I refused to spend four hundred dollars on a stand mixer, so I bought a budget one, fully expecting it to be a toy. Two years and dozens of loaves of bread later, I am honestly a little impressed.

It is not the premium machine, and it does not pretend to be, but for home baking it handles far more than I expected.

What the cheap one gets right

The thing that surprised me most is that it can actually knead bread dough, which is the hardest thing a mixer does. It walks across the counter a little on a stiff dough, but the dough comes out fine.

• It handles a standard two-loaf batch without struggling too much
• Cookies, cakes, and whipped cream are effortless
• The bowl and attachments clean up easily

Where it falls short

Be honest about the tradeoffs and the budget mixer is a great deal.

• Noise: it is louder than the premium machines
• Heavy dough: a stiff sourdough needs you to stop and scrape occasionally
• Attachments: forget about pasta rollers and grinders, it is a mixer only

If you bake a few times a month, a budget stand mixer does ninety percent of what you need at a quarter of the price. If you are churning out bread daily, the premium machines earn their cost. For everyone else, start cheap and upgrade only if you actually outgrow it.