Product Description

This stand mixer features a powerful 800-watt motor that can handle the heaviest mixing tasks. Its large, 5-1/2-quart, stainless-steel bowl accommodates big batches--even double recipes. The unit also provides 12 mixing speeds, along with a 15-minute countdown timer and automatic shutoff, for maximum precision. Choose the slow-start function to eliminate splatter or the ultra-gentle fold function to carefully blend in delicate ingredients. The mixer's tilt-back head allows for easy access to the mixing bowl and makes attaching accessories simple.

Accessories include a chef's whisk, a flat mixing paddle, and a dough hook, as well as a splashguard. The whisk aerates ingredients to increase volume or can also be used on slow speed to gently combine dry ingredients. Contoured to reach the bottom and sides of the bowl, the flat mixing paddle ensures thorough mixing. The dough hook makes hand kneading obsolete, while the splashguard offers an extra-wide pouring spout for eas ily adding ingredients. The stand mixer also contains three power outlets, including a high-speed outlet for its optional dedicated attachments (meat grinder, citrus juicer, blender, food processor, or pasta maker--all sold separately). The stand mixer measures 15-1/2 by 10 by 12-1/2 inches and carries a three-year product warranty and a five-year motor warranty.

From the Manufacturer

More than 30 years ago Cuisinart changed the way the world cooked. Now it's changing the way the world mixes with the Cuisinart stand mixer. The new extra-large Cuisinart 5-quart mixer has the power, capacity, and precision to handle any job a recipe requires and delivers more power to mix even the heaviest dough. There’s also more capacity to double and triple recipes. The mixer comes with three accessor ies, allowing you to mix, whip, or even knead dough. It has 12 speeds to ensure splatter-free starts and fabulous finishes. In addition, Cuisinart offers optional attachments that can be purchased separately. Each attachment connects to one of the three power outlets on the mixer (two on the top and one on the front) to let you blend, process food, squeeze juice from your favorite citrus fruits, make homemade pasta, or grind your own meats. Multiple Outlets Mean More Functionality High-speed power outlet for the blender and food processor attachment (sold separately), which connects to the rear power outlet on top of the stand mixer. Mid-speed power outlet for the citrus juicer attachment (sold separately), which connects to the front power outlet on the top of the stand mixer. Slow-speed power outlet for the large meat grinder and the pasta-maker attachments (sold separately), which connect to the power outlet behind the slow-speed outle t cover on the front of the stand mixer head.

An Array of Helpful Features

The mixer's tilt-back head securely locks the stand mixer into a raised position, which allows easy access to the 5-quart mixing bowl and makes it easy to attach accessories. The stainless-steel bowl includes handles, which makes the bowl easy to hold, scrape, and remove, and it's oversized to let you mix larger quantities. The mixer has a handy 15-minute countdown timer, plus a slow-start function that eliminates splatter for the most delicate ingredients. The fold function allows you to mix in ingredients at the lowest speed with two options--continuous, to blend ingredients, and pulse, to combine ingredients. Each pulse generates 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 revolutions of the flat mixing paddle, chef's whisk, or dough hook. The flat mixing paddle, dough hook, or chef's whisk spins independently while rotating around the mixing bowl for the quickest, most thorough results. No need to rotate the mixing bowl--Cuisinart’s stand mixer does all the work for you.

Features:

• Large 5-quart-capacity polished stainless-steel bowl
• Powerful 800-watt motor
• 15-minute countdown timer
• Auto shutoff and 12 speeds
• Includes 3 accessories: chef's whisk, flat mixing paddle, dough hook
• Splashguard with pour spout to prevent spattering
• Recipe book
• Power unit: clean with a damp cloth and dry
• Bowls and tools dishwasher-safe (tools top-rack dishwasher-safe)
• Warranty: Limited 3-year product warranty and a full 5-year motor warranty

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22663 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: Brushed Chrome
• Brand: Cuisinart
• Model: SM-55BC
• Released on: 2007-04-01
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 12.50" h x 10.00" w x 15.50" l, 21.00 pounds

Features

• 800-watt stand mixer housed in durable die-cast metal
• 12 speeds; 5-1/2-quart stainless-steel bowl; slow-start and gentle-fold functions
• 15-minute countdown timer; 3 power outlets; auto shutoff; tilt-back head
• Chef's whisk, flat mixing paddle, dough hook, and splashguard included
• Measures 15-1/2 by 10 by 12-1/2 inches; 3-year warranty; 5-year motor warranty

