Professional Stand Mixing Bowl Food Mixer

A mixer, depending on the type also called a hand mixer or stand mixer, is a kitchen device that uses a gear-driven mechanism to rotate a set of "beaters" in a bowl containing the food or liquids to be prepared by mixing them. Mixers help automate the repetitive tasks of stirring, whisking or beating. When the beaters are replaced by a dough hook, a mixer may also be used to knead. A mixer may be a handheld mechanism known as an eggbeater, a handheld motorized beater, or a drill mixer. Stand mixers vary in size from small counter top models for home use to large capacity commercial machines. Stand mixers create the mixing action by either rotating the mixing device vertically (planetary mixers), or by rotating the mixing container (spiral mixers). Mixers for the kitchen first came into use midway through the nineteenth century; the earliest were mechanical devices. The demand from commercial bakers for large-scale uniform mixing resulted in the development of the electric stand mixer.