dalesky's Full Review: KitchenAid KHM7T Ultra Power Plus Hand Mixer
I actually asked for this mixer for Christmas one year. Yes, a man who cooks! My wife is the envy of many of her friends. I enjoy cooking, and creating new dishes. Recipes are just a starting point, right?
This mixer, while not replacing a stand mixer, is wonderful. It has enough speeds, a nice soft start feature which makes it easier to avoid a mess, and electronics that keep the speed constant regardless of the load. I especially like that last feature.
I have used this mixer for some things that might have been better suited for my stand mixer, but it always comes through. It has a good high speed, for whipping cream/egg whites, and a good low speed for just incorporating things.
Honestly though, when beating cream, I have better results if I chill the beaters and bowl first.
The speed control is electronic, meaning you just push the pad, and the little red number goes up or down from 1 to 7. Very cool! The number of speeds may seem excessive, until you find just the right one for your task.
The other benefit of being an electronic mixer is that the speed stays constant, even if the load increases. In other words, its virtually impossible to make this mixer slow down when encountering a heavy load.
The beaters are stainless steel, pop out easily, and have yet to bend from occasional abuse. I find them easy to clean by just running them in dish water. They are not shaped like many other beaters, with flat, or even ridged surfaces. They are round wires, similar to a standard whisk, only thicker. Being stainless also means that there is no finish to chip off, and no way for rust to set in. Another feature of the rounded beaters is their ease of cleaning, and the fact that they dont drip as much when you prop the mixer on its heel rest during your mixing.
I think the handle is comfortable, and the cord of sufficient length. The handle fits my medium sized hand well. I believe the cord is 6 feet in length. It is a double-grounded appliance, meaning it does not have a grounding prong, and you just need a two-wire outlet. You will need a polarized outlet however.
It is turned on with a small slide switch on the bottom to actually turn the mixer on or off. It will not start until that switch is in the on position. Once on, the slide switch to control the actual speed of the mixer is easily accessible under your thumb. The fact that it is a red LED makes it very easy to see what speed you are using. Its a touch pad, meaning you touch the front part to increase the speed, and the back part to decrease. It responds very quickly to increase or decrease input. Constant pressure on the pad moves it quickly up or down. When the on switch at the bottom is on, the display flashes zero (0) in the window.
The soft start feature means that is doesnt immediately jump to full speed when it starts. Instead, it starts almost as if its hesitating, then comes up to speed.
There is a heel rest designed into it also, which makes it easy to prop up, and its quite stable when you do so.
Beater ejection is easily accomplished with the oversized grey button on the top of the mixer.
Cleaning the bottom is fairly easy, given the very flat surface of the bottom.
Unlike some cheap ones I have had, this mixer doesn't smell like it's burning up when I use it hard. The motor is well designed for the purposes that you select a hand mixer for. This is one of the best you can buy, being made by a company with a long and distinguished reputation. You do get what you pay for with this higher-priced mixer.
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