Top 5 Best Kitchen machines of 2022

The Kenwood Chef XL is a relatively compact kitchen machine but at the same time has both a large bowl and powerful large whisks of high-quality stainless steel. To change the whisks and remove the bowl, you fold the upper part upwards. To facilitate this the machine has been fitted with a spring, which is easy to use and reduces the risk of trapping your fingers. In the raised position, the machine is quite tall (53 cm), which means you can’t stand it beneath a kitchen cabinet when you’re using it. Operation is very simple. The speed knob lights up with a white light when the machine is ready for use and starts flashing if something is open and the machine can’t start. Speeds are regulated from only stirring, to pulse (max direct), and speeds 1-7 with the machine seeming to move steplessly between these different speeds. A work lamp provides strong lighting directly into the bowl; something we were impressed by and which quickly became a favourite detail on Kenwood's kitchen machines.

For heavier jobs such as bread dough, the machine kneads really easily and it’s only at the maximum weights that you start to hear the motor complain a little. The machine's narrow design means it’s a little wobbly when in use and we even saw the machine ‘walk’ across the counter a bit if the worktop wasn’t completely flat. Lighter work, such as mixing various batters or whisking eggs, is both quick and stable. The splash guard covers the entire bowl, which provides good protection, and also has a large gap for adding flour etc. The dough hook has a large protective plate at the top, which prevents the dough from migrating upwards and works well even with very large doughs.

Regardless of the job, Kenwood's kitchen machine handles the task very well, even if it needs a supporting hand with the larger doughs. Details and sensitive parts feel well-made and likely to last a lifetime and we can’t help but be impressed by how Kenwood have made a machine for larger volumes without it having to take up tons of space in the kitchen. If you want, you can buy accessories for pasta making and for connecting a blender. So even though the price is in the upper segment, we feel the Kenwood Chef XL gives good value for money and should offer its users many hours of pleasant baking with impressive results.

Ankarsrum is already a well-known brand to the baking enthusiast. This kitchen assistant is often seen in high-profile contexts, both on popular social media channels and in TV productions. The stylish design means you’ll be happy to leave the Ankarsrum AKM 6230 out on the kitchen worktop even after the bread rolls are out of the oven.

Well equipped kitchen assistant with many accessories

In addition to the machine itself, the basic package for the Ankarsrum AKM 6230 consists of ten separate parts. In short, everything you need for the needs of a normal household. For the more advanced chef, vegetable shredders, meat mincers, blenders and many other accessories are available separately. The detachable cable is long enough to make the AKM 6230 easy to place in the kitchen, and also easier to store.

The many included accessories are undeniably a major advantage of the AKM 6230. Set dough for rolls to rise, whisk up some meringues, mix the cake batter, bake some bread? Whatever you fancy eating, the Ankarsrum AKM 6230 can help you fulfil the your heart’s desire. The only awkward thing about the many parts is storing them, and avoiding things getting lost in the kitchen.

Easy to use machine strong enough for large quantities of dough

The Ankarsrum AKM 6230 is easy to get started with. The machine itself is quite heavy, but on the other hand it is very stable on the kitchen worktop. Even at maximum power it doesn’t move. You place the stainless steel mixing bowl down, pull the arm into position and then you can start kneading or whisking. The fact that both the whisking and mixing bowls are so large means it’s easy to make double sets of both dough and batter.

The motor in the AKM 6230 is impressively strong and despite mixing three big batches of dough one after another, there’s no loss in capacity. For smaller quantities of dough you can use the dough roller, while the dough hook and the dough knife are used for bigger batches. These are very effective at preventing the dough from sticking and just being dragged around the bowl without being kneaded.

High quality machine worth its price

On the AKM 6230 there are two knobs. One can either be used as a timer for between 1 and 12 minutes, or can be turned to the constant ON position. The second knob sets the speed of the mixing bowl. The sound volume isn’t the lowest we’ve ever heard, but it’s not so loud that it irritates the ears more than other kitchen assistants do. It’s a big plus that almost all parts of the AKM 6230 are dishwasher-safe.

