Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer Review

In the market for a new stand mixer? With countless brands and models to choose from – each promising the moon – it can be difficult to decide. How can you know which offers the best lifespan? Do they live up to their product descriptions acceptably or wonderfully?

We’re here to ensure you get the full story before clicking ‘buy.’ With this goal, today, we’re evaluating the Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer. Is it right for you? It has a capacity of 5.5 quarts, comes with twelve different speeds, and, according to testers, it’s very easy to use.

However, some testers found it struggled with heavier doughs. Is that a subjective opinion or a rare complaint? Let’s take a more in-depth look at the Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer and find out.

Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer: The Details

In a Nutshell

• Weight: 15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 12.8 x 20 x 17.5 inches.
• Capacity: 5.5 quarts.
• Speeds: Twelve speeds.
• Bowl type: Stainless steel.
• Motor: 500 watts.
• Warranty: Three-year limited warranty.

Features

Capacity

The Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer holds up to 5.5 quarts of whatever you’re mixing. This allows you to create double batches of cookies, a few cakes, large amounts of bread dough, and enough mashed potatoes to feed a crowd. However, just because the bowl offers a large capacity, doesn’t mean you need to fill it. This mixer handles small or large amounts alike.

Attachments

This stand mixer also includes three different attachments and a splash guard with a pour spout. These attachments include a stainless steel whisk, a metal dough hook, and a flat mixing paddle.

The whisk is ideal for whipping up cream or meringues, the dough hook operates delightfully for mixing and kneading bread dough, and the paddle suits all your other recipes. The splash guard then ensures all ingredients stay well-contained, and instead of haphazardly scooping your finished batter into the pan, the pour spout guarantees that transferring your mix is both precise and clean.

Speeds

This Cuisinart stand mixer comes with twelve different speeds. Since a number of recipes demand precision in their mixing cycles, there’s no guesswork necessary and no risk of under- or over-beating your ingredients. You can leverage the lower speeds to mix in chocolate chips or delicate fruit without mashing them accidentally. Meanwhile, the fastest speeds are ideal for whipping cream, making meringue, or ensuring your batter is infused with the right amount of air.

Accessories

This mixer also includes an outlet for adding additional attachments and appliances. As separate purchases, Cuisinart offers a meat grinder, a spiralizer, a frozen dessert maker, a pasta roller/cutter, and a pasta extruder.

Having so many options for one machine makes it easy to create many different meals from a single mixer. It also saves a lot of kitchen space – instead of buying a whole appliance just for spiralizing vegetables for veggie pasta, you can purchase the spiralizer attachment for the Cuisinart.

The spiralizer isn’t just for veggie pasta though – it can be used for apples, squash, shredded veggies, and more. There are eight different cuts possible, making this a valuable prep tool for slicing and dicing rather than the time-consuming knife and cutting board.

Similarly, the 1.5 quart frozen dessert attachment uses the stand mixer to create ice cream, frozen yogurt, or other non-dairy frozen desserts in about 20 minutes. Ice cream lovers can use real milk and other ingredients to create homemade ice cream in their own kitchens. Folks who prefer a fruity dessert can use fresh fruit to create a sorbet, or those who prefer non-dairy can use coconut milk or another non-dairy source to create lactose-free ice cream. Recipes are included with this attachment!

The meat grinder attachment is versatile – it does indeed grind meats (poultry too!), but can also be used to grind nuts or veggies. It also can make sausages in two different sizes.

The pasta roller comes with different cutters and rollers to make fresh pasta into different thicknesses of lasagna sheets, fettuccini, or spaghetti. The pasta extruder is used to make noodles of different shapes, including macaroni, spaghetti, rigatoni, and fusilli. If you can make the dough, these attachments will help you take your pasta dinner to the next level.

To use the accessories, you simply remove the cap from the front of the mixer and insert the attachment directly. The motor of the stand mixer will then power these attachments, and, once you’re finished, you can store the attachment away for later use.

Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer Review

The Positives

Easy to Use

The Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer is straightforward to operate. Once it’s fully unboxed, twist the bowl into place. Then, push the lever on the back of the machine down; this will tilt the mixer head up.

A note here – this mixer is well-packaged! Sometimes the styrofoam in the box is very tightly packed around the bowl and head of the mixer. This may make it difficult to tilt the head of the mixer up to get the packaging out of the way and get the bowl out. If this is true of your box, don’t be afraid to cut the styrofoam to free the appliance – just be careful not to scratch your nice new stand mixer!

