Hello all you expert cake bakers. After wrecking several handmixers on thick cake batter and royal icing, I think I need to make the jump to a stand mixer. Which is better - Kitchen Aid or Cuisinart? Or is it simply a matter of how many watts the machine has? What about repairs? Anyone have problems with their stand mixer? I want to find out what I can before my birthday this summer, as I have been dropping hints about what a wonderful gift a stand mixer would be!

If you do a google search on either one of these machines, you will get a whole bunch of comparisons.

The main thing I found out when I bought a KA earlier this year is that wattage has nothing to do with the how much power is getting to the beaters. There is something else you need to find out and I'll be danged if I can remember it.

Yes the Cuisinart has a higher wattage, but it has the same plastic gears inside that KA has. One lady posted how she would turn on the machine the lights in her kitchen would dim. Now this is going to depend on a whole bunch of stuff and I think she said she had an older home too. But it is something to consider.


Cuisinart also has a head that tilts back lower to the body than the KA, which I read somewhere can cause it to tip backwards (probably after you take the bowl off). And it also has the same plastic gears that KA has.

In the end I got the KA. Because I liked the color. But also because I already had a KA, was familiar with it, and if I needed service I could take it to Sears rather than have to ship it off somewhere.

But the Cuisinart runs about $100 cheaper than the KA, so it is a really dilemma, huh?

It's going to be a personal choice. And if you want to get even more confused Williams-Sonoma has a stand mixer they are showing off in their stores. I can't remember the name, but if you go to their website you'll see it. It starts with a R. I looked real nice and real quiet when I saw it at the store.

Good luck, either one will be a huge step up from hand mixer alone. You will love it. There is a place for hand mixers too, so you should probably plan on replacing the hand mixer also. I find it is not one or the other. But then again you can never have enough kitchen gadgets either. For me it makes cooking and baking way more fun.

If wattage does not determine how much power is getting to the beaters, then what does? Is there anyone out there who knows?

Not sure about the wattage thing.....but I love my Kitchen Aid! I have the 6qt and it is 575 watts.....It has handled everything I have thrown at it...No problems so far I LOVE the huge bowl, double recipes are no problem.

Im a KA girl, but make sure the inside housing is metal and not plastic !!! the KA website has all that info.

http://www.kitchenaid.com/flash.cmd?/#/page/home

I've been using a KA (Artisan model), but just got a new 7qt Cuisinart for Mothers Day. WOW!!! I LOVE IT!!! In my research I also learned that wattage (which I believe is the power that goes in to the motor) has nothing to do with the power that comes out of the motor (or something like that!). But I will tell you from first hand experience that the Cuisinart is more powerful--or at least it seems more powerful to me so far. I've only had it a few weeks, but here are some of the reasons I've found so far to love it:

- much larger capacity bowl--very easy to make 2-cake mix recipes;
- much sturdier on the counter--it doesn't rock and shake the way the KA did when it's working away (which is why it seems more powerful to me);
- no "puffing" of powdered sugar when I'm mixing up frosting!!!!--I hated that with the KA my counters and floors were a mess after making buttercream because the mixer would spurt powdered sugar out of the bowl. I've been mixing away this week and my counter and floor are clean; and
- nifty timer feature--I set it to run for 10 minutes on a batch of royal icing while I work on other projects in the kitchen and it stops on its own. I don't have to babysit it!

All this for about the same price (although I can't say exactly how much it was because my DH bought it for me). Oh yeah, and I believe it has a 5 year warranty vs. 1 year on the KA.

It doesn't come in a rainbow of colors, but the stainless steel looks good on my counter (although it is admittedly larger on the counter than the KA--but I get much larger mixing capacity with that).

At this point, I don't see myself ever going back to KA.

Oh, as I just turned on my new Cuisinart to start work on a batch of frosting, I remembered that I also love it because it still has that odd dimply bump at the bottom of the mixing bowl where ingredients hide and are never mixed into the main batch, but the bump is much smaller. I still have to be careful about scraping the sides and bottom, but not as hyper vigilant as I had to be with the KA.

AND, when the top with the mixing attachment is lifted up, I feel like I have more access to the bowl add larger quantities of ingredients (like the cube of cream cheese I just dumped in).

I hope if you get the Cuisinart you'll love it as much as I do!

I have both and they each have their benefits but mainly I use the KA when I have a small job and no egg whites to whip. It doesn't do so well with getting right to the bottom of the bowl to get all the whites together.

The Cuisinart is wonderful all around. There's a round knob that controls the speed and it's truly reactive to what you dial. I can go as slowly or as fast as I want. The KA has only 5 speeds and it does wobble on the highest setting. I also like the clear plastic guard/lid on the C. It does keep powdered sugar in the bowl because it goes all the way around the bowl.

Thank-you karabeal and Motta. I appreciate the detailed info from someone who has used both products. I know which one I am leaning toward at the moment!

I have both in my kitchen right now. I think for me the biggest plus of the Cuisinart is more room to get into the bowl. I feel like you can barely scrape the sides of the KA even with the top tilted back. And the KA makes the huge puff of powdered sugar "smoke". Really though, you cannot go wrong with either of them.