Price: £499.95 at SMEG, currently £379 at Amazon or £499 at AO
Telegraph verdict: 9 out of 10
We like:
- Retro style and vintage construction
- Intuitive operation with clear instruction manual
- Excellent, effortless results
We don’t like:
What is the SMEG SMF03 Stand Mixer?
This premium machine is the latest version of the classic SMEG stand mixer, the Italian brand’s rival to other high end food mixers such as the Kitchen Aid. It’s an upgrade on the SMF02 model, although the only obvious difference is the colourway – the newer SMEG food mixer is one high-gloss colour all over, whereas the main body of the earlier model is stainless steel.
Look closer, though, and the new mixer, which performed well in our review of the best stand mixers, includes an extra attachment (alongside the aluminium wire whisk, flat beater, dough hook and pouring shield) called a ‘flex edge beater’. Essentially, it’s another stainless steel beater, but with flexible silicone edges for helping scrape batter from the edges of the bowl.
The 10-speed SMEG stand mixer comes in six colours, has a powerful 800W motor and a 4.8litre bowl capacity, enough to make up to 2kg of cake batter or 2.6kg of pastry. You can register for a 3 year manufacturer’s guarantee and a 5 year assistance warranty.
How we test stand mixers
When assessing whether a food mixer is worthy of standing pride of place on your kitchen worktop, we look at five key points. First, how attractive and well-designed it is – your typical stand mixer is too big to constantly shift it in and out of a cupboard, so it needs to look great as part of your kitchen furniture.
Secondly, how easy it is to use. Are there loads of confusing controls and fiddly parts, or is it simple and instinctive and are the instructions any good? Next, we assess it how effectively it performs – are there adequate settings for making a variety of foods and are those settings up to the job. Do the included attachments function as they should, and how does the food mixer compare not only to other mixers like it, but also to baking by hand.
Which takes us logically onto the results: is the food that comes out of the oven evenly mixed, properly risen, appealing to look and most importantly, delicious? Finally, the clean-up – how easy is the machine and its attachments to clean, whether in the sink or the dishwasher, how sturdy or flimsy are the parts and how fuss-free to maintain.
To properly appreciate how well the SMEG food mixer performed in each area I kept out on my counter for several weeks, using it to beat eggs, make brownie batter and to knead dough, experimenting with each of the included attachments in the process and giving a score out of 10 for each metric.
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Design and appearance: 9 out of 10
Source: telegraph.co.uk