguably its biggest coup, given KitchenAid's long dominance.

Dubbed the Scraper Mixer Pro, the Breville BEM800XL, $300, earned an overall score of 81 in our tests, edging out the recommended KitchenAid Classic K45SS[WH], $200, and the recommended KitchenAid Artisan KSM150PS[WW], $300 (five KitchenAids in all appear in the full Ratings). All three recommended stand mixers were excellent at whipping cream, mixing large batches of cookie dough, and kneading bread dough. The Breville eked out the win in part with a bevy of convenience features, including:

• A leaf beater with a flexible edge that scrapes the bowl as it turns, eliminating the need for you to do so with a rubber spatula.
  
• Easy-to-use 12-speed control dial with a blue LED indicator telling you what speed is right for for various tasks, from folding and kneading to aerating and whipping.
  
• A timer that lets you set your desired mixing time, great for that seven-minute frosting.
  
• A lift-assist handle that you can grab when lifting the mixer head into a tilt-back position.
  

One other knock against the Breville is that it doesn't have the power hub for additional attachments, such as a meat grinder or pasta press, that you see with KitchenAid. Otherwise, the Breville Scraper Mixer Pro is the new stand mixer to beat in our Ratings.

—Daniel DiClerico