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

1015 of 1017 people found the following review helpful.
I'm a satisfied Cuisinart convert!
By Steven J. Rickard
I've been a long-time fan of the KitchenAid mixer. My grandmother has been using the same KitchenAid mixer since the late 50s, and it's still going strong. I was thrilled to get a KitchenAid "Ultra-Power" mixer as a gift about seven years ago, and it worked great for occasional use. Over the past couple of years I've been doing more and more baking, and about a year ago I began making my own bread. After about six months of using my KitchenAid to knead two loaves of whole-wheat bread every week or so, it made a terrible grinding noise, and stopped working. I decided I'd better buy a new KitchenAid with a more powerful motor, and went online to see which was recommended. Much to my surprise, the reviews for the KitchenAid were no longer as positive as they had been. People were complaining about a decrease in quality and customer service. The biggest complaint was that some metal parts had been replaced by plastic, and while it sounded as if the company had recently starte d making the parts out of metal again, people were giving tips on how to determine if the model you were purchasing had the metal or plastic gearboxes. On top of that, Cooks Illustrated ranked the Cuisinart mixer above KitchenAid in a March 2008 review.

I did more research and found that the warranty was much better on the Cuisinart than on the KitchenAid. So, nervously, I decided to switch from what I had always considered to be the top brand, and I bought the Cuisinart.

My first impressions were mixed. I immediately liked the way the mixer looked, but I was nervous about it, because the body and the mixing paddles are much lighter in weight than on the KitchenAid. It lacks the solid, all-metal feel of the KitchenAid. Since the KitchenAid jittered all over the counter when I was using it to knead bread or even whip butter and sugar together for cookies, I figured the Cuisinart would probably fly off the counter. I decided to use it pretty hard for six months, and then write my review.

I've used it every seven to ten days to make two loaves of heavy, whole-grain bread, have made many batches of cookies and several cakes and I'm very happy to write that this is a GREAT mixer.

Much to my surprise, it doesn't jitter at all, not even when I'm using it to knead bread. Ingredients are more thoroughly mixed, and I don't need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula nearly as often as I needed to with my KitchenAid. Counter space in my kitchen is limited, so I keep the mixer in a cupboard, and the lighter weight means that it's much easier to move around. In my experience, the lighter weight has NOT affected, in any way, the performance.

Once, when I was kneading some heavy dough on speed #4 for about twice as long as the usual seven or eight minutes (I'd forgotten to add salt to the bread and was trying to knead it in) the mixer overheated and shut itself down. It hasn't done that since , and frankly, I'd rather that happen than have the gears freeze up and completely destroy the gearbox, as happened with my KitchenAid. Another greatly appreciated feature is that some clever person designed the bowl so that it's easy to remove, even after I've used the mixer to knead dough. The bowl on the KitchenAid would lock so tightly after kneading bread that I'd have to wrench it free, usually skinning my knuckles in the process. Some reviewers complain that the bread dough "climbs" the kneading hook, making a mess. I find that the dough actually climbs a lot less than it did when I used my KitchenAid. One reviewer mentioned that she finds the splash guard mostly useless, but I love it -- I find it truly useful, unlike the awkward, two-piece splash guard that came with my KitchenAid.

The timer function is nice, especially now that I don't need to stand over the mixer while it's kneading, worrying that it'll jitter its way onto the floor. I don't leave the r oom, but now I set the timer and let the mixer do its thing while I prep other ingredients or grease the baking pans. I really like the slow-start feature -- no more cloud of flour when I turn on the mixer.

Basically, this mixer does everything my KitchenAid did, and does it better. The performance has been highly satisfactory, and if it breaks down any time in the next five years, it will still be under warranty ... unlike my KitchenAid, which was only covered for a year.

I don't hate KitchenAid -- I think the mixers are probably still a good product, overall. I know that I was using mine for more than it was designed to handle. However, I am happier with the Cuisinart and have recommended it highly to several friends.

This is still a relatively early review. I expect stand mixers to last for at least a decade, and ideally for much longer. Six months after my purchase, I'm very happy with this machine. If anything happens to change that, I'l l update this review.

January 29, 2009
I dropped my mixer! I was doing a lot of Christmas baking, the countertop was crowded, I put it too close to the edge of the counter and WHAM, it fell to the floor, landing hard, upside down. While I have no idea how the trauma will affect the overall life of the mixer, it still works fine. The top is a little askew now, and the hinged door at the front that covers the slow-speed power outlet will no longer stay closed. But: the mixer works as well as it ever did. I really wish I hadn't dropped it, but this is a strong peice of equipment. That was a hard fall from countertop height to a hardwood floor, and there appears to have been nothing more than cosmetic damage. I've been baking as much as ever, and it still works beautifully.

