Tom's Guide Verdict
The Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer is a great asset to have in your kitchen. The 5.5 quart bowl provides plenty of capacity, and it performed well during all tasks. If your budget won't stretch to a KitchenAid, this mid-range stand mixer is the next best thing.
Pros
- +
Affordable
- +
Quiet
- +
Large bowl capacity
- +
Wide color choice
Cons
- -
The splash guard is tricky to use
- -
Ingredients sometimes get left on the side of the bowl
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
Model: SM-50
Bowl capacity: 5.5 quarts
Dimensions: 14.13 in (H) x 14.13 in (D) x 7.87 in (D)
Weight: 18.4 lbs
Speeds: 12
Material: Stainless steel bowl
Finish: Die cast aluminium body
Motor: 500 W
Cord length: 40 inches
Color: Silver lining, onyx black, periwinkle blue, ruby red, white linen, Robin's egg, agave green, frosted blue, dove gray, coconut cream, blushing coral, poppy seed pinot noir, caskata
There are some brands of stand mixers that home and professional bakers aspire to. Apart from the design kudos, brands such as KitchenAid are well known for their reliability and consistent results. And despite owning one of the best stand mixers myself, I was keen to try out a mid-range model to see how it fared.
With a 5.5-quart bowl and a pleasing design, the Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer comes in a plethora of colorways and hits the market at an affordable price. And with over 30 years of experience in the kitchen sector, manufacturing coffee makers to bread machines, Cuisinart has got you covered in the kitchen, looking after more than just your baking needs. But can it compete with the likes of KitchenAid and Smeg? I put it to the test to find out.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Price and availability
The Cuisinart Precision Master 5.5-quart stand mixer is available at a range of online retailers, but price varies according to color choice. At Amazon, you can pick up most colorways for $249. It’s the same story at Walmart, where the majority also retail at $249, although the black and brushed chrome versions are $198. That’s a significant saving if you’re not fussy about your color choice. This price is much lower than Smeg’s retro stand mixer, $599 at Williams Sonoma, and KitchenAid’s Artisan 5-quart stand mixer, $449 at Amazon.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Design
Having been used to my regular KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I unpacked the Cuisinart appliance, I was pleasantly surprised. I was taken with the curvaceous shape and compactness of the stand mixer, whereas the KitchenAid Artisan and Smeg’s retro stand mixer can look a bit top-heavy. However, my son had other ideas and wasn’t as enthusiastic about the design.
The color choice is just as impressive as the premium brands, with 13 colorways, plus a patterned design, Caskata, if you feel more daring. I tested the stand mixer in White Linen, but if you’d like your appliance to add a color accent to your kitchen, there’s plenty to bring a vibrant splash to your countertop.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Unpacking and set up
Unpacking the appliance
The appliance was well-packed, with the attachments and splash guard tucked inside the end pieces of polystyrene foam that held the stand mixer in place. The foam was also used inside the bowl to keep everything secure.
Set up
Enclosed you'll find an instruction booklet, which takes you through a product guide, including safety cautions and instructions for use. It’s a helpful booklet that is durable enough to keep without getting damaged. It also contained a small recipe book with sweet and savory recipes, including bread, dough, and sauces. If it's your first time owning a stand mixer, there are plenty of recipes to get you started on your baking journey.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Functionality
On lifting the appliance, it didn’t feel nearly as heavy as the KitchenAid Artisan, which weighs in at 6.6 lbs more. So, if you’re looking for a stand mixer that you keep in a cupboard when it’s not in use, the Cuisinart will be easier to maneuver.
The appliance is intuitive to use, and the tilt-head can be lifted by releasing a lever at the back of the appliance. This makes it easy to remove the bowl, which is rotated into place, and add one of the three attachments. The attachments are fairly standard and include a flat mixing paddle for cakes, cookies, batters, and pastry; a whisk for eggs, cream, and mousses; and a dough hook for bread, pizza, and pasta. All of the accessories felt sturdy and resilient enough to cope with a pounding.
The stand mixer also comes with a splash guard with a pour spout. I’d say it’s an invaluable piece of kit for any stand mixer to prevent light ingredients from spilling out of the bowl. However, the guard comes in two parts, which is a bit fiddly, but more on this later under ‘Ease of use’.
The speed controls are on the side and controlled using a dial, which couldn’t be easier. You have 12-speed options, with the first being exceptionally slow when you need precision. The speed dial is in an ideal position, so you can watch how your ingredients are progressing and change the dial accordingly.
