Whether you’re a professional chef or a novice in the kitchen, chances are you’ve heard others admire the iconic KitchenAid stand mixer. As one of the most coveted kitchen appliances for more than a century, the entire line of KitchenAid stand mixers is known for being durable and effective.
If there’s a downside to the classic KitchenAid stand mixers, it’s that their considerable size and weight isn’t suitable for every kitchen. To the delight of home cooks everywhere, KitchenAid’s newest and smallest model, the Artisan Mini Stand Mixer, is shorter and lighter than all other stand mixers. Users also don’t need to worry about sacrificing much mixing capacity, as the brand claims the Mini can still mix up to 5 dozen cookies in a single batch.
To see whether the KitchenAid Artisan Mini 3.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer lives up to its promises, we put it to the test. Here’s what we found.
Our tester is familiar with other KitchenAid mixers, including the 4.5-Quart Artisan Stand Mixer and 7-Quart Professional Stand Mixer, along with an industrial 20-quart countertop mixer. We used the KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer for two weeks, mixing up cookies, cakes, fondant and meringue.
The KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer is a small mixer attached to a stand. As opposed to a hand mixer, a stand mixer operates relatively independently while sitting on your counter, kitchen island or dining table. From its classic model to the professional model, KitchenAid has produced an entire line of quality stand mixers.
The Artisan Mini is the most unique KitchenAid stand mixer due to its small size, yet it still promises to offer the same features and not sacrifice too much capacity.
The Artisan Mini 3.5-Quart Stand Mixer is available on KitchenAid’s website.
Setting up the KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand mixer is straightforward. While it’s ready to use as soon as you plug it in, we recommend wiping everything down with a damp cloth and familiarizing yourself with the features before plugging it in and getting started with your recipe.
On one side of the mixer, you’ll notice a lock and unlock switch, which is for the tilt-head. To put on your mixing attachments or insert the mixing bowl, you’ll want to put the switch in the unlock position and tilt the head back. Before mixing, be sure the switch is in the lock position, which keeps the head from moving around. The other side of the mixer is where you’ll control the mixing speed, from zero to 10. Separate attachments like a pasta maker connect to the hub on the front of the mixer by unscrewing the circular metal port.
One of the most attractive features of the Artisan Mini Stand Mixer is its size. At 12.3 inches tall and weighing 18 pounds, it’s 20% smaller and 25% lighter than the Classic and full-sized Artisan models. If you have a small kitchen, don’t want to lift a heavy stand mixer or you live in a smaller space like a studio apartment or an RV, the KitchenAid Artisan Mini is a great stand mixer to buy.
However, KitchenAid didn’t just take a previous model and shrink everything down. The Artisan Mini Stand Mixer’s motor is 250 watts, identical to the larger Classic model. This means that you’re still getting a powerful and effective motor alongside the Mini’s compact size. As for capacity, the 3.5-quart mixing bowl promises to make 5 dozen cookies in a single batch, so it should be more than enough for the average home cook on a regular basis.
Thankfully, one of the features that didn’t get sized down is the power hub, which is where you attach your pasta maker, spiralizer, food grinder and other attachments. So, if you have attachments from previous KitchenAid stand mixers that connect using the hub, they should all fit on the Artisan Mini, making this stand mixer quite versatile.
Similar to many other KitchenAid stand mixers, the Artisan Mini has a tilting head, so it is easy to take off mixing attachments, scrape down your ingredients or remove the mixing bowl. Another brilliant feature is the slow start, which evenly speeds up the mixing from zero to 10. If you’ve ever had flour or powdered sugar suddenly make a mess all over your kitchen, you know how valuable a slow start to mixing can be.
Overall, we were impressed with the Artisan Mini Stand Mixer and its variety of features. While testing, we made a batch of heavy fondant, whipped up a large batch of meringue and made 3 pounds of cookie dough in one batch. Although the whisk got buried while whipping the meringue, it still continued to work and did the job well. Likewise, the Mini did a decent job with the large batch of cookies; however, more often than we would have liked to, we needed to scrape down the bow to incorporate all the ingredients.
We appreciated that the KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer was straightforward to use and required no technical knowledge, and that the slow start feature saved us from having ingredients fly out of the bowl. We also love that we can use all of our classic KitchenAid attachments on the Mini, as it has a standard-size hub.
However, the feature we were most impressed with is the size of the Artisan Mini. We were able to lift it with one hand and put it away in the cabinet.
The KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer is a tough kitchen appliance for its small size. However, we still don’t think it compares to the power of the brand’s larger stand mixers. If your primary need is a KitchenAid stand mixer with a lot of power to mix large, tough batches, that’s not where the Artisan Mini shines. In proportion to its compact size, however, the capacity and power are impressive. We also wish it came with a few more mixing attachments.
Based on our experience, we believe the KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer lives up to its claims and we can see it being a helpful appliance for any person. The amount of power and features packed into this compact stand mixer is impressive.
We recommend the KitchenAid Artisan Mini 3.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer to home cooks with a small kitchen, RV dwellers, people with compromised arm strength and even professional cooks who want the ability to whip up small batches of sauce or blend ingredients.
Hamilton Beach 4-Quart Electric Stand Mixer
The powerful 300-watt motor easily whips up batter or dough for any cookie, cake or bread recipe. Plus, it comes with four dishwasher-safe attachments: a splash guard, dough hook, whisk and flat beater.
Sold by Amazon
Since this stand mixer weighs less than 5 pounds and stands at 10.4 inches tall, it’s ideal for small kitchens. The fully tilting motorhead also makes it easy to remove the mixing bowl and eject the beaters.
Sold by Amazon
KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Those who enjoy the features of the Mini Artisan Stand Mixer but want more capacity will appreciate KitchenAid’s full-size Artisan Stand Mixer. It can mix up to nine dozen cookies in a single batch.
Sold by KitchenAid
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Bre Richey writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
