OUR FIRST CHOICE: SUNBEAM HERITAGE SERIES  

Note that mixers in this price range do not have the KitchenAid PowerHub or similar feature that enables the use of a wide variety of unique and innovative KitchenAid Mixer Attachments. Keep this in mind if you plan on doing more than simply baking with your appliance.

Note that prices may change since this review was written. Where possible we will note the changes below.

Read our comprehensive reviews below!

 Learn MoreBrandRatingPowerBowl
Capacity
WeightSpeedsColorsHeight
Hamilton Beach Stand MixerView PriceHamilton
Beach
3.0290 Watts4 qt5 lbs6black & chrome15.4 in
Hamilton Beach Stand Mixer under $100View PriceHamilton
Beach
3.8300 Watts3.5 qt11.1 lbs6black, black&chrome14.5 in
Red BODUM Kitchen Stand Mixer being reviewedView PriceBODUM4.3700 Watts5 qt18.9 lbx7red13.6 in
Sunbeam Heritage stand mixer being reviewedView PriceSunbeam4.0350 Watts4.6 qt12.2 lbs12Red, white, silver, pink, blue, green, orange16.1 in

Hamilton Beach 64650 6-Speed Classic Stand Mixer Review 2016

 

When considering buying a stand mixer under $100, they don’t get much cheaper in price than this Hamilton Beach 4qt stand mixer. However, if you’re even a moderately frequent baker or cook you may want to look closer before spending money on this mixer. There are some serious tradeoffs you will make to get a stand mixer under $100 (and in fact this one is under $50).

 

 

Specifications at a glance:

  • Price Range: $35 – $45
  • Amazon Ratings: 68% of ratings are in the 4 to 5-star category.
  • Weight: 5 pounds
  • Height: 15.4 inches
  • Power: 290 watts peak
  • Capacity: 4qt
  • Speeds: 6
  • Colors: Chrome and black plastic

Overview

While some may consider this a stand mixer, in reality, it is essentially a decent hand mixer that attaches to a stand that holds a bowl. Visually this is pretty apparent, and as you read the details in the review below you will see this is the best way to think about this mixer. Basically a hand mixer with a holder.

If you plan on doing a lot of bread or cookie dough, or anything larger than 1-2 batches, this mixer will not work for you. If you plan on doing lighter cake and icing-style recipes, then this may give you a cheap alternative to using a hand mixer. Check out our other review for the best mixer for heavy dough if you intend on baking a lot of dough. We wouldn’t recommend a cheaper mixer for that job!

Overall we would recommend you purchase this cheap stand mixer only if you set your expectations appropriately on what it can, and cannot, do in the kitchen.

PROS

  • Cheap alternative to always having to use a hand mixer. Provides hands-free operation for simple mixing needs.
  • Detachable hand mixer
  • Can move the bowl around to add ingredients
  • Handles cake mixes and lighter mixing jobs well

CONS

  • Lightweight moves around on heavier mixing jobs
  • The motor can burn out quickly if trying bread or heavier doughs
  • No slow speed or speed ramp up. All 6 speeds start out very fast.
  • Build quality is not great – rust spots can occur on attachments and bowl, beater housing can break fairly easily
  • Not very stable and recommend not leaving unattended

Power and Mixing Ability

This 4qt Hamilton Beach mixer boasts 290 watts of peak power. Compared to higher-end mixers with 350 or higher watts, this is not surprised at the low end of the spectrum.

The power of a kitchen mixer is only part of the story. The mixer has to be built to handle the amount of power delivered by the electric motor. It has to be heavy and stable enough to not have that power translate into movement around your countertop. At only 5 pounds, this mixer struggles to meet these criteria even with the lower power rating.

In terms of mixing ability, this stand mixer is best thought of as a hand mixer on a stand. Anything you can do with a hand mixer you can likely do here. However, this means you have the basic rotary / circular mixing action with the beaters, and you will frequently need to use a spatula to scrape the sides and also ensure ingredients in the bottom of the bowl get sucked into the mixing action.

Mixing ability is rated by most users as good for lightweight recipes, with the commentary of still needing to attend to it while mixing (scraping, making sure you keep it stable, etc.)