You can also get more out of the appliance by adding attachments to the central hub at the front of the machine. The cover can be removed easily, and attachments added using a lever that folds out, allowing you to grind meat, roll pasta, and spiralize vegetables.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Performance
To test the stand mixer I used all three attachments to make a variety of goods. I used the whisk to whip up heavy cream, the flat beater to make a vanilla cake, and the dough hook to make a white bread dough.
Whisk: Beating heavy cream
I poured 10 fl oz (300ml) of heavy cream into the bowl and covered it with the splash guard. I set the speed dial on 1, and tested the noise level, which measured 65 dBA. I steadily increased the speed to 8, where the noise averaged 75 dBA, slightly less than 77 dBA when testing KitchenAid’s Artisan stand mixer. I increased the speed again to the maximum, with the noise level measuring 84 dBA. Although the sound level measured slightly lower than when monitoring the KitchenAid, it seemed much quieter.
It did take a while for the cream to reach the consistency I desired — all of just over two minutes — but I did start slowly, as I was getting familiar with the speed setting. On a second attempt, I would increase the speed more quickly and keep an eager eye on the bowl to prevent it from turning into butter, which my fellow reviewer did when testing KitchenAid's 7-Quart bowl-lift stand mixer, as she had a mountain of left over cream.
Flat beater: Making vanilla cake
Taking some softened butter and sugar I started by mixing the two with the flat beater. However, I found I needed to intervene as the mixture was getting stuck on the bottom of the bowl. It was here that I got into a mess, as I found it hard to remove the splash guard. As it comes in two parts, you must first remove the pouring section, which slides into the main part, before removing the main guard. It’s more challenging than a splash guard that comes in one piece.
I then started to add the egg through the pouring shield, but once again, I needed to remove the splash guard and turn the mixture over a few times with a spatula to help it come together. At this point, I could see the benefit of having a flex-edge beater that reaches to the edge of the bowl, although Cuisinart doesn’t offer this as an extra accessory. But despite having to stop the appliance several times, I ended up with a very light sponge, which I filled with the cream!
With a bowl capacity of 5.5 quarts, this stand mixer is plenty large enough for batch baking. I feel it may have performed better with this task if I'd increased the quantity of ingredients I used to make the sponge, perhaps doubling the mixture to make a 6-egg-based sponge.
Dough hook: Making bread dough
Taking 1.5 lbs of flour I started to make a basic white bread dough. Attaching the dough hook, I blended a knob of butter with the flour. This incorporated well within a short time. I then started to add the remaining ingredients, slowly adding the water through the pouring shield. I was pleased with how the ingredients pulled together, before I set the appliance on speed 5 for 10 minutes of kneading. The user manual suggests using between speed 5-8, but I felt more comfortable keeping it at the lower end, as when increased to 8 the appliance was shaking, despite it still feeling stable.
Although I made one large loaf of bread, there was plenty of extra room in the bowl for more ingredients, great news if you love to batch bake.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Ease of use
This stand mixer is intuitive to use, but if you need a hand to get started, the instruction manual is helpful, and it even suggests which speed settings to use for tasks.
Lifting the tilt-head, removing the bowl and adding the attachments are all easy, although I couldn't try attaching add-on appliances to the central hub. The speed dial is also easy to control, and I found it positioned in an ideal place, unlike the speed dial on Smeg's retro stand mixer that's placed on top of the appliance, making the speed settings hard to view.
However, the one downside is the splash guard. It comes in two parts and was awkward to remove and reattach. While it's not necessarily a problem to add and remove at the start and finish of a process, I found it frustrating when I needed to move it to access the bowl during a mix.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: Cleaning
Cleaning this stand mixer is very much like any other model. The housing base can be wiped clean with a soft, damp cloth, and the bowl can be washed by hand or in a dishwasher. However, Cuisinart advises never to use a wire brush, steel wool, or bleach. All of the attachments can be washed by hand or placed on the dishwasher's top shelf, except the wire whisk, which must be washed by hand.
Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer: The verdict
I enjoyed using the Cuisinart Precision Master stand mixer, and was impressed with the overall design and ease of use. Despite being a bit disappointed with the splash guard, which you don't necessarily need to use for every process, and is the reason why I knocked one star of the rating, it performed well throughout. The 5.5 quart bowl also offered a generous capacity, giving the option to make large batches when you need to up your quantities, although it could leave your bowl looking a little sparse if you're someone who prefers to cook smaller batches, and you'll probably have to scrape down the sides a little more.
Coming in around $200 below the cost of a KitchenAid, its a real middle market contender in the stand mixer domestic arena, which is why I've recommended it as the best mid-range stand mixer in our buying guide.
More from Tom's Guide
