The Fresh Loaf

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$1K Chinese commercial mixers? Any good?

Sid Post's picture
Sid Post

$1K Chinese commercial mixers? Any good?

I am looking at the various mixer options and keep going back to Chinese sourced mixers.  I have a really good Kitchenaide mixer back when they were affiliated with Hobart but, I don't want to kill it with a lot of tough dough.

How do the Thunderbird and Presto! ~10qt mixers fare compared to options from Hobart and Vollrath?  I looked at the 7qt Vollrath mixer but, came away unimpressed as it seem pretty light for heavy dough and is probably targeted for small coffee shops and such with the lighter duty requirements.  A Häussler Alpha Mixer would be sweet but, at over $2K isn't going to happen anytime soon.  Used Hobarts are few and far between so, a new Chinese mixer appears to be a better option.

Is a Chinese mixer a reasonable option or a waste of money?

 

TIA and Best Regards,

Sid

clearlyanidiot's picture
clearlyanidiot

I kinda wish people would phrase questions like this such as. 

I want to make x amount of this exact type of dough roughly this often. What is the right tool for the job?

There are variables. What type of dough and how much are you mixing? How often are you making it? How much space do you have for a mixer? Do you really need to buy a mixer today? Can you sit and save up to either get a good mixer at a higher price, or find that once in a blue moon deal at a lower price.

 

The bakery I worked at had a Thunderbird mixer, but it was 30qt. Mechanically it worked decently, but the bowl had a small blister/similar imperfection in the bottom. Hard to describe. 

 

My Globe SP20 is allegedly made in Taiwan and while there are subtile differences that I like less about it than my Hobart A200. In hindsight I definitely would consider the Globe a good option. Having said that I've had the Hobarts guts apart and liked the way it was put together. The Globe wasn't used much by the previous owner, so there really wasn't any reason to go pulling apart.

Both mixers would do anything I wanted of them, but kitchen space is at a premium, so the Globe is in storage. 

 

If your current Hobart era Kitchenaid does everything you want. Why not just continue to use it and put money away for a rebuild/repairs if/when they come up? 

clearlyanidiot's picture
clearlyanidiot