KitchenAid Artisan, 5-Qt Tilt Head Stand Mixer, KSM150PS, Porcelain White

Why it's worth it

The Artisan pairs a 5-quart stainless bowl with 10 speeds and a tilt-head that swings back so you can scrape the sides without wrestling anything. KitchenAid rates it for 9 dozen cookies in one batch, and the hub up front takes pasta rollers, grinders and ice cream bowls.

Five quarts is the size most home bakers actually need. It handles a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, two loaves' worth of dough, or a two-layer cake without making you split the recipe in half. KitchenAid rates the bowl at 9 dozen cookies per batch with the flat beater. Go smaller and holiday baking turns into shift work. Go much bigger and a single egg white hides in the bottom where the whip can't reach it.

The tilt-head is the part you'll notice every single time. Pull the lever, the motor housing swings back, and the beater clears the rim so you can scrape down the sides or add flour without reaching around a post. It also keeps the mixer short — 13.9 inches tall — which matters if it has to live under upper cabinets. Bowl-lift mixers are steadier under load, but you give up that easy reach.

From our review of 6 stand mixers for baking, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +Five quarts is the size most home bakers actually need
• +The tilt-head is the part you'll notice every single time
• +Then there's the hub
• +Build quality is the real argument here

What to know

• –Stiff dough is where a tilt-head shows its limits
• –At nearly 23 pounds it's not a put-it-away appliance, so plan on giving it permanent counter space