Hello

I was wondering if anyone uses a hand-held mixer, and if so what brand/type would you recommend.

I'm not sure if I would make use of a kitchen aid. The hand-held makes me feel less guilty.

I'd appreciate any advice.

Thank you very much

Amber

I have a Black&Decker Heavy Duty hand held mixer that I use for mixing cakes and a few other things. I have a Sunbeam (can't afford a Kitchen Aide) stand mixer that I use to make buttercream and fondant. I don't feel one bit guilty for using it either. NO WAY am I going to attempt making either one without my stand mixer.

Thank you....

So you think stand alone is the way to go! But what about the hand-held that comes with a stand. Is that any good

BTW I'm still starting out...and just make cakes for family and friends. :

You're welcome. Yes, the stand mixer is essential for making buttercream and fondant. No, the stand alone hand mixers are not worth buying. IMO

It doesn't matter if you're only making cakes for yourself. If you're going to make buttercream your going to get awfully tired using a hand mixer long enough to whip that stuff. If you're planning on making fondant a hand mixer is out of the question.

After burning up about 10 hand mixers.... I finally bought a kitchenaid when I started doing this full time... and boy was it worth the money. I got mine on sale at WM. Its the 4 1/2 qt, but it makes life so much easier. Now looking into getting a larger one...I'm addicted! You can pour it in, and walk away to do something else.

I really appreciate your comments.

I'm now having second thoughts. May go for a stand alone but not the Kitchen Aide.....

Thanks again

PS there is one on ebay right now.... bid is at $127.50 with free shipping

I love my KA hand held mixer. I had a 5 speed that worked fine for most things, never had a problem with it. My mom now has a 7 speed and I have a 9 speed. The 9 speed comes with dough hooks so that tells you it can handle more than some other hand helds.

KA's hand mixer are going to be a little more expensive than others out there, but in my experince they hold up and you aren't going to be replacing it every few months.

I had the 5 speed mixer for 10 years and put it through alot. The only reason I had to replace it was because I had it plugged in when a power line out side my house fell down and took a line to my house with it. In cake decorating, it is hard to hold on to hand mixer that long, so I was quite impressed with it.

I use a Hamilton Beach hand-held for most of my batters. I use a KA 450watt stand mixer for all my icing.

I have a hard time getting pound cake batter mixed thoroughly with my stand mixer. While I have used my KA for batters, I prefer a hand-held. I end up buying a new one every six months or so.

I have both a KA stand & handheld love & use them both I make buttercream with the stand one the hand held does everything else my RI all my cake mixes & my cookie dough I find I can use a much larger bowl with it and I like the coltrol of being able to move it around the bowl myself. I had a handheld KA for 15 years blew the motor from all the use I do so I got a blackndecker since it was only $20. blew that in 1 month so I bought another KA LOVE it.

I do EVERYTHING in my KA stand mixer; pizza dough, cookies, fondant, BC, cake batters, etc. I have an ancient hand held (Sunbeam I think) and I occasionally use it for whipping a small amount of cream. A KA stand mixer will do it all and last for many, many years. It's more thank pay for itself. IMHO

I started doing cakes in December. I had gotten my hand held mixer for a wedding gift 7 years ago and it had worked perfectly ... within 1 month of doing cakes I burnt the motor out! So, I bought a Black and Decker hand held. Was able to use it for about 4 months and once again, the motor burnt out. Finally, my hubby got me my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for my birthday/Mother's Day gift and ... OMG ... that's all I have to say. I can't believe I went this long using a hand mixer. The stand mixer is so much nicer!!

He got mine on sale at Sam's for $266.00. It's a 450 watt, 10 speed with a 5 quart bowl. I had done comparison shopping and that was by far the cheapest one I'd found. Of course, you can go up in price for ones with more wattage, but this one meets my needs as I am only a hobby baker/decorator at this time.

I have the Kitchen Aid hand-held 9 speed and the 5 speed, and both of them handle all of my needs. I also have extra beaters for each to help save time to not have to stop and wash them to move onto something else (cake batter to frosting, etc.)

I dream of one day getting a KA stand mixer (yellow!), but I have such limited counter space and outlets available in my current space that it is impossible to consider for now. Even my coffeepot has to be put away when it is not in use!

So if you decide to go with a hand-held I believe the KA brand is the way to go. It has held up for my very heavy/dense batters (southern apple pound cake) and I also use the dough hooks and immersion blender attachment.

I got one of mine on Amazon and the other at Bed Bath Beyond with one of the 20% coupons.

I have only used my KA hand held mixer for almost 2 years, finally burnt out.. I just recently started doing more cakes, and so I told my mom I wanted a KA Stand mixer for my bday. (she has given my brother and 2 sister's their KA mixer, she was waiting on me and my fiance to get settled in our PITA house and find room) I jsut got it this weekend, and I'm itching to make a cake!!!!! she got me the 5 QT at Kohl's, it was on sale, and then she got another discount at the register, came out to be $250.. pretty cheap for the 5 QT, it was originally $300

Hi ~ I'm a KA person with both the stand & hand held mixer. Great products that
do the jobs and last & last & last ..... Oh, that's the Energizer bunny!!!!

choices..choices...

Here's my plan... take DH to the shops on the pretence that we are buying a hand-held...KA to be precise....once we get there I'll slowly wonder around to the stand alone section...and wait for a reaction...

BTW I really want to thank you all for taking the time out to post a reply

Good Luck!!! Hope hubby takes the ''HINT''!!! Let us know what you get, you'll greatly
enjoy either or ''both''!!!

I only have a sunbeam mixer, and it was worth the 89.00 I wish I could afford a KA- I really do, sometimes I'm afraid I will blow up the SB. But, it wasnt a 'luxery' for me to buy it. I had went through 6 15-20.00 handmixers on 6 cakes. and hadnt been able to make fondant yet.. LOL I fiqured it was saving me money... truthfully.

and not in that "ohhhh look I spent 600.00 in clothes that I dont need, but they were on sale and I saved 50.00 " type saving money...

Just to enable: the 4 months of payments is on HSN until 11 PM tonight for their 6 qt kitchen aid mixer. For a more economical version, Walmart has their 4.5 qt KA for $195 all the time. Usually on sale on Black Friday for even cheaper. My 4.5 qt KA has lasted me for > 20 yrs now. It's fabulous.

Hello everyone

Just wanted to post an update on the Handheld/stand alone Mixer debate.

Well I went shopping and looked at the prices of the Stand Alone. Let's just say they were not for the faint hearted

(I should explain that I'm living in the Middle East at the mo.)

So I settled for a Bosch MUM47...and I love it

I made my first batch of MMF it worked.

Here is a picture of what it looks like. It's small and folds away very neatly.

oh dear... im still using my $10 handheld from k-mart... =/

i use a wooden spoon to make fondant...

I have a KA and a Sunbeam I LOVE the SB! :] It's an older one though, I've heard people have had problems with the newer ones.