September 4, 2010
Wow -- I don't often look back at my reviews, and when I came back today to make an update, I was surprised that so many people found this helpful. Thanks! I hope if you bought a mixer based on my recommendation that you've loved it. Mine is still going strong, and this evening over dinner, I recommended it to a friend who was thinking of buying a new stand mixer.

Thank you to those who have commented, it adds some additional insight and balance. It was interesting reading the comments -- one person commented that this mixer didn't really handle large batches of heavy rye dough, so you might want to keep that in mind if you make a LOT of bread. I'm still making a loaf or two every week and am quite pleased. One commenter mentioned that his KitchenAid mixer never moved around the countertop. Since I would have to literally hold my KitchenAid down while kneading bread, it makes me wonder how much variance you might find between individual mixers. One of the things I still really, really like about the Cuisinart is that it stays still for me, even when I'm kneading a couple of loaves-worth of bread dough. In fact, I've re cently stepped up my bread baking, because I've been experimenting with sourdough recipes. I've also been churning out a LOT of batches of cookies recently as I experiment with a new recipe. (I noticed today that my jeans are feeling a bit tight around the waist. Maybe I need to experiment with something a bit lower-calorie. But, I digress.)

Anyway, I logged on this evening to say I'm still quite pleased with my mixer. Despite the tragic dropping incident over a year and a half ago, the Cuisinart is still working beautifully.

December 6, 2011
I'm updating this review without much to add, other than I'm using this mixer more than ever, and it continues to work beautifully. I keep a large rubber band around the top of it to hold the slow-speed power-outlet door closed, but that's my own fault, since I let it drop off the counter two years ago.

December 14, 2012
I've done less baking this year than in the past for a number of reasons, but the mixer is still working just fine! Not much to report -- no problems, other than the minor cosmetic issues caused by the fall from my countertop in 2009.

161 of 161 people found the following review helpful.
WOW!
By Amanda Bucko
I bought this to replace a 5 qt. KitchenAid Artisan. I do a little cake decorating and I needed something that would handle large batches of buttercream icing a couple times per week, as well as general kitchen use. It was a toss up between this one and the KitchenAid Pro. I was a little nervous about spending so much money on something that doesn't have the solid reputation that KitchenAid mixers have, but I'm so glad I took the chance! This is a wonderful mixer!! In my opinion, it is far superior to the KitchenAids in almost every way. I would recommend this to anyone.
Pros:
It handles large and small quantities equally well.
The more powerful motor is wonderful! It handles lots of heavy dough and icing with ease.
The splash guard forms a tight seal. Not air tight, but when I make huge batches of buttercream icing (using 5# of powdered sugar) it keeps in all the powdered sugar dust and I don't have quite so much to clean up afterward. In fac t, I have very little to clean up!
If you start on a high speed it gets faster gradually so that you don't end up splashing what is in the bowl all over you.
The timer turns the mixer off automatically when time's up. No more over mixing!!
The paddle, whisk and dough hook are dishwasher safe.
I can't say anything about the attachments as I don't have any yet, but I love that I can add a blender or chopper to it without having to by the whole small appliance.
Cons:
It is mostly plastic and therefore much lighter than the KitchenAid. I haven't found this to be a problem at all with it walking of wobbling like I thought I would. But, the plastic body makes it look kind of cheap.
It is louder than my KitchenAid was.

Overall, the cons are very minimal. I've not found them to be enough of a bother to skew my opinion of the mixer. I absolutely LOVE this mixer and I will never go back to KitchenAid!

202 of 206 people found the following review helpful.
Great Warranty
By Drew K.
This is a relatively new purchase and it has been used only a few times, but so far everything is working wonderfully. The slow start and fold features are great; it keeps flour-type ingredients from dusting the kitchen counter, and the kitchen floor, and other kitchen appliances - you get the idea. I was happy that it also came with a splash guard for much the same reason! The design is sleek, the control knob works well, overall a good product.

There is one complaint I have: the top cover which also hides the accessory attachment area, is easy to remove. So much so that it sometimes comes off accidentally when raising the mixer head if you grab the wrong part. No big deal really, but something that should be looked at for future product development.

The main point I want to make is the strength of the warranty. To have a company stand behind their equipment by giving a 3 year product warranty and a 5 year motor warranty is very comforting. Compare that warranty to the one KitchenAid gives (1 year).