KitchenAid Artisan vs. Artisan Plus: Test Results & Key Differences

KitchenAid’s Artisan and Artisan Plus stand mixers look nearly identical on the shelf, but the newer Artisan Plus model is $100 more expensive.

To find out if the extra investment is worth it, I bought both and put them through the exact same tests. I whipped cream and made chocolate chip cookies and pizza dough from scratch. For each test, I used the same ingredients, quantities, and speed settings.

I also compared their key specs like weight, cord length, noise levels, power consumption, safety features, and much more. 

In this comparison, you’ll see exactly what that extra $100 gets you, where it doesn’t matter at all, and which one I’d actually buy.

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Use the links below to navigate the comparison:

• Comparison Chart
• Attachments
• Whipped Cream Test
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Test
• Pizza Dough Test
• Speed Control, Safety, and Lighting
• Power Draw and Noise
• Bottom Line: Should You Buy the KitchenAid Artisan or Artisan Plus?

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Comparison Chart

Feature	KitchenAid Artisan	KitchenAid Artisan Plus
Price	$$$ (check price on Amazon)	$$$$ (check price on KitchenAid.com)
Bowl size	5 qt	5 qt
Bowl handle	Yes	Yes
Bowl finish	Brushed stainless steel	Brushed stainless steel
Color options	More than 20	14
Rated motor	325W	350W
Speed control	Traditional lever with 10 speeds; only even numbers marked	Dial with a marked position for every speed, plus smooth variable adjustment
Housing	Die-cast zinc metal with enamel coating	Die-cast zinc metal with enamel coating
Weight without bowl or attachments	20 lb	19.7 lb
Height with head closed	14 in	14 in
Height with head raised	17 in	18 in
Cord length	41 in	44 in
Included attachments	Flat beater, dough hook, and wire whisk	Standard flat beater, double flex-edge beater, dough hook, and wire whisk
Attachment material	Coated aluminum beater and dough hook; wire whisk with aluminum hub	Stainless steel
Dough hook weight	151 g	285 g
Flat beater weight	123 g	286 g standard beater; 283 g double flex-edge beater
Dishwasher-safe attachments	Flat beater and dough hook only; whisk must be hand-washed	All four attachments
Pouring shield	No	Yes
Bowl light	No	Yes, turns on automatically when the head is lowered
Accessory hub	Yes	Yes
Locks with head raised	No	No
Starts when plugged in with speed above 0	Yes	No; control must be returned to 0 first
Whipped cream result	Stiff peaks in about 2 minutes; no scraping needed	Stiff peaks in about 2 minutes; no scraping needed
Bowl scraping during cookie test	Several times	Once
Cookie result	Mixed well; cookies baked evenly	Easier mixing with less scraping; cookies baked similarly
Pizza dough result	Smooth, elastic dough; finished pizza came out well	Smooth, elastic dough; finished pizza came out well
Stability during pizza dough test	More head bouncing; lock lever shifted toward unlocked	Less head bouncing; lock lever stayed in place
Power draw while kneading pizza dough	90–110W	75–120W
Measured power draw, low	28W	22W
Measured power draw, medium	55W	49W
Measured power draw, high	125W	107W
Measured noise, low	70 dBA	66 dBA
Measured noise, medium	74 dBA	75 dBA
Measured noise, high	81 dBA	85 dBA
Warranty	1 year	1 year

Attachments

Before getting into how these two mixers actually performed, it helps to understand what comes in the box.

The Artisan comes with three attachments: a coated aluminum flat beater, a coated aluminum dough hook, and a wire whisk with an aluminum hub. The beater and hook are dishwasher-safe, but the whisk isn’t because its hub is aluminum and can discolor over time even when it’s clean.

The Artisan Plus comes with four attachments instead of three, and all of them are stainless steel and fully dishwasher-safe. It comes with a standard flat beater, a double flex-edge beater, a dough hook, and a whisk. 

The Artisan Plus attachments are noticeably heavier and more substantial. You can feel that difference as soon as you pick them up. The dough hook weighs 285 grams compared to 151 grams for the Artisan’s, almost twice as heavy. The difference was even more noticeable with the beaters. The Artisan Plus beaters weighed 283 and 286 grams, compared with 123 grams for the Artisan beater.

The double flex-edge beater is the attachment that matters most here. It has rubber edges on both sides that scrape the bowl while it mixes, and it has an open center without crossbars, so dough doesn’t build up in the middle the way it does with a standard beater. 

Whipped Cream Test

For this test, I used a half cup of cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in each mixer, using the same process and speed settings. I kept the batch small on purpose, since small amounts of cream can be tricky for a whisk that doesn’t reach far enough into the bowl.

Both mixers reached stiff peaks in about 2 minutes. I didn’t need to scrape either bowl, and both whisks made enough contact with the bottom to fully incorporate the cream.

I accidentally let the first Artisan Plus batch run about 15 seconds too long while adjusting my camera, so I repeated the test. The second batch reached stiff peaks in about two minutes, just like the Artisan.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Test

My cookie test is where I started to see a real gap. I weighed every ingredient and made the same full batch of cookies in each mixer, creaming the butter and sugar first, then adding the eggs and vanilla, then the dry ingredients, then the chocolate chips last.

The Artisan mixed the dough well, but I had to stop and scrape the bowl a few times, especially after the flour went in. Some of it kept collecting higher up on the walls where the flat beater just doesn’t reach. That’s a pretty normal limitation for stand mixers in general, not something specific to the Artisan, but it still means more hands-on work.

