The KitchenAid Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield is designed to take on just about any project from mixing honey to kneading bread dough.
If you are an experienced home baker, you will appreciate the KitchenAid Artisan mixer. You can mix the dough for nine-dozen cookies or four loaves of bread in one batch with the 5-quart stainless steel bowl. You are certain to find an Artisan mixer in a color that matches your kitchen since there are more than 50 options available on Amazon, including Empire Red, Ice, Bordeaux, and Pistachio. (Note: Price varies by color.)
The Artisan comes with a one-piece pouring shield, six-wire whip, coated dough hook, and a coated flat beater. Also, with KitchenAid's 59-point planetary mixing action, there are 59 touch-points for every rotation the wire whip, beater, or dough hook makes around the bowl. This ensures fast and thorough mixing.
Most of the industry experts agree that the Artisan has impressive power. Foodal ranked the KSM150 as its top mixer and liked that it came with all of the attachments you need to get started. Thanks to its ability to knead bread dough, its solid motor, and the robust, stylish design, the Good Housekeeping Institute gave this model a 93 on a scale of 100. Lastly, the color selection, versatility, and motor led Top Ten Reviews to award the KSM150 best mixer honors. However, the site disliked that it didn't have advanced features, such as a timer or overload protection.
Some 90% of the reviews of the KitchenAid Artisan mixer on Amazon are for 4 or 5 stars. Buyers noted that this rugged mixer can handle heavy-duty mixing without waddling along your counter. Buyers did complain that there were too many colors to pick from, and it's hard to distinguish the tens shades of blue available on Amazon from just the pictures. Also, the polish used for the mixing bowls may need to be removed using Bar Keepers Friend, salt and lemon, or baking soda. Otherwise, you may end up with a gray residue on your dough.
Pros: Lots of colors to pick from, pouring shield, durable 325-watt motor
Cons: Lacks advanced features
Buy the KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield on Amazon for $273.95