KitchenAid Artisan Mini Stand Mixer

For many years, likely a decade or more, I’ve coveted the beautiful machine known as the KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Price was the largest barrier to entry for me, and the fact that I’m not really a baker made it an extremely hard purchase to justify.

I’ve bought three or four of them over the years as wedding gifts for other people, but have never pulled the trigger for myself. I thought maybe Santa was planning to deliver one for Christmas this year due to my expanding repertoire into the baked goods arena, and I had spotted it (so I thought!) under the tree so I had already started planning my decent into the doughs breads that I was going to master in 2019!

As it turned out the large, HEAVY, box was an awesome butcher block cutting board, which I’m tickled pink to own. I must admit, there was a slight deflation when I realized the time was not at hand for my adventures in dough. But it did cause that initial spark, which leads to the rest of our story…

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, when my wife (probably sensing my growing interest) let me know that Groupon had a can’t beat price on an Artisan Mini (refurbished) for $170. Even with the sale price, I probably spent way too much time researching it, discovering through KitchenAid’s fun & easy online tool that the Artisan Mini was recommended for my needs, then finally went through with the purchase.

As you may know from reading here, I’ve been working on my rendition on Peanut Butter and Pumpkin pet treats, and I’ve been struggling with the mixing (BY HAND!) process – too wet, too dry, hands filthy – so this was definitely the first project I wanted to tackle once I unboxed and washed the new KitchenAid. I made two entire batches of dough – in record time, I might add – and dirtied up nary a finger!

Each batch only took about 3 minutes from start to finish (check out my time-lapse video below) which was a dramatic time savings from previous 20-minute+ runs by hand.

My head is overflowing with possibilities now. I suspect my house will be stocked to the brim with breads and that pasta will be part of many more meals moving forward. (I’m a giant fan of homemade pasta and simply don’t eat it very often when the boxed kind is the only option)

For my small family, the Artisan Mini is a great size at 3.5 quarts, and the weight/size make it ideal for Chicago apartment living. All of the great attachments that KitchenAid mixers are known for are compatible with the Artisan Mini, so you are not necessarily going to have to rebuy anything if you upgrade the base mixer down the road.

*UPDATE: The mini is a bit small. It gets the job done and is still a good economical choice for small families/goals. For me, after about 5 uses now, I’d prefer a larger model, but again, the pricepoint for that larger one is why I haven’t owned one before, so a catch22 of sorts. If you are on the fence and the money doesn’t matter as much, go with the larger model.

If you are interested in owning your own, check it out through our store link. If you are like me and want to find a deal, you can check in with Groupon to see what mixers they are currently offering at discounted prices – and not everything they sell there is refurbished…