'The more personal the item, the more we think it reflects us personally, the more important the color.'Īnd it's easier to pick a wild hue for a small appliance than for a large one, Smith said. 'Any time we think of something that we own, whether it's our car or our KitchenAid stand mixer, it reflects something about us,' said Kate Smith, a color expert and CEO of Sensational Color. That selection means that you can buy a symbol of your individuality to display on your kitchen counter and it's part of the reason KitchenAid's stand mixers are so popular. More than 80 colors are in rotation at the KitchenAid factory during my visit. That means employees will sand and repaint them. Workers found imperfections on these stand mixer parts. Machinery swings the pieces into a chamber for painting, a powder-coating process that's similar to way paint is applied to cars. (The town is also known for being the birthplace of the sharpshooter Annie Oakley.) Employees pop the pieces out of the molds from the casting facility, smooth out the rough edges and hang the sections from metal hooks. Some have a shiny finish, while others sport a matte or pebbled exterior.Ībout 1,200 workers assemble the mixers and other small KitchenAid appliances here in Greenville. One color fills each cart in shades with names that would make a crayon box jealous: boysenberry, raspberry ice, ocean drive, dried rose. Metal carts on wheels cover most much of the factory floor, their shelves lined with dozens of mixer components. I'm surrounded by parts of what will become stand mixers that are each worth hundreds of dollars. It looks like a rainbow shattered in the KitchenAid factory in Greenville, Ohio.

Mixer parts wait on the KitchenAid factory floor in Greenville, Ohio. According to Jessica McConnell, senior manager of color, finish and material design at Whirlpool (the parent company of KitchenAid), one of those early testers gave this response when asked about a name for this new appliance: 'I don't care what you call it, but I know it's the best kitchen aid I have ever had!' To test the H-5, Hobart sent units home to the wives of company executives. In 1919, engineers shrunk the mixer down to the 65-pound Model H-5. The success of the Model H prompted Hobart to think small. The machine, which the company began to sell in 1914, was an 80-quart behemoth that found favor in commercial bakeries and naval battleships because it made it easier to make food in mass quantities. In 1908, an engineer at the Ohio-based manufacturer named Herbert Johnston began to design one of the first electric stand mixers, the Model H, according to the book KitchenAid Best-Loved Recipes. Before there was KitchenAid, there was the Hobart Manufacturing Company. Like many corporate histories, the KitchenAid origin story is a little hokey, a bit too convenient and highly memorable. There's no end to imagination in the kitchen.Stand mixer puts factory power in the kitchen And as the wonderful Julia Child said: 'The more you know, the more you can create. So, we rounded up some of the top-rated standing and hand mixers to help you make an informed decision on what's best for your sacred kitchen space. They're less powerful than standing mixers, but they tend to be more affordable.Įveryone and every kitchen has different needs, whether that's a compact mixer due to limited counter space or a heavy-duty mixer for constant cookie curation. You simply add the ingredients, select a speed, and the machine does the work for you,' chef and food photographer Lizzy Briskin tells POPSUGAR.Ī hand mixer, meanwhile, 'must be held in your hand while in use,' Briskin says. 'The beauty of a standing mixer is that it's totally hands-off. Let's first pick apart the ultimate differences in standing and hand mixers. Unlike the ways that our grandparents used to prep their dough and batter, in today's world, baking has become much more streamlined and approachable thanks in part to the durability and affordability of both standing and handheld mixers. Whether or not you're a natural baker with Julia Child-like aspirations, no kitchen is complete without a mixer to help you whip up your favorite goodies without having to stir, whisk, or otherwise combine ingredients tirelessly by hand.

Kitchenaid artisan mixer colors