Many committed chefs and busy cooks will tell you that there is no comparison between hand mixers and stand mixers. Other cooks will tell you that there is little difference between the two. If you do a lot of cooking, you’ll probably side with the first group because you know that being tied to any appliance while you use it (as is the case with the hand-held model) is an inconvenience that just isn’t acceptable. You need to be in six places at once while you’re cooking and having to keep starting and stopping one appliance while you tend to another is just not practical, especially if you are working on a meringue or some other recipe where timing is key to the dish’s success.

That these kitchen gems have been in existence and in constant use since 1908 is a testament to their versatility and utility. Starting as a commercial appliance for bakers, it took 11 years before a home version was introduced. Since that day, the product has been refined and redesigned a number of times, but the basic profile of the home model is still very much the same as it was in 1919.

Stand mixers are actually just hand mixers that are attached to weighted bases. This gives the cook freedom of motion, making it possible for him/her to use the appliance while tending to other tasks in the kitchen. This is particularly helpful when a batter needs to mix for more than 5 minutes. That’s a long time for a cook to be stationary in the kitchen when there are other dishes that demand your attention.

When the inventor started marketing attachments, these products became more “food preparation centers” than single purpose appliances. Now there are pasta makers that allow you to create your own spaghetti or raviolis, grinders that let you create your own sausages, and even mill your own grains. If you’re into natural products, you can purchase juicers to squeeze your own fresh fruit juice in the morning. When you squeeze it yourself, you can be sure there are no preservatives or pesticides making their way onto your family’s table.

If you’re unsure which of these products best meets your specific needs, take some time to go online and look at the product features, accessories, value, and dimensions. Investing a little time in research can help you narrow your choices. For more information, take some time to visit an online site for a stand mixer review. Sites such as Consumer Reports offer side-by-side comparisons of the top models and their many attachments. Often times, the site will also give its recommendations for best value, reliability, and versatility.

Many of these sites also have a section for consumer reviews—these reviews can be particularly helpful as they are from real people that have actually used the product in a home situation. They give the pros and the cons for each model, and can offer some honest personal insights that retailers aren’t always so willing to share. Having all the data in front of you can help you make the right decision about the appliance that best fits your particular needs. After just a short time, you’ll realize that these appliances are a “must have” in most busy kitchens.

When it’s time to put together a great meal, whether to welcome friends and family to your table or impress the boss, preparation is everything. If you spend the whole day in the kitchen slaving over the stove and getting special dishes ready to serve, you won’t be fresh and relaxed enough to enjoy the evening you worked so hard to pull off.

One of the best ways to cut down on stress and make your cooking and baking more efficient is by having the right appliances for the jobs you’re going to be undertaking. One of the first primary investments you’ll want to make is a great stand mixer. This appliance is actually multi-functional because of all of the accessories that are available to compliment it.

First, there are a number of beater styles from which to choose. You can select a whip for light jobs like meringue or cake batters, a paddle blade for the medium jobs like cookie dough or pasta dough, and a bread hook that makes homemade rolls a snap. A grinder allows you to make your own sausages. What an impression you’ll make when you tell your guests that the sausages they are enjoying so much are from a recipe you created yourself. The grinder is also great for grinding or milling your own grains. This gives you a way to introduce healthier whole-grains into your family menus and to create some incredible breads and pastas that are far fresher than anything you can buy in a box or a bag.

If fresh pasta is your passion, the pasta accessories are going to make pasta day a breeze. Fresh spaghetti or noodles may become a weekly expectation instead of a special event when your stand mixer offers accessories that take care of blending the stiff, heavy dough, rolling the sticky mass out, cutting the noodles into uniform pieces, and drying them into individual units that don’t overlap or stick together. There is even a ravioli attachment that delivers a perfect ravioli patty each and every time. You’ll have people jockeying for invitations to your dinner parties, and begging for your recipes all the time.

When you get ready to buy your appliance, be sure you do some advance research before making your purchase. It’s important to find a model that offers the features and attachments that are right for the way you cook and bake. If you’re a casual cook, you may not want all the bells and whistles that a budding gourmet will want. If you’re an Italian chef, you will want to be sure there are pasta attachments that can stand up to the frequent use they’ll get in your kitchen. A little time spent online looking at websites that have personal reviews from consumers that have purchased and used the product can be very beneficial. Their feedback can give you a quick, on the spot assessment of how a particular brand or model functions, and if the user felt he/she got good value for the money spent.

Once you’ve made your purchase, it won’t take any time at all to realize what a wonderful addition your stand mixer is to your family kitchen. You’ll save time and entertaining will be more enjoyable for everyone…including the cook.