Most reviewers run into significant trouble trying to knead bread, mix bread dough, or do thicker dough recipes or larger volumes. The trouble ranges from burning the motor out, beaters potentially coming loose from the plastic housing and poorly blended ingredients.

Reliability

This mixer has mixed reviews on reliability, and the most common problems encountered include:

  • Test it right out of the box. Apparently, some of these can be dead on arrival.
  • Motor burnout if bread or heavy cookie dough is attempted
  • Problems with plastic housing holding beaters in.
  • The mixer can separate from the stand
  • The stainless steel bowl can develop rust spots
  • Lightweight and more comparable to a hand mixer versus a stand mixer

Bowl Capacity & Attachments

This mixer comes with a 4qt stainless steel bowl. The bowl does not rotate on its own but will rotate due to the action of the mixer attachments themselves.

It comes with the following attachments:

Note that you likely will not get much use out of the dough hooks, as most users indicate the mixer is not stable enough or has enough power to really work with bread and heavy cookie dough.

 

Hamilton Beach 63325 6-Speed Stand Mixer Review 2016

 

Spending an additional $30-$40 will begin getting you into the realm of a true stand mixer – one that you can leave unattended and can handle heavier mixing jobs like cookie dough and kneading bread. While the weight, build quality, and power still is under what a higher-end mixer like Kitchenaid may provide, for the money this mixer may meet your needs.

 

 

Specifications at a glance:

  • Price Range: $60-$85
  • Amazon Ratings: 81% of ratings are in the 4 to 5 star category.
  • Weight: 11.1 pounds
  • Height: 14.5 inches
  • Power: 300 watts
  • Capacity: 3.5qt
  • Speeds: 6
  • Colors: Black, or Black and Chrome

Overview

The Hamilton Beach 63325 stand mixer begins getting you into the realm of a true robust kitchen mixer. While still assembled out of a fair amount of plastic and lighter grade materials, and lacking a full metal gear train, this mixer can handle a surprising number of typical recipes. It also introduces you to a few features typically found on mixers costing close to double the price.

PROS

  • Tilting head enables the addition of ingredients
  • Planetary mixing action to maximize blending of all ingredients
  • Suction cups to help stabilize given relatively lightweight
  • Can handle bread dough and most cookie dough
  • Smaller footprint on the counter and lightweight enough to move frequently
  • Recommended by several cooking instructors as an excellent starter mixer

CONS

  • Having to stop the mixer and tilt the head up to add ingredients can be a nuisance
  • Scraping still required as ingredients can clump on side of the bowl and liquids pool in the bottom of the bowl
  • Can be noisy and vibrate when doing heavier dough mixing
  • Attachments like whisk and beaters occasionally fall out on heavier mixes
  • Cleaning the bowl and around top of beaters can be challenging

Power and Mixing Ability

At 300 watts, this stand mixer wouldn’t be categorized as a powerhouse, and in fact, is only a few tens of watts higher than a good hand mixer.

However, most reviewers agree it does a good job relative to the price point, and can handle most normal baking needs. The planetary rotation action is similar to what is provided on most Kitchenaid mixers, although some users have indicated not all attachments reach deep enough to pick up the liquids in the bottom of the bowl.

Reviewers give it high marks for lighter recipes such as cake mixes, icing, mashed potatoes, and similar mixing needs. the majority of users have been satisfied with the ability to handle bread and pizza dough mixes, as well as most cookie dough recipes. A few users have complained about clumping on the sides of the bowl, and bread dough being twisted around versus being truly stretched and kneaded.

Multiple comments on the sturdiness of the attachments indicate that for larger or continuous heavy mixing jobs you could find yourself replacing the attachments periodically.

Reliability

This Hamilton Beach stand mixer is rated as fairly reliable by most reviewers, taking into account its the price range and anticipated usage in the kitchen. It is not an industrial-strength kitchen mixer, but for those looking to move up from a hand mixer without spending hundreds of dollars, it reaches a good compromise.

Some complaints have surfaced regarding how dishwasher safe the attachments are, with recommendations to hand wash them as they become discolored in the dishwasher.