After an intense season of baking, the AKM 6230 still looks like new. All of the accessories worked perfectly and the kitchen assistant is a joy to have around. It’s true that the price is very high. But if you bake a lot and have a budget for a top end machine, the Ankarsrum AKM 6230 will more than live up to your expectations.

KitchenAid Artisan is a kitchen assistant in a retro 50s design that has a wealth of bright colours to choose from. It has a 300 W motor and the test panel admitted that they were impressed with the motor’s power output despite its modest power consumption, especially considering that many competitors have motors with a power rating of more than 1000 W. The motor feels steady, powerful and relatively quiet, but we still need to say that it is slightly weak when mixing yeast doughs – we’ll get back to this.

The machine comes with two stainless steel bowls, a larger one of 4.8 L with handles, and a smaller one of 3 L that fits into the larger one – which makes it easier to store the bowls when not in use. There is also a splash guard; two flat mixers, one of which has a silicone wing; a balloon whisk and a dough hook.

KitchenAid Artisan whips both cream and eggs with sugar masterfully. If you want to beat at high speed, it is wise to both use the splash guard and increase the speed slowly, because there is no built-in damping that makes the machine rev up steadily – which increases the risk of splashing. There is also no pulse function to quickly mix ingredients together. We also note that it is possible to start the machine with the power head lifted, which should be relatively easy to remove to reduce the risk of mistakes.

In addition to whipping like a dream, the flat blenders are also ideal for mixing cake batter, where the silicone wing holds the batter from the edges when you run more fluid-like mixtures, such as glazes.

The controls for lifting up the power head and for regulating the speed are located on either side of the machine and are easy to reach, but it is more difficult to see exactly which speed you set it at, which can be a little problematic as some tools can only be run at the lower speeds. For example, the dough hook can only be run on step 2, and at higher speeds the machine risks being irreparably damaged. (This is stated in the instruction manual, and our test panel experienced this after running the machine on step 4 and it stopped working completely – after only a few weeks of use. Slightly sensitive according to the test panel, despite the instructed speed being exceeded.)

When it comes to dough, KitchenAid can manage it, but you can hear that the engine struggles when loaded with the maximum amount of dough of 2 kg allowed. If you are among those who often bake large amounts of dough, there are better alternatives on the market.

All in all, this is a really good-looking machine, and perhaps that’s why you should choose KitchenAid over some similar competitors. If the test had applied to aesthetics alone, it would have won. It has really good basic functions and, if you don't mix heavier dough than it can handle, it will keep you more than satisfied. However, it lacks many of the small finesses that we expected from a premium assistant in this price class. Combined with a rather slender motor, this means that the Artisan is still not able to compete for top marks.

The MUM52120 may look small and simple, but it still manages most jobs you’d expect from a smaller kitchen machine. It’s easy to get started with the whisk and kneading functions and with a convenient push of a button you can lift the mixing arm to easily access the contents of the stainless steel bowl. Dough is processed efficiently by kneading both sideways and vertically and the four speed positions are fully sufficient for the small doughs we tested. There’s also a pulse function that allows you to operate the kitchen machine only momentarily, for precise control. The MUM52120 has a clever parking function which means accessories always stop at the back of the bowl, thus making it easier to top up. There’s a decent speed on the whisk too, but even though there’s a soft start function intended to reduce the risk of splashes, liquids such as cream can still escape.

Decibel-wise, the MUM52120 is no louder than the average kitchen machine. At lower speeds, however, the motor does have a high – almost beeping – tone, which makes it hard to listen to. The parts are easy to detach and replace, and almost all parts can be machine washed. One potentially great strength of the MUM52120 is its low height, which can be a real advantage if it’s being stored in a cupboard. For extra help with storage, there’s even a clever cable compartment. The MUM52120 does a good job for its price class and is a decent choice for the smaller household.