Mother’s Day is a special day for moms all over the world. It’s a day that recognizes the talents, sacrifices and hearts of moms of all ages. That’s why it’s so important to let your mother know how much she is appreciated. And with Mother’s Day approaching fast, it’s time to start thinking about gift options. If you’re like most people, then you probably shower your mother with flowers and other sentimental gifts on Mother’s Day. While flowers are a nice gesture, sometimes it’s better to think outside of the box and get your mother a practical gift instead. Practical Mother’s Day gifts often range from clothes to usable household items. So, why not surprise your mother with a gift that she won’t be expecting — a stand mixer?

Think about it for a moment. Most mothers spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, baking and preparing meals. They pour their hearts out making lavish meals and delicious desserts for you and your family to enjoy. It’s hard work putting food on the table day after day, week after week, and year after year. But you can make cooking a lot more enjoyable for your mother by surprising her with a state-of-the-art kitchen appliance. She’ll love the convenience and versatility of a mixing unit because it will help her bake, cook and prepare meals faster and easier than ever before.

There are a variety of exciting and colorful mixing appliances to choose from. She may already own one, but today’s stand mixer is so much better than previous versions. It not only mixes and stirs ingredients, but it can also fold, toss and grind them as well. Most mixing machines also come with numerous attachments that can be used for everything from making pasta to grinding meat. If your mother loves to cook and bake dishes from scratch, then she will mostly likely appreciate a high-quality mixing machine. With just a push of a button, she’ll be mixing ingredients and completing other cooking-related tasks in no time at all!

Before you purchase a mixing unit for your mother, it might be beneficial to research a few different brands. For example, Cuisinart offers mixing machines in a variety of different colors, makes and model. Find the best model to fit your mother’s cooking style and match the color to her design preference. If her favorite color is red, then you can purchase a red mixing machine. Don’t be afraid to spend a little extra on additional attachments, either. Your mother will appreciate the thought, especially when she’s cooking in the kitchen. Whatever brand or model you end up choosing, always make sure that you are getting the best product available. After all, your mother deserves it!

There are a plenty of wonderful gifts and items that you can buy for your mother on Mother’s Day. But it always helps to get her something that is useful and practical. Otherwise, it might end up sitting on the shelf collecting dust. If your mother loves to cook and bake then it makes perfect sense to get her an updated mixing unit. So, as you are exploring your gift options for Mother’s Day, consider purchasing her a brand new stand mixer. She might even make you a special dessert with it!

Top chefs and cooking enthusiasts of all ages know the name KitchenAid—after all, it is a name that has been around since 1919. A KitchenAid stand Mixer was, in fact, the catalyst for the company that has grown into a household phenomenon—a company that now offers new products and updates to its line all the time.

This amazing company designs products with you, the cook, in mind. They are very attentive to the sites like Consumer Reports and Good Housekeeping, and know that a stand mixer review posted on one of their sites is to be taken seriously. A customer-focused company, they know that word-of-mouth advertizing and consumer reviews are the very best endorsements they can get. These are real reviews written by real people that have used the products and have formed opinions based on their experiences. There is a basic integrity that is gained by asking customers to share personal stories about a product—with both pros and cons—and they encourage that honest customer feedback.

KitchenAid has taken this core product well beyond just stirring up a cake or whipping the potatoes for Sunday dinner. The blades alone have broadened the scope of what you can do with this product. The familiar whip is great for light, fluffy concoctions like meringue, frostings, whipped cream, and angel food cakes. The flat blade makes cookie dough a breeze. A task that used to be ponderous and bog down the motors and blades of a hand machine is no longer a problem. Do you hesitate to make homemade bread because the kneading is too tedious? No problem. The bread hook is specifically designed to simulate kneading and take the tedium out of the task. Now you can enjoy homemade bread and rolls anytime the mood strikes you.

Beyond the blades, they have introduced food grinders that allow cooks to mill their own grains. For some this may seem a thankless task, but for many health-conscious cooks, this is a pro-active way to ensure that only wholesome, natural grains go into their baked goods—and thus into their families. The sausage stuffer is very similar in function. The cook chooses the ingredients for the sausage, perhaps using an old family recipe, and then uses the tool to create his/her own links. What a marvelous gift a package of homemade sausages would make.

If you want to make a salad to serve to your bridge club, or shred ingredients for an after-the-game taco party, the slicer and shredder can make short work of a messy task. The KitchenAid stand mixer can even double as a pasta maker. With the right attachment, you can make everything from angel hair pasta to hearty egg noodles. Then with just the twist of a knob you can change the attachment and create plate full of perfect little raviolis.

Nothing is more refreshing than a glass of fresh-squeezed juice in the morning. Bottled juices, though, often times have fillers like apple juice in them. With the juicer attachment, you control the kinds of juice you and your family consume. If you really want to earn points with your family…especially your kids…just snap on the ice cream maker attachment and dish up some homemade ice cream or gelato. What an unexpected treat for special occasions or hot summer nights.