There aren’t a lot of serious issues noted in common across most reviews. The main issues mentioned include:

  • Rust or discoloration of attachments if washed in the dishwasher
  • The top of the mixer can lift up in some cases when mixing heavier doughs
  • Whisks breaking appear to be common, and finding replacements can be difficult
  • The coating can come off attachments after being in the dishwasher
  • Can be noisy

Bowl Capacity & Attachments

This stand mixer comes with a 3.5qt stainless steel bowl. Note that some reviews have mentioned rust spots on the bowl, so more research may be needed to understand the quality of the stainless steel and/or thickness.

The bowl naturally turns with the action of the planetary mixing motion of the beaters/blades, so it does not have a motorized turntable.

It comes with a dough hook, whisk, and flat beater.

Note that numerous reviewers and users commented on the attachments as being a bit fragile and prone to breaking as well as the coating coming off after being in the dishwasher. There were some occasional review notes about the attachments coming off of the mixer head as well.

We would recommend hand washing the attachments only based on common feedback on discoloration, rust, and powdered residue on the blades after washing in a dishwasher.

 

BODUM Bistro Electric Stand Mixer Review – No longer Under $100

When we originally researched this article in 2016, the Bodum basic stand mixer was right at the $100 price point. However, almost a year later the price has now increased to over $200. While we still feel this is a really good mixer, you’re now getting in to the sale price range for KitchenAid – and thus this isn’t the best deal around $100 for a mixer.

BODUM is not exactly a household name in the United States, but it is a leading Swiss manufacturer of kitchen mixers. With their design headquarters in Switzerland, the company was originally founded in 1944 in Denmark, and in 1978 the company’s headquarters was moved to Switzerland.

Popular in Europe, BODUM is beginning to make a strong entry into the American market, and is definitely worth looking at in terms of design, style, capability, and reliability. They are one of the few companies who offer premium, industrial strength kitchen mixers for hundreds of dollars, but have not ignored consumers who are looking for a slightly less featured mixer for under $100.

 

Specifications at a glance:

  • Price Range: $70 – $95  $200 – $285
  • Amazon Ratings: 73% of ratings are in the 4 to 5 star category.
  • Weight: 18.9 pounds
  • Height: 13.6 inches
  • Power: 700 watts
  • Capacity: 5 qt (4.7 liters)
  • Speeds: 7
  • Colors: Red

Overview

Many of the reviews for the Bodum Electric Stand Mixer literally say “watch out Kitchenaid”, as there is a fair consensus that for the price this mixer delivers better looks/design, is fairly reliable, and is unmatched in power for a mixer that costs less than $100.

We looked for a lot of “dirt” on this mixer given its relatively unrecognized name, but honestly, the majority of the negative reviews weren’t much different than most other mixers, dealing with units that were dead out of the box or shortly thereafter. While this speaks [in general] to the manufacturing process and quality assurance, we’re not convinced this frequency is much more than you see with any other mass-produced stand mixer.

All-in-all this was one of our favorite mixers within this price category.

PROS

  • Incredible power – 700 watts handles virtually any mixing job
  • Very sleek, European art deco design. Will be a conversation piece on your counter.
  • High marks for general reliability, with few reports of motor burnout or attachments breaking off
  • Integrated bowl cover that eliminates spatters at any speed
  • Rubber handle on bowl useful

CONS

  • Short speedup then settles into speed set. Given this is an intentional design consideration, opinions are mixed on whether this is a pro or con.
  • Some users struggled to learn how to use the attachment access panel
  • Difficult to open attachment access
  • Some scraping of sides needs to be done for some recipes
  • 5 min maximum run time, although some users said higher-end Kitchenaid mixers had a similar recommendation.
  • Some complaints about the mixer being louder than expected

Power and Mixing Capability

The Bodum electric stand mixer has the most power of any mixer we looked at for under 100 dollars. At 700 watts of motor power, it has double the motor power of its next closer competitor in this price range.

Reviewers noted little to no issues mixing heavier cookie dough recipes, nor were there any significant complaints about kneading bread dough – even more than one batch at a time. This mixer is up to almost any mixing job or recipe you can throw at it.

Because of the heavier motor in this mixer, there were some comments about it being louder than other stand mixers, however, this may be somewhat subjective as a few reviewers said it was comparable to previous Kitchenaid mixers they owned.

