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Kenwood Chef Major Titanium 5 Qt Mixer

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Quick Specs: 750 Watt Motor | 5 Qt. Bowl | Weight: 29 pounds | Height: 13.5" | Warranty: 1 year complete coverage, 3 years motor | 7 Attachments Available 

Best For:

Folks who don't want to compromise power or quality in order to save kitchen space. Kenwood's Chef Major Titanium Mixer stands only 13.5" tall yet sports a 5 qt. mixing bowl. Kenwood’s smooth speed-control knob and pulse button work great on any mixing task we tested on it, and the Chef Major also has the strongest tilt-head safety lock. Kenwood offers a modest assortment of attachments including food processor, a pasta roller, and blender.

Pros:

• Compact Size - The Chef Major Titanium is only 13.5" tall yet packs a 750W motor under the hood for plenty of mixing power
• Smooth Start & Pulse - The speed dial smoothly transitions from speed to speed and this the only mixer with a pulse button that goes from 0 to 10 to quickly fold in those last additions
• Sturdy Safety Lock - The locking mechanism on the Kenwood Chef Major Titanium was the strongest we tested. When locked, it felt like there was no chance of it opening until the user unlocked it
• Stainless Steel Adjustable Attachments - The wire whip, dough hook, and paddle attachments are made of heavy-duty stainless steel. And this is a clever twist, so to speak - instead of raising or lowering the entire tilt-head to position the attachment at the proper height, you simply move the attachment itself to reach the bottom of the bowl. Smart!

Cons:

• Grab the Aspirin -  Properly installing this mixer's splash guard gave us all headaches 
• Obstructed Bowl Opening - The tilt-head can get in the way of adding in ingredients while mixing, the pour shield can sometimes help with this issue

 

Design & Construction

The Kenwood is compact tilt-head design is and quite compact, standing only 13.5" tall, yet sporting a large 5 qt. mixing bowl. The all-aluminum die-cast body is accented by polished metal controls and covers making this an attractive industrial feeling mixer. To release the tilt head, there is a lever on the side which takes a firm push to raise the tilt head and locks again once fully raised. The locking mechanism is incredibly strong on the Kenwood, so no worries of it unlocking in the middle of mixing a batch of chunky cookies. 

 

Kenwood is known for making nice audio equipment - they took their smoothest volume knob and moved it over to their power-house mixer.

Next to the lock switch, you'll see the speed control dial. The dial is smooth control knob making the Kenwood a pleasant experience to use. Switching between speeds is like turning up the volume on a nice stereo, a smooth gradual transition from speed to speed with no clicks or stops in between. This lets you get the exact mixing speed you desire for your recipes. There's also a "pulse" function on the control dial that will give you a short burst of mixing when you need it to fold in chocolate chips at the end of your cookie recipe.

 

Three hubs for Kenwood's pasta roller, food processor, blender, and more!

On the Mixer head, there are 3 removable silver covers that reveal the attachment outlets. Each outlet is a different speed: slow-speed in the back, medium speed in the middle, and high-speed in the front. Each optional attachment from Kenwood will only fit one of the ports correctly, so there should be no confusion.You can use one of the many attachments from Kenwood to turn your mixer into a pasta roller, meat grinder, or vegetable slicer. Kenwood is an awesome, space-saving multi-tool in the kitchen!

 

Included Accessories

The squat stainless steel mixing bowl has handles on each side and holds 5 qts in capacity. This is enough space to mix 5 pounds of bread dough and whip 2 large egg whites into an airy meringue. The bowl locks into the base of the mixer and sits on a removable rubber seating pad to prevent movement of the bowl while mixing. 

 

Kenwood spared no expense making these heavy-duty, solid stainless steel mixing tools.

The mixing tools included with the Kenwood are absurdly sturdy - the mixing beater, dough hook, and whisk are all constructed from a stainless steel making these attachments very weighty and also dishwasher safe. Unlike other tilt-head mixers, to adjust the height of the tool-to-bowl clearance to get more exact mixing, you actually adjust the height right on the tool itself instead of on the mixer body. This is great because you only adjust the tool once to your desired height and not the mixer every time you have to swap out tools like on KitchenAid and Cuisinart mixers.

Kenwood also includes a plastic splash guard with pour chute and is a pain to use properly. The splash guard must be installed in the correct order: splash guard first, then mixing tool. Also, it only fits on in one orientation, otherwise the mixer's tilt-head will not lock down. There is no indication of which way it's supposed to go, so I had to guess and check a few times to get it right. This issue is annoying but isn't a deal breaker.  

 

Test Drive

Kenwood will whip the smallest amount of egg whites into fluffy meringue.

Whipping egg whites and mixing a chunky cookie dough was no sweat for the Kenwood. It was a pleasant experience increasing mixing speed with the smooth speed control dial. The smooth start prevented flour from flying out of the mixer bowl and the unit felt pretty secure - until we cranked up the speed.

 

So satisfying to grab dough off the dough hook. One of the small pleasures in life.

We also made some sticky pizza dough to test Kenwood's heavy-duty dough hook. The dough hook has a great design with flattened tips and edges which helps the mixer incorporate all the dough ingredients evenly. Towards the end of the recipe, the mixer head did start to shake a small amount when the dough ball started to form, which is typical of tilt-head mixers.

Adding additional ingredients into the mixing bowl was somewhat difficult with a small opening between bowl and mixer head. The tricky-to-install splash guard with pour chute helps with this issue giving you a larger pour spout, but it was a pick your poison situation: take time to install the pour shield, or deal with a small space to add in more ingredients while mixing. I chose the latter for slightly less headache.

 

Attachments

Why yes, that is a full sized blender I'm running on top of the Kenwood Chef Titanium.

Kenwood offers a generous assortment of attachments to make your mixer a multi-use machine. They also offer a full-size blender for pureed soups and smoothies. Kenwood has power underneath the hood with its 700W motor to properly power all of the attachments Kenwood offers. Click here to check all of the tools you can attach to your Kenwood Mixer.

So shiny and futuristic. After spending some time with the Kenwood, I can say they make a dynamite mixer.

When you hear the name Kenwood, you probably think of stereos and not kitchen appliances. After rigorous testing, I can say they deliver an excellent mixing machine in a compact package. The Kenwood saves space in your kitchen yet still has a large, squat 5qt stainless steel mixing bowl. The included mixing tools are top quality made of solid stainless steel. Kenwood pays attention to detail with the sleek and user-friendly design of their mixer. The speed control dial feels like you're turning up the volume on a nice hi-fi stereo system when you crank up the mixer's speed. Kenwood offers a modest array of attachments to rival other popular mixers as well - turn the compact Kenwood into a blender, pasta maker, and more. The Kenwood Chef Major Titanium was a nice over-all user experience and is a good alternative to other major stand mixer brands.  

About the Author:  Chef Austin Merath is Everything Kitchen's Culinary Wizard, Kitchen-Gadget Reviewer, and New-Product Tester. He studied under chefs in College of the Ozarks' Culinary Program. It's his job to make sure you choose the kitchen tools that are right for you by testing the best we have to offer. When not cooking, Austin is tinkering with computers or exploring the Ozarks with his wife Amy. Click here for his full bio.