The stand mixer market is really dominated by KitchenAid (earlier we showed you their new colors for 2013), with some competition from Cuisinart and Breville. So we were really fascinated to see a few fresh new options at the Home + Housewares show yesterday — most notably this stylish machine from Bodum, who is more commonly known for coffee and tea ware than small appliances. Want a closer peek?
In the past, Bodum has offered a few small electrics, like various coffee makers, a juicer, and their hand mixer, pictured above. The hand mixer deserves its own side note, as I really liked its styling and the way it sits firmly upright when you put it down.
→ Bodum Bistro Electric 5-Speed Hand Mixer at Amazon - The first generation of the hand mixers is available now; a slightly smaller and less expensive version will also go on sale early this summer.
But the big news this year was Bodum's stand mixer, a severely stylish new offering. It looks and feels hefty and sturdy, with feet that grip the counter. There are two optional attachments — a slicer that will shred and slice vegetables and cheese, and a meat grinder, seen above. Minus the optional attachments, the mixer will retail for about $400.
Bodum designed this thing from the ground up at their Swiss design headquarters, and they made some really interesting choices. Unlike other stand mixers, which tend to put a lot of emphasis on stainless steel and other "pro" finishes, the Bodum mixer is a little more playful, with a rubber exterior and colors and angles that make me think of kids' toys.
They left the top part of the mixer clear plastic so you can watch the motor running, and some of the attachments are Tritan plastic as well. This took me aback (plastic attachments? for a mixer?) but Bodum has an interesting angle: they claim that the clear plastic parts of the meat grinder and slicer make them much more sanitary, since you can see clearly when the product has been washed out completely. This made sense to me; I am always a bit nervous about dirt getting stuck inside my stainless steel mixer in places I can't see or reach.
I'm pretty eager to go hands-on with one of these mixers and see how it compares to other mixers on the market. What do you think of the looks? Does the modern styling attract you?
→ Visit Bodum
(Images: Faith Durand)
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I am mired in stand-mixer angst. I so want a sexy stand mixer. I've dropped 100s of hints to my DH, and I have his agreement that its a good purchase. But each time I say "this is the day I order one" I am always frightened off by the bad reviews. At least 10% of reviews cite terrible problems with gears, gear boxes, and noise.
Oh bodum, you have me enchanted. Do you need a real home kitchen for testing? I'm available!
These look nice, I'd get either the red, or the yellow, as you have shown here.
That said, I don't know. Though to allay your concerns about meat and stuff in the grinder, I've read that if you push bread through the machine, you'll get more of the meat out, but that doesn't mean ALL food will be out, and aren't most meat grinders made to be disassembled and cleaned anyway?
Hm. I want to like this, but there are a couple of things that bug me. The clear plastic lid and attachments just look cheap, and given the durability of plastic vs steel, I doubt they will last as long. For $400, I expect durability. I use my grandmother's KitchenAid stand mixer, and it is still going strong after 50+ years of use.
Also, the little dots on the body of the mixer are just BEGGING to get junk stuck between them. I like wiping down my mixer after each use, and the texture of this one seems like a full-on scrubbing would be necessary. That said, I like where they're going with the overall lines and modern feel.
I'm very intriqued by these new offerings from Bodum. We have a red Kitchenaid and wouldn't have a functioning kitchen without something similar. We got the stand mixer as a wedding gift... well, it ended up as one when we took some of the duplicates back and we had enough at one store. I don't see us replacing the KitchenAid anytime soon, but if the Bodum is lighter, it might have been in the running. One bad thing about the KitchenAid is the weight. My wife can't easily pick it up and so it has a permanent placement on our counters. The Bodum comes in at 10lbs, where the KitchenAid is 22lbs. Hopefully the Bodum can give Kitchenaid a good run and bring the prices down for everyone.
I think this thing looks pretty awful - I'm not into the clear plastic top or textured base. Like another reviewer mentioned, I imagine I'd have to scrub it after each use. No match for the KitchenAid stand mixer.. not even if it was half the price.
Exactly what she said.