The 13 best stand mixers for showstopping home bakes

Score: 97/100

This is KitchenAid’s newest stand mixer, taking all the features of its beloved Artisan model (our runner-up below) and combining them with a clever new design that raises the bowl and locks it into place to offer greater stability when mixing.

As with every KitchenAid we’ve tested, this is a joy to use, excelling across all tests. It’s intuitive with well-labelled controls – including a half-speed that’s ideal for lightly folding in ingredients. Plus, its splash guard helped minimise baking mess, and its bowl is dishwasher safe (the attachments are too if you put them on the top rack).

It is big, heavy and expensive, though, so it’s best suited to avid bakers who can make room for it on their kitchen counters.

Score: 96/100

KitchenAid's Artisan model excelled across all our tests and scored full marks for its stellar cake batter mixing. It captured all ingredients, so we didn’t have to scrape any down into the bowl.

It has a bigger motor than many models listed here but this didn’t make it less energy efficient – mixing the batter for a large cake cost us less than 1p’s worth of electricity (at the time of testing).

Like our winner above, it's heavy, making it better suited to living on a worktop than storing in a cupboard, but it looks too good to hide away anyway.

Score: 94/100

This is the only mixer on our list with a matte finish, but it stands out for another reason too – it can melt your butter as you’re mixing, so there's no need to take it out of the fridge in advance. The mixer is intuitively designed with an easy-to-use release latch for the upper arm and a built-in LED light for clearer visibility inside the bowl.

It competently mixed large quantities of batter to make a light and spongey cake. It scored full marks for its cookie dough and its beater consistently pulled all ingredients together well.

It’s loud, especially when mixing at max power or when using the HeatSoft function, but it's terrific value, and you can always placate your neighbours with cake.

Score: 94/100

KitchenAid’s iconic stand mixer is just as good as you’d hope. It’s sturdy and impressed across all our tests with its consistency. All our cakes had plenty of air in them and it whipped cream into stiff peaks in a speedy two seconds.

It’s simple to use – the mixer is well labelled and the lever effective – and scraping down the bowl was only necessary when it was operating at top speed. Once your bake is in the oven, clean-up is a doddle as there are no pesky dirt traps. The only drawback is that it’s heavy to move.

There’s not much that sets this apart from our winning KitchenAid. Its motor is less powerful (which means it's marginally slower) and it’s available in fewer colours. But it costs less and is still an outstanding mixer.

Score: 93/100

There’s a lot to love about this stand mixer, particularly if you’re not a natural with a whisk. It takes away all guesswork thanks to intelligent sensors that automatically stop the appliance when your cake mixture has reached the perfect consistency. When we tried it out, it mixed for eight minutes, proved for 15 minutes and then did a quick final stir, resulting in a soft, well-risen cake.

There are seven different speeds – for everything from gentle folding to high-speed mixing – leaving our whisked double cream voluminous and stable on test. Plus, rubber feet and a sturdy design keep it stable even at the highest speeds. It was generally easy to use too, although we sometimes had to remove the bowl to get the attachments off.

It’s expensive but with its great range of tools, built in scales and automatic programmes, you do get your money’s worth.

Score: 93/100

Smeg’s electric whisk was our runaway winner in our best hand mixers test, so we had high hopes for this eye-catching machine. Luckily, we’d happily invest. It scored full marks for its ease of use, thanks to an intuitive, ergonomic design that made mixing effortless and would suit both right- and left-handed chefs.

Its soft start function gradually builds speed, limiting flyaway flour. It mixed large quantities of cake batter well, but if we’re being picky, it could have aerated our mixture more.

Though heavy again, it was one of the quietest models on test. It also comes with a recipe book, should you need some extra inspiration.

Score: 92/100

With a modern look and 1800W of power, this is an impressive kitchen addition in more ways than one. It scored near-perfect marks in our dough, pudding, cake and whisking tests, and only dropped two marks in its least successful test, which was mixing cookie dough (our testers just had to incorporate flour remnants manually).

