One weak and wimpy hand mixer...

Count me among those who have always wanted to own one of KitchenAid's snazzy stand mixers. Unfortunately, until very recently, KitchenAid's stand mixers were way outside my price range. Now that my husband Bill and I have enough money to consider buying a $200+ mixer, we're in a place where it's not practical to use one. You see, we live in Germany, where the electric voltage is vastly different than it is in the States. We could buy the very expensive European model of the KitchenAid stand mixer or we could buy an American model and have to use a big, expensive transformer to deal with the wattage. Rather than go through all of that, Bill and I decided we'd settle on the less glamorous KitchenAid KHM5AP Ultra Power Hand Mixer, which costs about $50 and works with the 300 watt transformer we already owned. The fact that our local AAFES (military discount store) has less than a wide selection helped seal the deal.

When I am stateside, I like to do a lot of baking, which often calls for using a hand mixer. Because I'm in Europe and haven't quite mastered the metric system, I do a lot less baking. I still missed having a hand mixer around to do basic jobs like making cookie dough, whipping cream, or making meringue. Because I had heard so many great things about the KitchenAid stand mixers, I felt sure that the hand mixer would be plenty powerful for my needs. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that my KitchenAid hand mixer has been a bit of a disappointment.

First thing's first... what's in the box?

The KitchenAid Ultra Power Hand Mixer features the following:

* 5-speed lightweight mixer made of white plastic

* Turbo-powered wire beaters; electronic mixing sensor; beater-ejector button

* Heel rest

* 1-year full warranty

Having always used cheaply made hand mixers in the past, I really looked forward to breaking out my new hand mixer by KitchenAid, even though it meant I would need to hook up yet another transformer in the kitchen. But when I went to beat some egg whites for a souffle, I was very surprised to find that this mixer really wasn't very powerful at all. It took a lot more time and effort to whip my egg whites into stiff peaks. The same can be said for whipping cream, which shouldn't present a challenge for most mixers. I felt like my KitchenAid hand mixer could barely achieve cruising speed, nor was there much of a difference between the five speeds. Even at full blast, this mixer is surprisingly wimpy. It makes for very frustrating prep work.

Things I do like about this mixer...

I like the fact that the KitchenAid mixer has five available speeds, even if they aren't as powerful as I'd like them to be. I also like the way the mixer is shaped. It doesn't take up a lot of space and it's comfortable to hold, so my hands don't get as tired as they could under the circumstances. It's also not as noisy as it could be. But I'm afraid these three good things are not enough to make me recommend this mixer to other people. I've looked at other reviews of this product. People seem to either love it or hate it, which makes me wonder if my mixer came from a defective batch or something.

One unexpected bonus to having such a poor excuse for a hand mixer...

Well, as much as it seems like a waste to spend $50 on a hand mixer that isn't powerful enough, at least I can say that I don't do as much baking as I might. On the other hand, instead of baking, I end up buying high carb treats that are full of chemicals. On second thought, it really is a bad thing that this mixer is so weak!

Overall

I never thought I'd say this about a KitchenAid product, but I can't recommend this particular mixer. I guess I'll be waiting until I go back to America before I replace it, though. What a bummer.