Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL review: A stand mixer for keen cooks and wannabe professionals

Kenwood might be best known for its colourful KMix stand mixers, which have featured heavily on the Great British Bake Off, but the brand also has a huge range of semi-professional models too. One of these is the Titanium Chef Patissier XL, a beefy mixer with additional features and upgraded parts aplenty.

A follow up to the now discontinued Titanium Chef XL, it goes above and beyond what you’d expect from a traditional stand mixer. There’s a colourful, customisable digital touchscreen that’s packed full of automatic presets for everyday tasks like kneading dough, whisking egg whites and making Swiss meringue.

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Meanwhile, the new integrated weighing scale and bowl warming feature are two further reasons this mixer is worth your time. It’s an all-in-one baking machine that stands out in a jumble of Kenwood mixers.

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Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL review: What do you get for the money?

At £750, it’s undoubtedly a premium stand mixer but the price tag is reflected in the additional features, build and attachments you get when compared to a basic model.

Not only do you get a digital touchscreen, bowl warming and integrated weighing scales, but the mixer also looks great with smooth curves and a satin finish. The attachment outlets, speed dial, power button and head release lever all feel incredibly robust. There’s also a ring light on the mixer head, which, while not exclusive to the Chef Patissier XL, isn’t something you’ll find on the KMix line or with other cheaper models.

You get two dishwasher-safe stainless steel bowls: a basic five-litre brushed steel bowl and a seven-litre mirrored steel version, which is compatible with the mixer’s warming function.

As this is a premium model, the attachments, which are also steel and dishwasher-safe, are also of a higher-than-average quality. The K-beater, creaming beater, dough hook and balloon whisk are all larger and more robust than what you’d find on the Kenwood’s base models or, indeed, from other brands such as KitchenAid or Smeg.

The mixer also has a substantial 1,400W motor as well as ten speed settings and nine levels of bowl warming for proving dough, making Swiss meringue or melting chocolate.

This is all very impressive but what if you don’t have £750 to drop on a stand mixer? In that case, you might want to consider one of the basic Kenwood KMix models. The older KMix KMX75 model with glass bowl will set you back around £420, while the newer KMX760 Titanium line, with stainless steel bowl and Quiet Mark certification, costs £549.

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Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL review: What’s good about it?

If you are willing to spend the better part of £1,000, you get what you pay for when it comes to build quality. Everything about the Chef Patissier XL feels top quality, from the power switch at the back to the robust shields that top the mixing bowls.

More importantly, it offers impressive performance across the board. In testing, the extra-large balloon whisk created a beautifully airy sponge mix in little more than a minute and whipped six eggs to perfection in under two. Meanwhile, bread dough was supple and springy with around six to eight minutes of kneading. Time-wise, this is slightly speedier than the Kenwood KMix when mixing ingredients for a single cake or loaf and will save you about a minute when whipping six egg whites.

There are two differences that set it apart, though. The first is that the overall consistency of the cake mixture, egg whites and bread dough were superior at the end of mixing compared with the basic model; the sponge and eggs were lighter and airier, and the dough felt more supple.

The second is that this mixer can cope with an incredible amount of ingredients without running short on mixing power. The seven-litre bowl holds up to 4kg of cake mixture, up to 2.56kg of bread dough and a maximum of 16 eggs. Even when filled near capacity, it produced results that were just as good as in my single cake or loaf tests.

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Both the in-bowl weighing and bowl warming delivered outstanding results. Even when measuring just a few grams of flour, the scales were able to quickly and accurately pick up the correct measurements to the gram, displaying them on the digital screen. I tested against two additional sets of digital scales for accuracy and it passed with flying colours.

The bowl warming function works well, too. It has nine warmth levels and can be used for all sorts of jobs, from proving dough to melting chocolate and even softening butter at its lower temperatures.

If you’d rather not set these levels manually, though, there are a number of automatic presets that can be accessed via the mixer’s touchscreen. These offer generic timings and warmth settings for a variety of tasks.

Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL review: What could be better?

As useful as these presets are, though, they’re hindered by the fact the touchscreen is not always as responsive as it should be. On several occasions, I found myself having to swipe left and right on the screen more than one time before it would register. It seemed to be more responsive when using an index or middle finger but struggled with thumbs.

It’s a real shame, as you need to use the screen to do pretty much everything and while it isn’t too much of an issue if you’re just setting it up and leaving it be, it can be irritating if you need to adjust the mixing speed mid-process.

Another gripe, albeit a small one, is that this machine is difficult to keep looking great. While everything is dishwasher-safe, the bowls attract fingerprints like nothing else. What’s more, if you have hard water, you’ll find yourself wiping away dried water stains on a regularly basis, especially if your dishwasher isn’t up to the job.

If you’re someone who likes to keep your appliances pristine and on display, be prepared to give this one a little extra TLC.

Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL review: Should you buy it?

Despite these issues, the Titanium Chef Patissier XL is almost perfect. The unresponsive touchscreen is disappointing but I wouldn’t say it’s bad enough to get in the way of a recommendation, simply because it has so many extra features that other stand mixers don’t have.

You can weigh, mix and prove bread, all from one bowl, melt chocolate for cakes, and even produce thick and creamy Swiss meringue, all with minimal washing up. The results are consistent and it’s ideal for adventurous home cooks and those looking to bake on a more professional level.

Regardless of its shortcomings, then, this is a fantastic stand mixer; if you’re looking to splash out on your baking obsession, it’s well worth the extra dough.