Do other people find stand mixers significantly less versatile than hand mixers? I don't see why I would want to use up all that bench space on a machine that does less than a cheaper machine that is more easily stored.
I've never used a stand mixer before, but my aunt lent me her Kitchen Aid for a couple of weeks while she goes on holiday. Trying to decide whether to get one for myself. At this point, I don't like it. It only works with one bowl, so I end up having to use my hand mixer anyway when making most sponge-based cakes.
It's also too big to do small batches of anything, which is retarded.
At this point, I can only see it being useful for breadmaking. Is it the experience of people with stand mixers that they need to purchase an extra proprietary bowl to get use out of it? Is there some easy way of using only one bowl that I'm not thinking of?
A Kitchenaid stand mixer is the biggest workhorse of the home kitchen.
A hand mixer doesn't even come close when compared, and if you find the bowl too small I don't see how using a hand mixer makes things easier for you. If you need to do multiple steps the bowl is easy to remove and wash.
Sometimes it's overkill if you're just doing a batch of whipped cream, but otherwise it's fucking amazing, and very low maintenance. I just started getting into attachments (pasta and sausage), and there's no looking back.
Making Italian meringue is 100x easier. I usually will transport whatever contents I use to another bowl wash it then use it again if I am making sponge cake. The beauty I find is making dough. Pasta dough takes me 10minutes to make, yeasted dough 15, and I can let it proof in the bowl.
>>7643251
It's not the size of the bowl. It's that it's the only one I can use with the machine. If I want to fold a mixed batter into stiffened whites or creamed butter, which is a very common procedure, I can only use the mixer for half of it.
>>7643269
You don't use a stand mixer to fold shit into other shit, but there's no reason you can't use the bowl. It's not like you wouldn't need 2 bowls anyway.
>>7643234
It's phenomenal for making desserts. For example, making french silk pie requires adding an egg, beating for 5 minutes, adding another egg, beating for 5 for minutes, ad nauseum. Walking away after adding the egg is a lovely experience.
Also, the thing will last you 20 years.
>>7643275
You use the mixer to make the batter. You use the mixer to stiffen the whites. You can't do both of those things with the mixer if you can only use one bowl with it.
You could feasibly make the batter first, then pour it out and wash the bowl and dry it very thoroughly, but that amounts to a lot of extra work.
>>7643259
>>7643276
Sure, probably. I'm not really saying it can't do stuff well and possibly better. I'm saying that it seems significantly less versatile, to the point that I don't see myself getting as much use as I'd like out of such an investment.
>>7643294
You don't need to do a full washing if you're just going to whip some egg whites that are getting folded into the same batter you just used the bowl for.
>>7643319
I'll try not cleaning properly and see for myself. I have doubts they'll get much volume if I don't, but I'll give it a go.
>>7643336
You don't use a dirty bowl. The point is that you can just spatula the dough into another container and give the bowl a quick rinse under hot water. Everything is easier if you wash as you work in the first place, and it's just a minor step compared to how much effort the stand mixer will save you.
>>7643336
rinse with hot water and then wipe down with 3:1 vinegar and distilled water mix.
>>7643234
I don't like Kitchenaids and other stand mixers that stick the beater in the bowel from above that's a design flaw in my opinion and will negatively affect the lifetime of such a machine. I tried different machines of that design from Kennwood, WMF, Moulinex, AEG, Bosch and Kitchenaid. I didn't like them at all, most of them have problems with bigger quantities of dough. So my Grandma gave me pick related and I fell in love immediately!
That beauty is from the seventies and is still in mint condition after all these years of use. I use it for everything, I even bought an used original grater from ebay, my next purchase for it will be a flour mill. You still can get lots of equipment for these great machines for much lower prices than those modern junk machines that brake after your warranty expires...
>>7645610
It did seem like old kitchen equipment was better back then (also noisier).
I mostly use my stand mixer to knead dough for bread or pizza. Sometimes to mix large batches of cookie dough and stuff like that.
>>7643269
It sounds to me like you don't like it based on one single scenario, when this machine can easily handle dozens of other jobs easier than doing it by hand.
>>7645610
i've had my kitchenaids for bout 10 years now without issue
