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Ankarsrum Mixer vs KitchenAid?
Hi all - I'm trying to decide between an 8 qt Kitchen Aid Mixer or an Ankarsrum and was hoping to get a little feedback. I love the large bowl in both, as I double or more many cake and buttercreams when I bake. I'd like to get into baking more breads, but not something I do regularly at the moment.
Ankarsrum: I love the open top and the scraper option in the Ankarsrum. It seems like it would be easier to add ingredients as it's blending and you don't have to stop to scrape the sides of the bowl down. My main concern is what attachments to use for mixing cake batters and buttercreams... I know it comes with the whisks, but it looks like those can only be used with the smaller bowl which wouldn't be conducive to doubling batches. Also, since there doesn't seem to be an attachment similar to the paddle, I'm unsure what would be a good substitute.
Kitchen Aid: I have a smaller kitchen aid (5 qt, maybe?) which I am used to, of course. I am comfortable with knowing how my cakes and buttercreams will turn out and what attachments to use. However, it seems to struggle with thicker batters (even just chocolate chip cookies!) and the mixer head moves back and forth. I've never tried bread in there, but I know that's an issue some people come across. I also hate having to stop the mixing to add ingredients and/or scrape down the sides and across the bottom of the bowl to ensure it mixes together properly.
I know this is a lot of info, but I'm hoping to hear from people who have first hand experience with the Ankarsrum to help make a decision. Thank you!
washingtonpost
There are lots of threads on this already.
I have the Ankarsrum and a KA Pro and I need them both. The Ankarsrum is solely for bread and it's far better at this than the KA. The KA is better for cookies & cakes and you don't need to scrape down if you buy a replacement blade that has the silicone tips, but I don't know if these are available for the 8qt machine.
Thanks for your comment. I saw a few similar posts, but I didn't see any that discussed the attachments they used for cakes, how/if it changed the consistency, details of the issues they experienced, etc. so I thought I'd post as well.
Ankarsrum is not only for bread. I’ve done cakes, cheesecakes, it’s stellar for stiff cookie dough with the roller and scraper. The KA is great for the attachments, the Ankarsum meat grinder attachment, cookie press, citrus juicer, ect is better than KA. But KA has the veg sheeter, spiralizer, shave ice, ice cream maker ect.
So I have the KA professional 600 and also an Ankarsrum. I still have both on my counter as I use my KA for butter creams, cakes, and cookies. I solely use the Ankarsrum for breads and bagels, I know, call me crazy but I bought it just for bagels because my KA couldn't handle the dough.
The Ankarsrum comes with balloon whisks and single wire cookie attachments along with the dough hook and dough roller. In order to use the whisks/cookie wire, you have to use the plastic bowl that is also comes with and the motor only spins the attachment, not the bowl like the metal bowl to use with the dough hooks/roller, so the scraper would be useless. I've made a single batch of a chocolate cake with the Ankarsrum and it was a little over half way full in the bowl which gave me two nice sized 8" round layers (it was maybe 1.5-2" thick). I've yet to make cookies with it as it's always habit to just grab my KA.
It's my understanding that to use the whisks/wire in the Ankarsrum that all of the ingredients must be room temperature or close to as the attachments would be too weak and you could potentially break them. They don't feel all that sturdy to me either if I'm being honest.
Out of curiosity, I looked in the cook book that came with the Ankarsrum and there's a recipe for chocolate frosting that uses the cookie whisks to make it and in another recipe for a meringue they use the balloon whisks.
Thank you so much for your comment, it's really helpful. It sounds like most people are probably using the whisk attachments with that smaller bowl, which would defeat the purpose to me. Plus the sturdiness of the attachments would be concerning. It's such a cool tool with the open top, but it sounds like I wouldn't be able to use it the way I need to.
I have the Ankarsrum and no other mixer. Like others have said, the whisks and wire attachments only work with the plastic bowl, but I have actually made double batches of cookies in that bowl without issue (it's not *that* small). I very occasionally notice some minor clicking indicating strain on the plastic parts but only with very thick dough being mixed too fast. I have found the Ankarsrum to be totally functional for general baking and obviously lovely for bread. The plastic bowl does require some occasional scraping to make sure everything is incorporated, similar to the KA, but it's pretty easy to just add ingredients while it's going with both types of mixing.
I should caveat that I have two little kids so am not baking as frequently as some folks (probably average a couple of times per week with occasional day of multiple complex items when I can justify it!) If I have the space and time to justify a second mixer in future years, then I will add a big KA mixer. I'd love to be able to use fridge-temp butter and also would generally love having the second mixer to easily swap between tasks, but I don't feel that I'm currently missing out on functionality with the Ankarsrum.
I think they just announced whisks for the metal bowl. Scrolled quickly past it on IG
Thank you for taking the time to respond and give details! I am slightly hesitant on the size of the smaller bowl, but glad to hear it works well for you!
Be very careful with children around the ankarsrum (and KitchenAid for that matter).
The KitchenAid lowers itself down into the bowl, which acts as a shield for the moving parts.
The Ankarsrum rotates the bowl. Fully exposed.
There doesn't appear to be a human safe high-torque cutoff on either of these mixers. The problem is that the Ankarsrum has a large metal obstruction alongside the moving bowl. With no safety shield of any kind. So if you get little fingers or clothing pulled into the crevice as the bowl turns, it will keep pulling with an extreme amount of force and can potentially do a LOT of damage to a person.
Sure, but if you stick your hand down into the KitchenAid bowl you will never play the piano again, while nothing would really happen if you accidentally touch the inside of the Ankarsrum. The dangers are in different places for sure