Kitchen appliance first look reviews Lakeland Hand Mixer
This Lakeland hand mixer has a smart brushed chrome finish, bright digital display, and, unusually for a hand mixer, an extra balloon whisk attachment. At £37.99, it’s mid-priced, and comes with a neat storage case. But is this kitchen gadget a help or a hindrance for everyday baking tasks? Find out in our first look review below.
On first impressions, we thought this hand mixer looked promising. Available exclusively at Lakeland, it’s one of the few hand mixers on the market that has a digital display and an extra balloon whisk attachment, so we were keen to see how it measured up.
Good at mixing and whisking
In our quick try-out, we thought the Lakeland hand mixer did a good job of beating cake mixes and whipping cream – the tasks you’ve told us you use hand mixers for most often.
It has a good range of speed settings (one to five, plus turbo boost). In our experience the lowest speed setting on hand mixers can still be quite fast, causing ingredients to spray up out of the bowl – but the low setting on this model didn’t seem to have this problem.
The balloon whisk attachment - something only found on a couple of other models - slots into just one of the slots on the base. Although this feels a little lopsided in use, it whisked up cream in no time.
Buttons are hard to read
We found the control buttons hard to read
Our one gripe with the Lakeland hand mixer was the controls. We found them difficult to read, use and keep clean.
The bright blue digital display can be hard to read at a glance because of the glare of reflected light. The control buttons lie flush with the body of the mixer, making them hard to press, and the text is recessed, in the same colour as the button, making it tricky to read.
Our researcher also thought that the buttons felt wobbly and the gaps around them were difficult to clean.
If you have smaller hands, you may also find it a bit of a stretch to reach the ‘eject’ button (which is located at the top-front of the mixer) and press it one-handed.
Useful gadget for everyday mixing tasks
The hand mixer has a flat base, and the cord comes out from the side, so it can be rested on its base between mixing (although if you’re left handed, the cord does get in the way a bit).
It didn’t seem too heavy, and felt comfortable to hold when mixing for 5-10 minutes with short breaks. We didn’t feel that the mixer was too noisy in use, either - it was still possible to carry on a normal conversation while using it on lower settings.
Attachments are dishwasher safe, and the mixer itself is easy to wipe clean.
First look verdict
We found the buttons and display a little annoying, but otherwise felt this is a decent hand mixer.
However, in our testing experience we’ve found that most hand mixers are pretty good at the basic mixing tasks, so ease of use can be an important differentiator.
Before you buy, make sure you take a look at our Best Buy hand mixers, which not only perform well but are also rated highly by our lab experts for ease of use and build quality.
Pros: Not too heavy, extra balloon whisk, useful storage case
Cons: Control buttons are tricky to use and have dirt traps
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