Food Processor or Mixer: Magimix or Kenwood

anteater

Hello

My cheap-and-not-very-good food processor has given up on me and I have a heavy-and-not-very-easy-to-use hand mixer. Both were bought before kids and now I tend to do a fair amount of baking and soup making, etc, so really need better quality appliances. Rather than a hand-mixer, I'd rather have one that sits over the bowl and odes all the work for you like the Kenwood Chef. I also like the look of the Magimix 4200 or 5200. Trouble is, I don't have much room to store two large appliances (and they are rather expensive - one I could afford, but not two!) so I was wondering whether there is one easy to use/clean gadget that does both jobs. I've heard that the Kenwood Chef has a processor attachment, but not whether it's any good, also that the magimix can go some mixing, but again, not whether it's particularly good at it.

I also use the blender attachment in the food processor a fair amount, and if I got the magimix I'd probably end up having to buy a separate blender.

Any views/advice would be gratefully received.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi anteater! There was a similar thread earlier in the week, which might answer your question. Click here!

HTH, Penny. x

[Deleted User]

there are half a dozen threads on the search facility eg

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=138314&highlight=magimix+kenwood

halloweenqueen_2

Kenwood!! Never looked back after getting one!

mattogier

When you say Kenwood - can we assume you mean Chef or Major (rather than a "food processor" style magimix)?

I would def recommend the Chef or Major (a big version of the chef) - I got one for my birthday a few years ago (as requested).

It comes as standard with a whisk, K beater and dough hook (makes great bread!), and a mincer/sausage maker and a liquidiser.

I have also since got loads of extras (most from ebay) including Ice cream maker, high speed slicer, cream maker, pasta maker, bean and peel slice (for marmalade at this time of year!) auto seive (great for soups and sauces), and a fruit juicer.

:-)

Matt

Linda32

Toxic_Lemon wrote:

If you got the Magimix, you wouldn't beed a seperate blender (you mean liquidiser, yes?). The Magimix is designed to cope with liquids as well as solids.

The answer to your question depends on what you like to cook/make most. AND what your budget is.

I can give you some guidelines, if you can let me have the answers to the above 2 questions.

Can I butt in please

I'm looking to buy a food processor or food mixer, not sure which yet.

I do not need a blender / liquidiser, but am looking for one which has a dough hook for bread and pizza maybe, also one which does creaming of butter and sugar, is this possible.

I think this means I need a food mixer.

Linda32

Toxic_Lemon wrote:

Yes, sounds like you need a food mixer. The Magimix does have something they call a dough hook, but really it's just a plastic blade with a slight kink in it. :eek:

Next decision is what capacity machine you need. If you want a 4L sized bowl (which is average size) and you don't want to add any accessories, I'd strongly recommend the Kenwood Patissier. It's a really lovely machine and looks retro. Far superior to the KitchenAid, IMO. You can get them off Ebay for about £80 (don't let the price fool you!). It comes with the basic 3 attachments (K flat blade, whisk, dough hook).

Thanks, At the moment, I make 2lb loafs and sponge cakes to fit in 8" tins. So I need to fit that mixture into the bowl. Is this okay for a 4L bowl?

At the monent, I don't know if I'd want to add attachments, depends how adventerous I get

Thistle-down

Well I am very biased towards Kenwood Chefs, and would recommend buying a used one off of ebay - either the A701 or A901. These are good, reliable models that need few repairs. My local Kenwood repair centre services them for around £15, that's all I've ever needed doing to it.

Try to get one with as many attachments with it as possible. If you find you don't use a certain attachment, you can always sell it on ebay probably for more than you paid.

I have an A701 in daily use - I love it to bits. Would not be without it! It has transformed the way I cook and now I make everything from scratch with very little effort. I can even make good pastry!

MATH

Having seen the new Kenwood Chefs in Lakeland I would deffo recommend getting an old reconditioned one. Mine harks back to the 60's and does a brill job, all metal and glass not a bit of plastic in sight, it weighs a tonne tho so sits majestically on the counter all year and beats the creamiest mash potato ever. LOL

halloweenqueen_2

Yes I meant a kenwood chef - the one in lakeland is expensive I bought the same model but in white, it came with a liquidiser bit to go on top, as well as the k beater, dough hook and whisk.
I bought mine from argos, they had a good deal on, its worth a visit to kelkoo to compare prices if you are going for new.

Addiscomber

Linda32 wrote:

Thanks, At the moment, I make 2lb loafs and sponge cakes to fit in 8" tins. So I need to fit that mixture into the bowl. Is this okay for a 4L bowl?

Both of these would fit in very well - in fact you could make two of each at a time!
A word of warning. If you are likely to want to add the food processor attachment now, or in the future, you need to be careful which model you get. It does not fit all of the machines, especially the older ones. You often get a blender with new ones, so if you are making soup rather than slicing/shredding you may not need the processor.