The Best Hand Mixers
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Ryan V. Editor-in-Chief
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Six of our nine sources crowned the Breville Handy Mix Scraper: America's Test Kitchen, Serious Eats, Good Housekeeping, Food & Wine, CNN Underscored and TechGearLab. ATK's Chase Brightwell ran 10 mixers through whipped cream, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and meringue, measured every speed setting with a tachometer and named the Breville the winner because it "performed exceptionally well." Good Housekeeping's lab says it aced every test, from bread dough to egg whites.
With the balloon whisks attached, nothing in the group whips faster. CNN Underscored's Joe Bloss got medium peaks of whipped cream sooner than with any other mixer he tested. Afton Cyrus at Serious Eats hit stiff peaks in 2 minutes 37 seconds, the best time among the 17 mixers she and a second tester tried. The rubber-coated scraper beaters work the sides of the bowl as they spin, which Serious Eats says made mixing "remarkably quiet." CNN also watched its thick dough hooks get through sticky pizza dough that stalled other models.
Breville packs more into the box than any rival in these tests. Two scraper beaters, two balloon whisks and two dough hooks fit in a snap-on case, and the body has a digital timer, a pause button and a light that shines into the bowl. Food & Wine's Jennifer Zyman named it her best overall pick and wrote that it "is staying in my kitchen after testing." Breville's own price is $159.95.
What It Won't Do
The silicone that keeps the beaters quiet wears out. Wirecutter dropped the Breville as its top pick after the coating on its scraper beaters started to split and crack in less than a year of steady use, shedding into ingredients. Breville replaces affected mixers under its 1-year warranty, but Wirecutter found replacement beaters out of stock on Breville's site for more than a year. It is also the heaviest of the top picks at 2 pounds 10.8 ounces on ATK's scale. Splatter is the other complaint: Food & Wine found it hard to control at the highest speeds, and with the beaters fitted, Serious Eats got cream on the counter, the walls and her apron. Bread is hard work with any hand mixer. ATK found kneading with the Breville as tiring as kneading by hand, and the body ran hot after 12 minutes.
America's Test Kitchen tested the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed beside the Breville and found it "performed the same as our winner, just without the bells and whistles." ATK named it the Best Buy and gave it the same Highly Recommended rating. At $99.95 on Cuisinart's site, it costs $60 less than the Breville.
Seven of our nine sources recommend it. Wirecutter made it the runner-up, and it is also Food & Wine's best value, Reviewed's best overall and Food Network's most powerful mixer. Sharon Franke at Reviewed watched it knead yeast dough into a smooth, elastic ball "as well as the human hand." TechGearLab scored it 82 out of 100, three points behind the Breville.
Everything travels with the mixer. Beaters, a chef's whisk, dough hooks and a spatula fit in a case that snaps onto the body, and Good Housekeeping liked the swivel cord for left- and right-handed cooks. Wirecutter calls it a "fast-working mixer" with "ample attachments and a nice storage container." Cuisinart backs it for 3 years; Breville covers its mixer for 1.
What It Won't Do
The motor is the first complaint. Wirecutter says it makes "quite a shrill racket" next to the KitchenAid 7-Speed, and Food & Wine's tester ranked it among the loudest she tried. Testers disagree about how it starts: Reviewed says it always starts slowly so flour stays put, while Wirecutter found it jumps to a breakneck speed no matter the setting. Serious Eats saw it fling chocolate chunks out of the bowl. Good Housekeeping had to scrape the bowl down regularly, and Wirecutter watched it slow down in chunky cookie dough. Like the Breville, it ran hot after 12 minutes of kneading in ATK's bread test.
Who Should Buy Which
Breville Handy Mix Scraper
A quiet 9-speed mixer with scraper beaters, balloon whisks, a bowl light and a built-in timer
- Bakers who whip cream or meringue every week
- Cooks who want a timer and a bowl light built in
- Anyone who makes cookie dough and pizza dough by hand
- People who find a shrill mixer motor hard to stand
- Gift buyers who want whisks, hooks and beaters in one case
Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer
A 9-speed mixer with a whisk, dough hooks and a snap-on case, backed by a 3-year warranty
- Home bakers who want dough hooks without paying $160
- Buyers who care about a 3-year warranty
- Cooks who want every attachment stored on the mixer
- Holiday bakers turning out several batches of cookies
- Left-handed cooks who need a swivel cord