KitchenAid makes the most popular stand mixers on the market, and pretty much everyone — including me, a professional food writer and amateur baker — loves them. So, I hope the brand will forgive me when I say that its branding department seems to hail from the Kafka school of confusion and shapeshifting identity: Do you fancy yourself more an Artisan? Or a Pro? When mixing dough, do you want something Deluxe? Or will the Classic do the job? And that’s just the base machine; I haven’t even touched on the myriad attachments or dozens of aesthetic choices (color, bowl texture, matte or gloss?) that face the aspiring stand-mixer owner.
Don’t despair. I happen to be in the market for a new mixer myself, and I take my research very seriously. I’ve done the research and compared all of the models of KitchenAid currently available, and I now understand what sets each one apart. Here then is everything I’ve learned about navigating the Byzantine world of KitchenAid stand mixers.
First, the age-old debate: tilt-head or bowl-lift? What’s the difference?
So you’re picking a KitchenAid mixer and you encounter the great dichotomy: One of the main differences you’ll see among stand-mixers is whether they are “bowl-lift” or “tilt-head”. If you’re like me, then you were (until shopping for a mixer yourself) likely only familiar with the “tilt-head” version — in which the head that holds the mixing attachment literally leans backwards and tilts out of the bowl, making it easy to add ingredients without removing your paddle.
Tilt-head models are the go-to for home bakers because they are so easy to use, but, they may lack the oomph needed for heavy duty users. If you tend to mix tougher bread doughs, batters, and the like, then a tilt-head just won’t be up to the job. In that case, you might want to choose “bowl-lift”—in which the bowl lifts up and down under the mixing attachment. This can be a real pain to maneuver when you want to add ingredients, but it makes up for that inconvenience with its stability and solidity. A lift-bowl mixer can handle pretty much anything you throw at it without balking or burning out.
Still, tilt-heads can be perfectly suitable as a home mixer as long as their engines are up to the job. Which brings us to…
Artisan vs. Classic vs. Deluxe vs. Pro — what’s really the difference?
There are a few main lines of KitchenAid stand mixers for the at-home baker, and it can be tricky at first (or third) glance to know what the difference is.
Each is a tilt-head style mixer. Bowl-lift styles don’t have a line name; they are just called “KitchenAid”, or in the case of their commercial version, “NSF Certified Commercial.”
The three tilt-head mixer lines are the KitchenAid Classic series, the KitchenAid Deluxe Series, and the KitchenAid Artisan Series. The primary differences between the three series boil down to engine power and bowl capacity.
Classic
The Classic series is equipped with a 275-watt motor and a standard 4.5-quart bowl with no handle. If you use your mixer to whip cream and make the occasional batch of cookies, a Classic will absolutely do the job — but for anything more than the most casual baker, you may want a bit more power.
Who it’s for: Home bakers with very limited needs — whipping egg whites and making packaged cake mixes, for example.
The Artisan is one step up from the Deluxe, and is sturdy, high-performing, and great for those who use their stand mixer more often than once in a blue moon. It comes with a 5-quart bowl and a 325-watt engine, and as an added point of appeal, also comes in a wider variety of interesting colors than the other tilt-head models. (Below, Scorched Orange; Matcha and Blue Velvet are also pretty damn cool.) Plus, it ships with a pouring shield. The 325-watt engine should be sufficient for most home bakers, but if your primary interest is in bread and other knead-y doughs, then you still might want to consider a bowl-lift option.