Despite the power, it didn’t judder too aggressively at high speeds or vibrate loudly. Even removing attachments was simple. It’s on the heavy side and the controls are designed with right-handed users in mind, but it’s a stellar patisserie sous-chef.

Score: 91/100

While most stand mixers will set you back hundreds, this one comes in at under £70 and doesn't compromise on performance. Our tester praised its lightweight design, which features a safety mechanism to stop the motor from running when the mixing arm is lifted.

It mixed an outstanding cookie dough and wasn't fazed by our heavier bread mix either, scoring nearly full marks.

Its attachments felt a tad loose and it struggled to incorporate all ingredients when whisking liquids, but those are our only qualms.

Score: 90/100

One of the best at mixing cake batter on test, this sleek machine is ideal if you like tucking into something sweet. It handled large quantities with aplomb (for smaller batches, some of the mixture didn't pull together), which also makes it a top pick for big households.

Occasionally, some flour was left on the side, and it didn’t feel as sturdy as some when kneading dough or combining dry ingredients.

The speed dial is easy to grip, even with buttery hands, and its mixing bowl has handles. It could have felt sturdier when kneading dough or combining dry ingredients, but this is a solid mid-range mixer if you want to invest but can’t quite stretch to a KitchenAid.

Score: 87/100

This sleek stand mixer is made with space-saving in mind. While it still houses a four-litre bowl, it’s lightweight and compact with an integrated measuring spoon and carry handle on top for easy transportation.

Looking past these features, it put in an impressive shift in the test kitchen, scoring full marks when mixing dry and wet ingredients for our Christmas pudding. Vibrations when mixing cookie dough meant testers had to knock a few marks off, as did some movement on the countertop when kneading dough.

But while the accessories weren't all dishwasher safe, our experts appreciated the way they easily clicked into place.

Score: 87/100

Baking with little ones is great fun, and this machine has an accessible design that makes involving them easy (under supervision, of course!). Its dials and latches are all intuitive, and everything is clearly labelled.

Our tester liked its pulse feature (though found just six speed settings somewhat limiting) and said it handled heavy mixes adeptly, moving and combining the bread dough with ease. It mixed cake batter well too, but some bowl scraping was called for.

Expect it to vibrate on max, but for family-friendly simplicity, this minimalist machine takes the crown.

Score: 87/100

What the classic Kenwood Chef above lacks in its pared back design, this premium model makes up for in abundance. It has a light for better visibility into the bowl, integrated weighing scales, a clear touchscreen digital display and preset modes for different bakes (from proving dough to whipping up a meringue). It warms cold butter.

Unsurprisingly given its functionality, it takes up a lot of space. Rest assured that the frills don’t detract from its performance though – it performed well across all our tests.

Having to select the speed setting on the touchscreen before using the dial to adjust it feels like a bit of a faff, but there’s not much it can’t do, making it a splendid sous chef for real foodies.

Score: 86/100

Bread lovers look no further. This stand mixer – from the experts behind our favourite pizza ovens – is specially designed to make bakery-quality dough. With most stand mixers, the bowl stays still while the whisk mixes everything together, but this mixer has a rotating bowl and stationary whisk, which helps develop stronger gluten networks within the dough.

It really showed on test too, as it scored full marks on our dough and Christmas pudding mix – the ingredients were well combined with no flour left around the edges or the bottom of the mixing bowl. Plus, there’s a light in the top of the mixer that shines down into the bowl, which is a satisfying (and mesmerising) add-on.

Our whipped egg whites didn’t have as much air as we’d have liked and our sponge cake wasn’t the lightest we’ve tasted, but this is still an excellent machine. With 58 speed settings, a timer that stops the mixer after a set period, and robust, dishwasher-safe attachments, there’s a lot to love. Especially if you’re a pizza fan.