3 Reasons to Choose a Hand Mixer Over a Stand Mixer

Hand mixers are perfect for light-duty jobs such as whipping cream or egg whites, mixing cake batter, and mixing sauces and gravies.

If you’re short on counter or storage space, a hand mixer is your best bet. When you’re not using it, you can stick it in a drawer or cabinet. Many models come with storage cases that attach to the main body of the mixer and hold all the attachments. That way, you don’t have to search your utensil drawer for the specific beater you need. Some also come with a retractable cord.

Hand mixers cost much less than stand mixers. The ones in our ratings range from $16 to $170 right now (though prices vary over time). But in our tests, we’ve found that the lower-priced models typically don’t perform as well. That said, the highly rated Toastmaster TM-108HM is priced at around $25. So check our ratings before you shop, especially if you are on a tight budget. By comparison, stand mixers in our ratings currently range from $55 to $1,000.

Once you decide a hand mixer is your go-to, take note of its features. Some are more important than others.

Attachments: Hand mixers typically come with wire beaters, and some also include a whisk or dough hooks. Look for beaters without a center post, which are easier to clean than those with posts. Whisks have even thinner wires than the standard wire beaters and are designed to incorporate air into whipped cream and frothy egg whites. (You can find out which attachments come with which mixers in the Features & Specs sections of our individual model pages.)

Speeds: Although many manufacturers tout the number of speeds of their hand mixers, in our tests, we’ve found that three is enough—low, medium, and high. (Use low when you start combining your wet and dry ingredients so that the dry ingredients don’t go flying.) A few of the mixers in our ratings come with a slow-start option, which is even slower than low and even less likely to cause splattering. And when you’re whipping cream, which is what the high setting is for, start on the lowest speed and work your way up as the cream thickens.

Nice-to-haves: A few of the hand mixers we tested have interchangeable beaters so that you can insert them into either socket. Another nicety is an indentation on the underside of the mixer’s body that allows it to perch on the side of a bowl so that it doesn’t suddenly tip over and make a mess.

Expect the goopy batters and other concoctions you make to cling to the beaters and maybe even splatter onto the mixer itself. Don’t be tempted to take shortcuts on cleaning before you store the mixer and beaters. You’ll want them to be gunk-free and ready for the next time you need them.

KitchenAid, which makes some of the top mixers in our ratings, recommends the following:
• Always unplug the hand mixer before cleaning.
• Eject the beaters. Swishing them in water can help remove the initial layer, and then you can put most in the dishwasher. (Check your owner’s manual first.)
• If you need to hand-wash the beaters, soak them in warm, soapy water.
• Never immerse the body of the mixer in water. Instead, wipe it and the power cord with a damp cloth and dry them off.

Here are the top five hand mixers from our tests, listed in alphabetical order.

Consumer Reports partners with independent labs to test mixers on a variety of tasks. To test mixing performance, we make pancake batter, aiming for smooth yet frothy results, and mix egg whites to see how quickly each appliance can achieve a light and fluffy texture. We also whip heavy cream, aiming for a light, smooth texture.

We judge noise when the mixer is running at the highest speed, but this might not be a huge concern because mixers are generally run in short bursts. To score mixers on convenience, we assess how easy it is to connect and remove the beaters and adjust the mixer speeds.