The 7 best hand mixer picks I would actually buy again

I am the one in my house who researches every appliance before it gets bought, ten years of it now, so the best hand mixer question lands on me every time somebody starts baking. What gets asked is whether a good hand held electric mixer will get through stiff dough, whether a best cordless hand mixer has the power to be worth the charging, whether a best electric hand mixer beats a stand mixer, and whether a best baking hand mixer still works in three years. I went by which hand held mixers were still working. The hand mixers that did not make it bogged down in cookie dough, dropped their beaters into the batter, or wandered across the rim at the top two speeds.

1. Best overall, the Cuisinart HM-90BCS. Nine speeds reads like marketing until you use the bottom three, which start slow enough that the flour stays in the bowl instead of on your shirt. The 220 watt motor creams cold butter without the whining noise cheaper mixers make, and the beaters come out with far less batter stuck to them. Around eighty, the top of sensible for something hand held. It does get loud, noticeably louder as you climb the speeds, and the beaters kick for half a second when you first switch it on.

2. Best baking hand mixer, the Hamilton Beach 62682G. This one turns up in nearly every kitchen I have been in, 250 watts, six speeds, and a bowl rest so you can park it on the rim without batter running down the side. It weighs barely over a pound, which you notice while whipping meringue for five minutes straight. Under thirty. The complaint that repeats in the reviews is motors giving out just past the one year mark.

3. Best budget hand mixer, the Ovente HM151B. Five speeds, 150 watts, about fifteen dollars, and it handles pancake batter, whipped cream and frosting without drama. Its what I tell people to buy for a first kitchen when they dont yet know how much they will bake. The snap on storage base is a real pain to unclip, the tabs are stiff enough that you end up prying at them with a knife.

4. Best hand mixer for cookie dough, the Yomelo Y-891. 400 watts is the most power here outside the Dualit, and with the dough hooks fitted it pulls a double batch of stiff dough without bogging down. Nine speeds, a lit display on the handle, and it stays light for what it does. Good buy if you bake bread and have no room for a stand mixer. The beaters run small, so a full bowl takes more passes than it ought to.

5. Best heavy duty hand mixer, the Dualit 88520. Made for commercial kitchens, 400 watts, wide flat beaters rather than the flimsy wire type, and a cord that winds back into the rear cap so it isnt tangled in a drawer. Close to two hundred, stand mixer money for something hand held, but the people baking every week keep it for years. The one star reviews cluster on one fault, a beater that stops seating properly in its socket around the year mark.

6. Best lightweight one, the Proctor Silex 62515PS. Under a pound, full size chrome beaters, five speeds and the same bowl rest trick. Anyone with wrist or shoulder trouble can hold this through a whole batch, which is why I bought one for my mother. Speed one is not slow, though. None of them are. It will throw mashed potato out of a small bowl if you are not paying attention.

7. Best quiet one, the Hamilton Beach Professional 62658G. Five speeds, a slow start that ramps rather than jumping, and a burst button on every level. Quiet enough to use early in the morning without waking anyone, and the thin stainless beaters rinse clean in seconds. No dough hooks in the box, an odd miss on something sold as professional, and it sits heavier in the hand than the plain Hamilton Beach models.

questions I get every time:

which hand mixer is best for mashed potatoes. The Proctor Silex will do it in a deep bowl, but the Cuisinart is better on a big pot because you can ease it in on speed one.

is a cordless hand mixer worth buying. Nothing on this list is cordless, and the cordless ones I have tried run out of torque halfway through anything stiff.

what is the best brand hand mixer. Hamilton Beach owns the cheap end, Cuisinart owns the middle, and both are easy to find beaters for later.

is a hand mixer enough if you bake bread. For one or two loaves with dough hooks, yes, the Yomelo or the Dualit. Past that you want a stand mixer.