What Wattage Stand Mixer Should I Buy?

Emma Christensen
Emma Christensen
Emma is a former editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories
updated May 30, 2019
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Q: I am accustomed to using a hand mixer and only recently decided that it would be a good idea to have a stand mixer. How do I determine what motor watt to buy? Watts are confusing to me — my hand mixer is only 200 watts and does a fine job, so am I too far off in thinking that a 275 watt stand mixer would do the trick for me?

Sent by Laura

Editor: My understanding is that watts translates into power — more watts, more power. Almost any stand mixer is going to be able to handle basic batters and doughs, but the higher wattage mixers will do a better job with things like very stiff bread doughs.

Readers, what do you think? What wattage do you recommend?

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