The Artisan Plus only needed one scrape, right after I added the dry ingredients, because a small amount of flour remained near the top out of the beater’s reach. Everything below that got handled automatically. 

As the beater turned, its rubber edges stayed pressed against both sides of the bowl and kept wiping the dough off the walls and pulling it back into the center, so the dough never had a chance to sit untouched along the sides the way it does in the Artisan. I also didn’t have to dig a clump of dough out from the middle of the beater the way I sometimes do with a standard one, since there are no crossbars for it to collect on.

Both batches of cookies baked up almost identical in spread, browning, and taste. The difference isn’t really in the final cookie. It’s in how much work you have to put in to get there, and the Artisan Plus requires a lot less of it.

I also noticed a shared design issue during this test. Neither mixer locks with the head raised. While I was scraping dough from the beater, the head dropped unexpectedly and smeared dough onto the mixer.

That can catch you off guard, create a mess, or potentially pinch your fingers if your hand is underneath the head. Some competing mixers lock in both the raised and lowered positions, and I prefer that design. This issue doesn’t separate the Artisan from the Artisan Plus, but it’s something you should know before buying either one.

Pizza Dough Test

Pizza dough was the toughest test because it’s thick, sticky, and has to knead for several minutes, which is exactly the kind of thing that reveals how stable a tilt-head mixer really is. 

Each batch contained 500 grams of bread flour, 325 grams of water, 10 grams of salt, 7 grams of instant yeast, and 10 grams of olive oil.

I mixed each batch on the lowest speed until no loose flour remained, then kneaded for about 8 minutes on speed 2, which is the highest speed KitchenAid recommends for this type of dough.

The Artisan’s head bounced noticeably as the dough moved around the bowl, and that movement caused the lock lever to gradually shift away from fully locked, sometimes settling partway between locked and unlocked. Once that happened, the bouncing got even worse, and I had to move the lever back into place several times during a single knead.

The Artisan Plus was much more stable. Its head still moved, but it bounced noticeably less, and the lock lever stayed in position for the entire kneading cycle.

Both doughs came out smooth and elastic, and the finished pizzas were nearly identical in texture and browning. But if you make bread or pizza dough on any kind of regular basis, the added stability of the Artisan Plus is something you’ll actually notice.

Speed Control, Safety, and Lighting

The Artisan uses KitchenAid’s traditional speed lever, and it clicks firmly into place at each numbered speed. But only the even numbers are marked, so getting to an odd speed means parking the lever in the gap between two clicks instead of on one.

There’s nothing to lock it into that in-between spot, so you have to ease it into position carefully. Push a little too far and it snaps into the next click up, past where you actually wanted it.

The Artisan Plus replaces that with a redesigned dial that has a clear, marked position for every one of its 11 speeds. It still clicks into place at each numbered setting, but you can also twist it into a smooth slider mode if you want to land on a more precise in-between speed.

There’s also a safety difference worth knowing about before you buy. If you leave the Artisan’s speed lever above zero and then plug it in, the mixer starts running right away. The Artisan Plus won’t do that. You have to bring the dial back to zero before it will turn on. 

The Artisan Plus also has an automatic bowl light that turns on when you lower the mixer head. It shines directly into the bowl, making it easier to see whether flour is still sitting along the sides, whether ingredients are fully incorporated, or whether a mixture is reaching the right consistency.

I wouldn’t pay an extra $100 for the light alone, but I found it useful during testing. It’s one of several smaller convenience upgrades that make the Artisan Plus easier to use.

Power Draw and Noise

KitchenAid rates the Artisan Plus’s motor at 350 watts compared to 325 watts for the Artisan, which makes it sound like you’re getting more power as you move up. 

My measurements showed that the higher motor rating didn’t translate into higher power consumption during these tests. At low, medium, and high speeds, the Artisan Plus drew 22, 49, and 107 watts. The Artisan drew 28, 55, and 125 watts. 

Rated wattage tells you how much electricity a motor can draw, not how much force actually reaches the bowl, and this is a good example of why that distinction matters.

During pizza dough kneading specifically, the Artisan stayed fairly steady between 90 and 110 watts. The Artisan Plus ranged more widely, from 75 to 120 watts.

Noise came out close to even between the two. The Artisan measured 70, 74, and 81 dBA at low, medium, and high speeds. The Artisan Plus measured 66, 75, and 85 dBA at those same speeds, so it was a bit quieter at low, essentially tied at medium, and a little louder at high. I wouldn’t make my decision between these two based on noise alone.

Bottom Line: Should You Buy the KitchenAid Artisan or Artisan Plus?

Both of these mixers handle whipped cream, cookie dough, and pizza dough without any trouble. Neither one is going to let you down on the recipes most people actually make regularly.

Where they really differ is how much of the work falls on you. The Artisan Plus’s double flex-edge beater cut my cookie scraping down to a single pass, its attachments are heavier and sturdier and every one of them goes in the dishwasher, and it stayed stable kneading pizza dough while the Artisan’s lock lever kept working itself loose. The redesigned dial, bowl light, and the startup safety feature are smaller upgrades on their own, but they add up. 

If you bake often, especially cookies or heavier doughs, the extra $100 for the Artisan Plus buys you real, noticeable convenience and stability, not just a nicer-looking mixer. 

If you only mix occasionally and don’t mind scraping a bowl by hand every so often, the Artisan will do everything you need it to, and it comes in more colors.

You can check the latest prices for both mixers at the links below:

• KitchenAid Artisan on Amazon and KitchenAid.com
• KitchenAid Artisan Plus on KitchenAid.com