Whether you’re new to cooking up a storm in the kitchen, or a seasoned home chef that’s looking to make food preparation easier, a stand mixer is a must-have gadget for your home.
There’s a wide array of kitchen appliances on the market that can prove useful whether you’re new to the kitchen, or a seasoned home chef. However, one of the most coveted, and expensive, is a stand mixer, but as I can attest, it’s worth every penny.
I’m a keen baker so it’s rare there’s a week when my stand mixer isn’t churning away whipping up cake batter, bread dough, or even choux pastry, and it’s certainly proved its worth. However, last Black Friday I discovered a handy little tip that proves it’s possible to save big when it comes to KitchenAid stand mixers.
If you can’t wait until Black Friday to get your hands on a KitchenAid stand mixer, then check out some of the best deals we’ve found right now.
Why the KitchenAid obsession?
A staple of the contestants on the hugely-popular Great British Bake Off (GBBO), which is known as The Great British Baking Show in the US, the KitchenAid Artisan is arguably the most coveted model of stand mixer on the market today.
However, they don’t come cheap – you can expect to pay anywhere from $349.99 / £349.99 / AU$499.99 to $799.99 / £899.99 / AU$1,599.99 for a KitchenAid stand mixer, so it’s no surprise they’re one of the most popular items when it comes Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
According to UK retailer AO.com, searches for KitchenAid stand mixers increased by 123% during the holiday season last year compared to the previous year, and have been increasing rapidly in recent times as people really start investing in their kitchen setup.
There’s no denying a KitchenAid stand mixer is a fantastic kitchen appliance, making light work of preparing cake batter, bread dough and whisking meringues. Even if you’re not a keen baker, it’s still a worth investment as there are a range of attachments available from food mincers to pasta makers, that ensure the stand mixer can replace a huge array of kitchen appliances.
But what makes someone choose a KitchenAid over other stand mixer brands? For some, it’s the beautiful palette of colors on offer that complement any kitchen decor – 47 in the US and 30 in the UK. In fact, for this writer it was Boysenberry that fitted in with her obsession with all things purple. For others, it’s nostalgia, as their mother or grandmother owned one.
If you’re one of the online shoppers hoping to grab a hefty saving on a KitchenAid stand mixer during the holiday sales period then listen up and we’ve got a little-known trick that could net you a substantial discount.
It’s all in the accessories
KitchenAid stand mixers come in two styles; tilt head that unsurprisingly lets the head of the stand mixer be tilted backwards so the bowl can be removed when mixing has stopped, and a bowl-lift version. As the name suggests this raises the bowl towards the beater when it’s being used and drops it down when stopped, so the bowl can be easily removed. The tilt-head is the more affordable of the two – partly because the bowl-lift versions can handle larger quantities, and is the one most people opt for.
With each style there’s a range of mixers available, each with a different model number. However, unlike an iPhone, where the different models vary in the processor they use, the size and the camera features they offer, different KitchenAid stand mixers rarely differ when it comes to design, dimensions and the motor. Instead, it’s the accessories that the KitchenAid is bundled with that differ between models.
For example in the UK, when it comes tilt-head models you can currently pick up the KitchenAid KSM125 for £399 (around $550 / AU$750), the KitchenAid KSM175, which will set you back £499.99 (around $680 / AU$925) and the KSM185 for £599.99 (around $820 / AU$1,111).
All three stand mixers have the same full metal body with the tilting head, and the same planetary mixing-action, which sees the beater or whisk makes contact with the bowl in 59 separate places as it rotates, ensuring the ingredients in the bowl are effectively combined.
They also all come with a standard flat beater, wire whisk, dough hook and 5 quart / 4.8 liter bowl as standard. So, why the disparity in price? It’s all in the accessories – and we’d be surprised if you really need all of them.
The KSM175 also comes with a splatter guard, a flex edge beater that includes a silicon section on one side to help scrape the sides of the bowl while mixing, and an additional smaller 3.2 quart / 3-liter bowl.
Similarly, the KSM185 builds on this with a more premium stainless steel beater and dough hook. However, if you don’t want these additional access, it’s an unnecessary additional cost.
As the KitchenAid design rarely changes, this also means the accessories are compatible with a range of models.
For example I have the (now discontinued in the UK) KitchenAid KSM150 but last Black Friday I was still able to snap up the flex edge beater accessory for £17.50 (around $25 / AU$30), a delicious 50% off the list price.
So if you only want a couple of accessories, finding them discounted is much cheaper than buying the model that comes with them as standard.
During Black Friday 2021, we found the KSM175 n cream on sale for £503.94 (around $700 / AU$935) at Amazon. However, we were also able to pick up the KSM125 in a similar shade (more on this below) for £399 (around $550 / AU$750). As we’ve already mentioned the only difference between the two models is the KSM175 is the accessories that come with the stand mixer. If you didn’t need the accessories in the KSM175, you would have saved an additional £100 (around $140 / AU$185), or if you just wanted the flex edge beater, you could grab that for £17.50 (around $25 / AU$30), meaning you’d have saved almost £80 (around $110 / AU$150).
Compromise on color
As we’ve already mentioned, the array of tones at KitchenAid stand mixer comes in is one of its biggest draws, but if you don’t have a specific hue in mind, or you can be slightly flexible on the color then you could ensure you can grab a good deal.
For example, we all know that (alongside the iconic red), one of the hero KitchenAid mixer colors is cream.
The current shade is known as Almond Cream, however on Black Friday last year, a similar hue called Milkshake was discounted by 20%.
The difference between the two colors is really minimal, so if you’re not searching for an exact shade to complement your home decor, opting for a similar hue can be much softer on your wallet.
And, don’t forget, KitchenAid mixers are built to last so, like with smartphones, a refurbished KitchenAid stand mixer can also be a great way to save money when investing in this appliance, as well as getting your hands on discontinued colors.
However, always make sure you buy direct from KitchenAid or a retailer that offers at least a one year warranty on the refurbished stand mixer, as you won’t know of any damage if you pick things up off second-hand marketplaces – a reconditioned or refurbished model will be as good as new for nearly everything you need.
Black Friday may be a few weeks off yet, but armed with this handy tip, which applies all year round, it should make shopping for a KitchenAid stand mixer a lot easier. We’ll be rounding up all the best Black Friday KitchenAid deals closer to the time, so be sure to take a look at the offers we’re recommending.
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