Kenmore mixer is a good value
Pros:
Solid, mixes well, nice features, nice controls
Cons:
a little noisy, attachments go in and out hard
The Bottom Line:
With well-thought-out features, lots of power, and an excellent price, the Kenmore is a great value.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I bought my 600-watt Kenmore mixer after burning out the motor on a Kitchen Aid 325-watt. I didn't want to spend the $300-plus required to get a more powerful Kitchen Aid. The Kenmore was $5 cheaper than the 325-watt Kitchen Aid (and the Kenmore wasn't on sale).
Because of my experience with Kitchen Aid I evaluated the Kenmore thoroughly. I mixed a double batch of bread dough -- the same recipe and quantity that caused my Kitchen Aid to smoke. The Kenmore mixer kneaded it for 10 full minutes without even becoming hot. Of course it isn't fair to compare the power of a 600-watt machine with the power of a 325-watt, so let's compare features.
With the Kenmore, I can easily add ingredients from the side as the mixer runs. (Not so with Kitchen Aid.) The head lifts up, a feature I find handy. (Not so with Kitchen Aid.) The machine doesn't "walk" as it runs. (The Kitchen Aid did.) It's smaller than the Kitchen Aid, both height-wise and its footprint. (And the more powerful Kitchen Aid mixers are bigger than the less powerful ones.) The pouring shield is all one piece and doesn't fall apart at the slightest touch the way the Kitchen Aid pouring shield does. And the dough didn't climb up the hook and over the edge of the mixing bowl, the way it did in the Kitchen Aid mixer. The mixing bowl stays level even in the sink -- a minor issue, but the Kitchen Aid bowl would tip over unless it was on a perfectly flat, level, surface, which meant I couldn't put it in the sink and run water into it unless I stood there and held onto it or propped it up.
Another nice feature of the Kenmore is a slow start no matter what speed you're on, so that ingredients don't fly out. It has the same "planetary" mixing action as Kitchen Aid. The rubber-coated push-button controls are firm to the touch and easily run up and down the scale of 1-16 speeds. The machine is heavy in a solid sense but not as heavy weight-wise as the Kitchen Aid; I find it much easier to move around the counter, and it was certainly a heck of a lot easier to carry into the house. I keep it on the counter but if someone wanted to store it I don't think they'd have a problem lifting it in and out of a cupboard.
Two minor flaws: the Kenmore is noisy (but not all that much noisier than the Kitchen Aid) and the attachments are quite stiff and require a hard snap to get in and a hearty tug to get out. I like the way the Kitchen Aid attachments go in and out better. But both are things I can easily live with.
I also mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, first creaming the butter, then adding the sugars and creaming those, then the flour etc. and the chips. The Kenmore performed admirably without straining and everything was thoroughly blended.
I got the 325-watt 5-quart Kitchen Aid on sale for a phenomenal price: $224.99. I got the 600-watt Kenmore for $5 less. It's a much more powerful machine for essentially the same price, its features are more thoughtfully designed than the Kitchen Aid's -- even though the Kitchen Aid is very trendy right now. "Value" matters more to me than "trendy" so I am sticking with the Kenmore.