Mixing ability was rated as fairly good. A few users complained about having to occasionally scrape the sides of the bowl during a mixing cycle, but this wasn’t a uniform complaint. We were not able to find any information on whether it uses a planetary motion versus a circular, so likely a safe bet that it uses a standard circular motion for mixing.

Reliability

In general, we found little feedback on common problems with this mixer. We found far fewer reports of motor burnout, broken attachments, or issues with attachments coming out of the mixer housing.

Overall we were surprised at the generally high reliability reported by most users of this mixer.

Bowl Capacity and Attachments

The bowl is 5qt, which is more than enough capacity for double or triple recipes to be made at the same time. The bowl has an integrated rubber handle that is unique across the majority of standard kitchen mixers. It is made of stainless steel, and there were no complaints found about any issues with rust spots.

The mixer comes with 3 mixing attachments as well as the splash guard:

  • Dough hook
  • Mixing beater
  • Mixing whisk

There is a meat grinder attachment available, but some users indicated a lower number of available extra attachments being available for purchase.

 

Sunbeam FPSBSM2104 Heritage Series Stand Mixer Review 2016

 

At first glance the Sunbeam stand mixer likely wouldn’t win any design awards. It looks a little like a hand mixer added to a stand. However, it does have a wide variety of colors to choose from, and a few interesting features that other stand mixers under $100 may lack. Let’s take a closer look.

 

Specifications at a glance:

  • Price Range: $70 – $140
  • Amazon Ratings: 69% of ratings are in the 4 to 5 star category.
  • Weight: 12.2 pounds
  • Height: 16.1  inches
  • Power: 350 watts
  • Capacity: 4.6qt
  • Speeds: 12
  • Colors: Red, white, silver, pink, blue, green, orange

Overview

Sunbeam historically has had a reputation for solid kitchen appliances that last a long time. However, many users of much older Sunbeam appliances feel this one has less of a build quality, even though it has a die cast metal housing similar to much higher end Kitchenaid mixers.

It has a few unique features such as an offset bowl positioning approach, which allows the beaters to make contact with the side of the bowl on every rotation, which should cut down on the amount of manual scraping required.

PROS

  • Slow start with 12 variable speeds to minimize spattering
  • Synchronized 3-way mixing action aids better blending
  • Sufficient power to handle almost all mixing needs including bread and cookie dough
  • Offset bowl enables addition of ingredients like liquids while mixer is running

CONS

  • Can jump around on the counter with heavier bread dough mixing
  • Some users complain about the beaters rusting after being washed (chrome)
  • Bowl can occasionally jump off stand (not locked in to place)
  • Bowl does not always rotate, and must be turned by hand
  • Heat issues noticed on motor housing as well as attachments getting hot

Power and Mixing Capability

Most users indicated the Sunbeam stand mixer is more than capable of handling bread and cookie dough, as well as all other light mixing needs like cake mixes etc. At 350 watts it is one of the more powerful mixers under $100, but is only half the power of the Bodum mixer from Switzerland.

The offset mixing bowl, which rotates from the action of the beaters, seems to do a better job than other lower end mixers in terms of avoiding constant scraping of the sides. However, there are issues with the attachments being able to reach the bottom of the bowl, and many users complained about having to constantly help mix these in.

The offset bowl, while a good idea in principle, works only if the bowl is rotating constantly. However, many reviewers noted that the bowl may not turn on it’s own, and therefore an entire side of ingredients are always pulled in sufficiently. Which, of course, means tending to the mixer with a spatula on an ongoing basis.

Reliability

Build quality is not perfect on this mixer, which again is not uncommon in this price range. Some common complaints from 1-2 star raters include:

  • Rust problems with beaters
  • Problems with beaters being securely anchored, can fall out
  • Chrome plating chipping off beaters and attachments into food
  • Reports of the mixer suddenly not turning on again

Bowl Capacity and Attachments

The Sunbeam Heritage Stand Mixer comes with a stainless steel 4.6 quart bowl. There were not any complaints about rust occurring on the bowl, which speaks to the grade of stainless steel used being pretty good.

It comes with chrome beaters and dough hooks, which is pretty common in this price range. While stainless steel attachments will last a lifetime, chrome attachments will do the job as well, although you do have to be careful about washing them or leaving them wet for extended periods of time due to potential for rust spots.

A whisk is available for this model as well, although it does not ship with this particular mixer model.