Can this CHEAP stand mixer beat my KitchenAid?

Summary by Krater

Brian Lagerstrom compares a $350 KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer with an $85 Hamilton Beach budget stand mixer by testing both with four recipes: whipped cream, chocolate chip cookies, pizza dough, and brioche. He concludes that while the KitchenAid is vastly superior in build quality, versatility, and heavy dough performance, the budget Hamilton Beach mixer handles about 90 percent of tasks well for a fraction of the cost.

From the video

Answers: Are cheap stand mixers worth buying compared to a KitchenAid?

• KitchenAid vs Hamilton Beach stand mixer comparison
• Budget stand mixer review
• Stand mixer testing with whipped cream
• Stand mixer testing with chocolate chip cookies
• Stand mixer testing with pizza dough
• Stand mixer testing with brioche

Ingredients

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 2 sticks butter
• white sugar
• brown sugar
• chocolate
• eggs
• flour
• salt
• water
• yeast

What it concludes

• The Hamilton Beach budget mixer whipped cream just as well as the KitchenAid, despite taking slightly longer at upper speed limits.
• The Hamilton Beach paddle attachment does not fit as snugly in the bowl as the KitchenAid, requiring more frequent scraping down during cookie dough mixing.
• The Hamilton Beach mixer took significantly longer (14 minutes vs 5-6 minutes) to cream butter and sugar for cookies, causing butter heating and air entrapment reduction.
• The Hamilton Beach dough hook struggled with pizza dough at speed 1, requiring manual kneading and flour adjustments for lower-hydration doughs.
• The Hamilton Beach mixer handled a high-fat brioche dough surprisingly well after 34 minutes of mixing with added flour, though it strained the motor and bowl hook combo.
• The Hamilton Beach mixer scored 28 out of 40 across tests compared to KitchenAid's 37 out of 40, proving it performs about 90 percent of tasks at a fraction of the cost.