Baking with your kids is a great way to spend time together, as you work together as a family to create a yummy dessert. It also allows you to teach your kids a few important cooking lessons, such as how to follow a recipe and how to use certain kitchen appliances. But before you herd all of your children into the kitchen for a little family bonding time over the stove, take their age into consideration. Some children are too young to use certain kitchen appliances, even with adult supervision. So you might want to start off with an appliance that is safe to use, such as a stand mixer. This appliance is not only convenient, but it’s also easy to operate.

Kids love to eat delicious desserts, and they will appreciate being involved in the baking process. You can start by giving them simple tasks, such as breaking open eggs or gathering essential ingredients. When it comes time to use the stand mixer, trying “mixing” things up with these fun-filled tasks.

1. Mix The Bowl — Mixing the bowl is a boring task for kids if they have to do it by hand. But letting them mix the bowl with an automated appliance is educational and also a lot of fun. It gives your kids a chance to be involved in the cooking process, and allows them to learn how this particular kitchen appliance works at the same time.

2. Fun With Attachments — Some stand mixer reviews rave about certain attachments. What better time to try them out than baking with your kids? If you’ve never used a certain attachment before, then give it a whirl and see what happens. Both you and your kids will learn something new!

3. Try A New Recipe — The best part about this product is that you can use it to make a variety of delicious treats. Instead of baking the same old batch of cookies, why not try a new recipe with your kids? For example, your kids will love learning how to make homemade ice cream from scratch. But more importantly, they will love eating it when it’s done!

4. Keeping Time — Baking can be very educational for kids, and it’s easy to teach them how to develop certain life skills such as following a recipe or keeping track of time. After combining all of the necessary ingredients into the mixing bowl, turn on the appliance and let your kids keep the time. This task will provide them with a responsibility and make them feel involved in the baking process. It’s also a great task for kids who are too young to operate appliances but are old enough to watch the clock.

5. Lick The Bowl — This is the last and most anticipated baking task for kids of all ages. After all, you’re never too old to lick the bowl! Once you have scooped out all of the gooey batter and placed into a baking pan, then pass the bowl over to your kids and watch their eyes light up as they lick it clean. You can also give them the mixing attachments, which should have plenty of batter stuck to them as well. This is a fun and tasty way to end your baking session as you begin cleaning up.

When you are outfitting a kitchen, you may find yourself wondering if there is any advantage to going with a stand mixer verses a smaller hand model. There are certainly pros and cons to either camp, but if you plan to do a lot of cooking and baking, you’ll be looking for things like versatility, capacity, accessories, value, the best buy, and reliability—and that means you’re ready to invest in a stand mixer.

Once you have made the decision about the model that’s right for your kitchen, you will want to be sure that you’re getting the best value for your money. You will want to know that it has all of the features that are important to you as a cook. If you do your research you’ll find that there are many models, styles, colors and accessories available on the market today and making the right selection can feel like an overwhelming task. If you do an online search you’ll find that there are a number of websites that have pages and pages of information about these appliances. Many of these sites will offer comparison charts for a wide variety of models in order to help you determine the model and style that is exactly right for you.

When you start making comparisons, you will find that there are several decisions you’ll have to make before you are ready to purchase. These products offer a wide selection of colors, finishes, accessories, the amount of power they generate (and perhaps the amount of power they consume), and bowl capacities. There are models with stationary beaters and bowls that turn; while others have stationary bowls and beaters that rotate around the bowl. Some have beater heads that you must manually lift up and down while others have a lever that lowers the beaters into the bowl. Whatever your preferences, it’s important to give each of them full consideration before you make your purchase.

You can get some guidance with these decisions if you check the stand mixer reviews online. This is a great way to see what other consumers are saying about a particular product or accessory. These consumer opinions can be very helpful and may even save you some money. As you read through their reviews, you may be able to identify with some of the reviewers and they way they use their appliances. If you’re into bread making, you’ll be more interested in the thoughts of another serious baker than you will those of a fledgling cook that loves to stir up an occasional cake mix. You may find these real-life experiences with the products both helpful and insightful. There may be accessories that you weren’t sure about purchasing that will receive rave reviews and thus win you over. Conversely, you may see that the model you were considering has gotten poor reviews from a number of consumers for being too noisy or having a bowl that is too small to be effective. This kind of information can dramatically influence your decision about which model to buy, and may save you a world of problems in the long run. Once you have made your comparisons, you should find selecting the right appliance to complement your kitchen an easy and enjoyable task.

Hello and welcome to the Stand-Mixers.com website. From here you will see in-depth reviews of stand mixers from people that have used them. Check out the latest and greatest from KitchenAid and Cuisinart. So if you are ready, let me help you find the best mixer for your needs and budget.