After you’ve unpacked the box and twisted the bowl onto the base, secure your chosen attachment onto the mixer head and tilt it back down. Add your ingredients to the bowl and turn the knob (on the front of the mixer) to activate the machine. Next, you can pick the speed and allow it to begin. After your mixture is thoroughly combined, turn the speed knob to “off,” tilt the head back up (which will also lift the attachment out of the bowl), and twist out the bowl. It’s that simple!

Easy to Clean

This Cuisinart mixer is also very easy to clean. All the attachments, the bowl, and the splash guard can go directly into the dishwasher. You don’t have to wash or scrub anything by hand. While the mixer itself isn’t dishwasher-safe (none of them are), it can be easily cleaned with a damp cloth or sponge. However, the splatter guard should prevent dough or batter from dirtying up the Cuisinart, so this will be rare maintenance.

If you happen to have the space to leave the stand mixer out on your kitchen countertop, it may get dusty or dirty as your kitchen is used, but a simple wipe-down will have it back to sparkling in no time.

Affordable

If you’ve been shopping for a stand mixer, you are probably aware that they can cost from $250 to more than $300. Luckily, that is not the case with this Cuisinart. At only $150 on Amazon, it’s practically a steal – especially when compared to the other well-known brands.

Large Capacity

Testers appreciated the mixing bowl’s larger capacity. Models of this kind typically offer a five-quart bowl, but, with the Cuisinart SM-50, you receive an extra half-quart. It may seem like a small amount, but when you’re baking over the holidays or entertaining a crowd, it can mean the difference between handling a single batch or splitting your recipe into small portions. No need to worry – this machine gives you breathing room.

Versatile

With a great variety of speeds, the different attachments, the potential to clip on more accessories, and the bowl’s capacity, there is little you can’t make with this Cuisinart. Whether you’re creating a large batch of cookies, triple-layer cakes, brownies, or loaves of bread, this mixer can handle the job. As a plus, there are unique attachments you can buy separately, allowing it to also create ice cream or pasta, and grind meat and nuts. You’re only limited by your culinary imagination.

Convenient

Testers also loved the convenient design of this Cuisinart stand mixer. The necessary attachments come included, so you can immediately dive into a recipe – be it for bread, whipped cream, batter, or anything else. The speed range also ensures you won’t be performing guesswork, and the bowl capacity saves you the trouble of portioning out ingredients to fit. Just throw your mixings into the bowl, turn it on, and let it do the work for you.

The Negatives

Walks on Countertop

At only 15 lbs., this is a fairly lightweight stand mixer. Unfortunately, that means when you’re mixing heavier cookie or bread doughs, it may (rarely) walk around the counter top. The heavy ingredients jostling in the bowl can occasionally be enough to set it off balance.

As such, you’ll need to keep a watchful eye on its mixing process. Leaving it to work unattended could result in a nasty fall (and an irritating mess). So long as you keep it away from the edge of your counter, and adjust its course as necessary, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Uneven Mixing

In a similar vein, a few testers complained of the SM-50 struggling to mix heavier doughs thoroughly. They found spots where flour or other ingredients hadn’t been incorporated properly.

While this should normally be concerning, it was a rare complaint among users. It may be a fluke or down to a few defective mixers escaping the manufacturing process (something the warranty covers).  So, you’re unlikely to encounter the issue and can always leverage your warranty if needed.

In most cases, a semi-mixed bowl seemed to just need more time. If uneven mixing is a problem you’re encountering with the Cuisinart, try leaving it to mix a bit longer than you normally would and see if the extra time lets the mixer incorporate all the ingredients properly.

Overall Verdict

After looking over all the positives and negatives, we do recommend the Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer. With the large capacity, the number of different speeds, and the dishwasher-safe attachments, it’s a very effective mixer. The large number of available accessories is also attractive, opening up a world of culinary experimentation that a regular stand mixer couldn’t provide. The low price makes it even more appealing. So long as you watch out for jostling as it mixes heavier ingredients, you should find it fitting your kitchen needs well.

Where to Buy the Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer

The Cuisinart is available from a few different websites.

Sur La Table ($199.95)

Walmart ($150.34)

And of course, on Amazon!

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That wraps up our review of the Cuisinart SM-50 Stand Mixer. Are you going to add it to your kitchen?