KITCHENAID is well known for their range of colourful stand mixers, which are loved by home bakers everywhere.
We put the KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS 4.8l stand mixer to the test to see whether it stands up to the hype.
One of the best things about KitchenAid’s stand mixers is that they come in a range of sizes – small (3.3l), medium (4.3l or 4.8l) and large (4.8l or 6.9l) – and colours to suit your kitchen.
We tried the 5KSM175PS 4.8l model in Honey, the 2021 colour of the year for the brand. It’s a vibrant orange that will add a pop of colour to your kitchen.
You can also get this medium-sized machine in classic shades such as Empire Red and Onyx Black, which tend to have a bit more availability in stores.
As well as the 4.8l mixing bowl, 6-wire whisk, flat beater, and dough hook you get in the slightly cheaper 5KSM125 model, you also get a 3l mixing bowl, a pouring shield and a flex edge beater as part of the 5KSM175PS model.
For home cooks, the different sized bowls will be especially handy for working with smaller quantities of ingredients while the pouring shield will help reduce the amount of spillage and therefore the clean up.
Aside from the stainless steel whisk, all the other attachments are made from aluminium covered with a non-stick nylon coating so they’re designed to last and are dishwasher safe.
The KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS stand mixer is very sturdy, and in this case it means very heavy too.
It’s certainly not a machine you want to constantly lug around your kitchen – just as well it’s stylish enough to have on display if you have enough room on your kitchen counter.
Once you have the stand mixer in place, everything else is effortless to put together.
The arm of the machine, where you attach the beaters, hooks and whisks, tilts back with a lever on the right so you can install your choice of mixing bowl.
The two bowls, the larger one with a handle and the smaller one without, are both secured with a clockwise twist. You won’t hear the satisfying click that you get when the bowl of a food processor slots into place so you just have to tighten until you can’t turn it any more.
On the other side of the arm, there’s another lever that goes from zero to 10 so you can toggle the speed you want with ease.
The attachments are secured with a twist and are easy to install and remove so you can swap them halfway through use if needed.
The KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS stand mixer did a great job of kneading bread dough.
The dough hook mimicked the movement you make when doing it by hand and produced a nice, smooth dough within minutes.
For softer, wetter doughs, you’ll have to slow the machine right down and scrape a couple of times as we found that it had a habit of knocking through the dough without picking it up otherwise.
Or if it’s really soft, like a cookie dough, you can also switch to one of the beater attachments.
We tested the whisk with egg whites and found that the KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS stand mixer was very quick at beating them into stiff peaks.
In just a couple of seconds, the egg whites were foamy and in a couple of minutes they were ready.
Because the process is so quick compared to hand-held whisks, you’ll want to stand by the machine to make sure that the egg whites aren’t overbeaten.
The KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS stand mixer comes with two attachments for mixing – the flat beater and flex edge beater.
Both were really efficient at mixing and combining ingredients together.
While they can be used interchangeably, we found that the flat beater was better for breaking things up, such as potatoes for mash.
As the flex edge beater had a silicone scraper on one side, it was much better for cake mixes so you don’t have to stop to scrape down the sides.
While the KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer might be a machine for bakers first and foremost, the brand has produced a range of accessories to expand its use.
These will need to be bought separately but examples include pasta maker, food grinder and spiraliser.
The KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS 4.8l stand mixer was fast and efficient in all the tasks we set it.
In fact, it will take you longer to measure out the ingredients than the machine will take to mix it altogether.
Having two different sized bowls was definitely handy as you can use them for different tasks – but if this isn’t important for you then we’d recommend trading down to the cheaper 5KSM125, which is the same set up but with fewer accessories.
Price-wise, KitchenAid is obviously quite a bit more expensive than some of the other stand mixers on the market but if you’re looking for a kitchen gadget that’s practical and you can show off to friends and family, this is perfect.
If you’re looking for other gadgets from KitchenAid, we’ve also reviewed the KitchenAid 5KFP0719 1.7l food processor.
For a great alternative, there’s also the Cuisinart 1.9l Easy Prep Pro food processor.
Or if you’re looking for something bigger family meals, check out our review of the Bosch MultiTalent 8 MC812M853G food processor.
