Hi all,

I am on the look out for a new standing mixer.
I currently own a kenwood, but I’ve never really liked this particular model of kenwood.

I am on a tight budget, so I can’t afford a really really good one, just a decent one.

Any suggestions?

Zee xx

Can I be bold and ask approx what your budget is? Feel free to tell me to bugger off. IMO is hard to find much between a Kenwood and a KitchenAid, but there are options out there.

I was also wondering what size standing mixer you were after.

I don't have enough room on my bench for a very large one, such as the KitchenAid.
Harvey Norman advertise a Sunbeam Compact model but the bowl size is 3.1 litre



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2020 04:30AM by Marnie.

Hi there,

Oh I dont mind telling you anything.
My budget is around $500-700 i would also prefer close too 1000w.

My current mixer smells like the motor is burning out every time I use it. Plus it cant handle mixing bread dough.


Zee xx

Regarding the wattage, don't look at that if considering a KitchenAid - I have a recollection that KA and Kenwood do their wattages differently. My honking great KitchenAid 6QT Professional mixer is only 575W, and the Artisan is 300W. If you go KA, don't be tempted to go for a "Classic" model, they're underpowered and not worth the money.

The cheapest KA Artisan I could find was at Heathcotes for $799

[www.heathcotes.co.nz]

This Kenwood (KVC5100T ~$695) seems to get decent reviews aside from the beater not quite getting to the bottom of the bowl (common comment about Kenwoods, not such a big deal) and that it can be noisy on high speed, but show me a mixer that isn't? I've not personally tried one.

[www.heathcotes.co.nz]

Not sure if you're a member of Consumer but....





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2020 07:22AM by Jenna.

I was curious about the wattage thing, so I looked it up: the difference is that Kitchenaid does have a lower wattage than a Kenwood Chef but has a direct drive motor so the power goes directly to the attachments. Kenwood's motor is indirect. I don't think there's much to choose between them in that regard. When I was looking to buy one or the other, I was put off by Amazon reviews that said that a small but critical plastic part on the Kitchenaids was now made in Mexico and frequently failed. That would be more of a problem getting replaced here than in the US, so I opted for the Kenwood. The Kenwood beater definitely doesn't get right to the bottom of the bowl, so I bought their beater with plastic fins on and it's magic at scraping the whole bowl.

The problem with any midsized machine is that I don't think any of them would handle bread dough all that well (although I'd be happy to stand corrected!) I think you need a pretty grunty machine for that, and those are normally over $1,000 (the KA at Heathcotes might be a good deal for that though). I actually use a bread machine for mixing dough rather than my Kenwood as its such a tough task even for a big machine and I want mine to be like the Kenwoods I've read about that last 30 years! I only want to pay that price once.

It might be better to take advantage of finance deals some companies offer and get a more expensive mixer that's really going to do the job you want. For example, Noel Leeming are offering 30 months' interest free on the Kenwood 5100T
[www.noelleeming.co.nz] . I'm guessing you could give them your saved $700 and they lend you the balance of the purchase price (for the 5100T from Noel Leeming's that'd be $149) on the 30 months' interest free deal. Then you just pay if off as fast as you can.

Another way.....the Airpoints store has a Kenwood Chef Sense Mixer at the moment, if you have heaps of airpoints....

Another way, maybe you have a birthday, anniversary, coming up and everyone can give you $20 towards your heart's desire.....

A KA Artisan will handle bread dough just fine. They strain a little, but it isn't damaging strain, just the sound of the motor. Interesting to know the difference between the KA and Kenwood motors, that is probably why they sound quite different too.

I have a Kitchen AId Artisan that i use for mixing bread dough and would totally recommend it. I will never forget the time I left the kitchen whilst it was kneading and I was gone a little longer than intended. Because it was such a hefty lot of dough, each revolution of the kneading hook shifted the mixer about 1mm on the smooth benchtop. Well it eventually shifted right to the edge of the bench, fell off the bench and landed on the floor tiles, which thankfully didn't crack. I went running into the kitchen when I heard the crash and my trusty Kitchen Aid was still kneading the dough whilst lying on its side. That was at least ten years ago and it is still going strong.

Thank you ladies for your much needed help.

As for the wattage, hubby is an engineer and has drummed it into my head to get the best wattage I can.
I will definitely be looking into these brands.

Thank you again