Close to the ATL of $465. I was able to price match at JB Hi-Fi (not including shipping)
Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker XL Stand Mixer KVL65.001WH, Includes 7L Stainless Steel Bowl and Splashguard, Beater, Whisk and Dough Hook Tool, 1400W, White
CamelCamelCamel.
As far as I could tell the only difference was that the black one had an extra bowl (5L), a creaming beater and a spatula. Is the creaming beater worth it?
I have the Chef XL Sense which comes with the creaming beater, and I have never used it, because I don't bother to put icing on my cakes.
However, someone who makes a lot of cakes (I use mine mostly for bread dough) would probably appreciate the creaming beater.
You can, of course, make things like buttercream frosting without the creaming beater (using the standard K beater instead), but you will have to periodically scrape down the sides with a spatula
Been holding out for ages for a Kenwood mixer but can never decide what model to end up with.
Happy with a Kenwood over a KitchenAid.
I had heard Kenwood was great but on looking I can't tell why. What's the advantage over KitchenAid?
Better motor, if you're doing a lot of bread making Kenwood is the way to go
Thanks!
Better in what way ?
@hack: Stronger build overall. Less wring when kneading dough and better at powering through heavy kneads.
In return it looks a lot less stylish.
@nebakke: I thought the direct drive motor in the kitchenaid far outweighed the supposed advantage of the wattage of the kenwood motor.
@hack: It's been some years since I was in the market, cos my Kenwood has just troopered away.
That said, this particular Kenwood has a 1000w motor vs the 325w of most of the cheaper KitchenAid mixers, not to mention that on the lower-end mixers that you mostly see people buying and that are floating around this price point, they tend to use nylon gears. The Kenwood just has better and more stable, pulling power through heavier doughs.
Not to mention that the Chef series comes with a 10-year warranty vs KitchenAid's one
Mind you, this is all based on the price point - I'm not saying KitchenAid don't make decent mixers or that they don't make mixers that could compete with or beat the Kenwoods. I'm saying you're well past the $474 price point to get there. You move into their commercial-style mixers I think they're quite capable indeed. But you're paying at least twice this price for it.
If you're making a lot of bread I recommend a dough mixer. Especially for stiff doughs like bagel, it really stresses the motor.
KitchenAids are much higher quality machines, however the standard Artisan line is limited to 1.1kg when mixing dough - used within that limitation it should outlive any modern Kenwood 5x over.
Kenwood's advantage lies in a more powerful (but lower quality) motor - you can do about 2.5kg of dough at a time in this machine. Kenwood's support is great, and these have a 10 year warranty, so you'll at least get that.
I'd buy this but it just looks kind of povvo. I know it sounds lame but if something is going to sit on my benchtop forever I want it to look nice. Kitchenaids looks nice whereas this doesn't. Shoot me for this opinion I know it's the 'better mixer' but its just so goddamn ugly.
You do you I guess - If you're going to look at it, Kitchenaid all the way, if you're going to use it for anything with some real resistance in it, definitely get this thing.
kitchennaid does have better design work, however it's a bit retro for my taste.
I would rather have mixer that looks like mixer thn Texas road restaurant from the 60th.
Save up for a Hobart.
sounds lame but if something is going to sit on my benchtop forever I want it to look nice.
Do you not have cupboards?
Unless you're running a woman's weekly cooking show from your kitchen, who leaves a mixer out on their bench all year :/
Benchtop real estate isn't a valuable commodity for us. We've got a pretty big kitchen so it's easier to just leave larger and heavier objects out.
I have this and it works really well. Only issue I have so far is I can't find nice cookie attachments but i haven't looked around that much.
I bought a 6.6 ltr Kitchen Aid few weeks ago. It feels like a toy (I Own Bakery and bought for my smaller mixes)
I have since heard that Kenwood is better.
Any feedback on this.
Is kenwood good for bread dough? My current breville is pretty crap, the dough just spins around in the middle.
Anskarsrum is the only other home use mixer that seems to knead dough properly, but is pricey.
I'm starting to worry that I feel like a Kenwood sock-puppet here but, seeing as you asked. Yeah, they're excellent for it - at least in terms of non-purpose-built products. I've been running a Major - So the old Chef XL - for probably seven or eight years now, it hasn't missed a beat. I commonly bake a couple of white loaves per week and occasionally some dark seed/rye-heavy loaves as well. It churns through all of it.
It's not quiet about it, and it doesn't look good doing it, but it does it without complaint.
That said, the dough spinning in the middle thing could also 'just' be about the bowl being too big, or the speed a bit too high for the dough to drop a bit for stretching.
For me, with a couple of kilos of dough in there, it bunches up around the hook but sort of creates a tail that gets twisted around as it runs, and helps stretch the dough out.
Good price. However, if you need more functionality, go for the black version. It is pricier.