THIS MIXER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
If you're hinting for a gift of a new mixer for the holidays or thinking of giving a mixer, my recommendation is more than ever the Breville Stand Mixer 800BXL.
In the six months I have used it, it continues to perform each task efficiently and quickly.
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I don't know if it is the design of the whisk or the power of the machine, but egg whites and cream whip faster and attain more height than with other mixers I have used. As a result, I will not be giving times to whip, but visual and written cues to how something should look.
I use my Breville stand mixer extensively and I have not had a problem in these six months of the mixer walking or moving around a lot even with a heavy load. The head will bobble somewhat, but so does every other mixer I've ever used.
I did obtain the extra bowl, flat beater and whisk to speed my baking along. If you bake a lot, these extra attachments are a worthwhile investment. Especially considering the machine is less expensive than most heavy-duty stand mixers. Having to wash the bowl and beater before being able to finish a recipe is a bummer and I am happy not to have to do that anymore. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to say I ordered another bowl, whisk, paddle and scraper paddle. The order wasn't shipped and I had to re-order after I realized the order wasn't coming. Breville sent the order, plus the smaller bowl without charge.
The Breville stand mixer scraper beater works as advertised.
I had my doubts since the scraper I used professionally was a much different design and had a tendency to catch some dough behind it that didn't always mix in properly. However, this is a beater as well as a scraper and it works beautifully. It is also extremely inexpensive – around $10.00 so it is well worth getting it. 
It looks similar to the paddle beater but has a flexible rubber or plastic edge to it that really does do the scraping for you. I'm not sure I would use it for heavy doughs but it has worked perfectly for everything with which I used it. The scraper beater is to the left, the regular beater is on the right. 
There is also a smaller bowl which is perfect when mixing a small amount of cream or egg whites. 
It was always a problem to beat ½ cup of cream or several egg whites in the 5-quart bowl of any mixer. This solves that problem. It fits on the machine just like the larger bowl, but it is just smaller as you can see above. The smaller bowl has 2 side handles. It also stacks nicely inside the large bowl for storage.
The only other thing I had to get used to was the tilt-back head. I had a lift bowl mixer before. The Breville Stand Mixer tilt-back head can make it a bit difficult to add ingredients if you don't know what to do. Simply make sure the beater is stopped to the back of the bowl. It is easy to do because the speed dial is very sensitive so just move it a tad to get it in the correct position. By positioning it this way, it becomes easy to add ingredients to the front of the bowl. Problem solved! 
Breville came to America just in time for me and I wouldn't go back to another mixer, including the Kitchen Aid for anything. My baking life has been easier and a lot more fun since changing.
So if you're hinting for a new mixer, don't hint – give them a piece of paper that says
"Breville BEM800XL Scraper Mixer Pro 5-Quart Die-Cast Stand Mixer". It normally sells for $300.00 but can be found for less. It comes with the attachments shown in the photo at the top of the article. The additional items have to be ordered from Breville direct. Here is their site. However, it had a maintenance note on it when I looked at it. Hopefully, they got it done.
See my original comparison of the Breville and the Kitchen Aid mixers.
You'll have to excuse me now, I'm off to the kitchen to do some testing with my Breville mixer.
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Cate says
What a treat, to read a review of a hard-working appliance from a real cook-baker - thanks so much, Helen.
I have the huge Breville food processor and it's wonderful; powerful, sturdy, well-made, lots of good blades, easy to clean.
I also have a powerful Kenwood mixer, around 5yo, which was made by Delonghi for a while. Did you ever use a Kenwood, Helen? I like it; it does a great job, and looks handsome ;), although it's quite tall, which might be a problem for some. I'm having trouble getting extra bowls, accessories, etc, for it, so I may flip it and replace with the Breville. The Kenwood mixer tips up, same as your Breville, by the way. I used to have a big KA, and it was fine, but I'd like something better, it missed a lot in the bowl. We
hfletcher says
Hi Cate - I am looking forward to getting the Breville food processor. A friend has one and swears by it. I did use a Kenwood when I taught baking at a kitchen supply store. It was so noisy, I had trouble talking over it and I am not shy! Kitchen Aid pretty much dominates in the states but Breville is making inroads and I am happy about that.
Maureen Potter says
I bought one a year ago on Amazon. Reconditioned. For my condo in Florida as I couldn't imagine not having a mixer there.
Used it at home to see if I liked it and it's a dream! I would trade my 6qt KA in a minute if they made s bigger one, as I like to make double and triple batches......
My first Breville purchase was the fp on thanksgiving weekend when I was desperate. It was the only large bowl available to take home that day and more significantly more $$ than the unavailable Cuisinart. I fell in love. It's like Breville buys all the competition, tears it apart and makes it better.
I now own 4 Breville products and all are best in class, in my opinion. In all cases I have used the competition so do have some experience. The food processor, the mixer, the milk foamer, and the ice cream freezer.
Mo
hfletcher says
Hi Mo - I agree with you completely. I don't have the food processor yet but a friend of mine does and she loves it. So that is next on my list. I see a Breville future for me also.
Teresa says
Helen, What size bread dough (single loaf, double loaf, more?) are you making in the Breville.
I recently bought a Breville stand mixer in black, mostly based on your recommendation.
I was a bit scared by the reviews on Amazon of people who said their Brevilles smoked when they used it to knead bread dough. As a result, I've cut my bread dough recipe in half and am making a very small quantity.
But I find this annoying. I didn't buy a stand mixer to have to baby it. I'm just worried about over-burdening it. (I did buy an extended warranty.)
Or do you mainly use it to make cakes, pie fillings and whipped toppings?
hfletcher says
Hi Teresa - Hello Teresa - I have used my Breville for everything I have written for the blog (and a lot more) since May 30th this year. I have used it for bread as well as everything else I make including heavy cookie doughs
If you go back to the original review - https://pastrieslikeapro.com/2016/06/breville-mixer/#.WFCFJWX6cXc - you will see a loaf of bread and the ingredients.
The Pane Bianco - https://pastrieslikeapro.com/2016/11/stuffed-italian-bread/#.WFCFmWX6cXc- is another example of bread using the mixer.
As I stated in the review, there was no smoking, overheating, bouncing around on the table, etc.
Can you give me an example of an original bread recipe and what you cut it back to.
Helen
Teresa says
Helen, I went to that original link and it appears that you made just one loaf of bread.
My recipe is for two loaves, and I always doubled it. This is for our holiday baking, Christmas and Easter, where we make a round plain loaf, plus we roll the dough out to make nut bread, pepperoni bread, poppyseed bread, etc. After everything is baked and cooled, we wrap it well and freeze it until the actual holiday.
But to try out my mixer when I bought it recently, and out of fear of overburdening it, I made half a recipe and just baked one loaf of bread.
We're doing the baking tomorrow and I wonder if I need to make the scaled-down dough four times in my Breville, or if I dare to make a regular two-loaf batch,and follow that by a second one.
(I don't think I should make my usual doubled batch in the mixer, although I always made it by hand in one big batch.)
Carolyn says
How does the noise compare to other mixers? WHich kitchen aid model are you comparing your review to? I had the Kitchen Aid 6 qt professional model and got rid of it because it was so noisy (I couldn't bake when the rest of the family was sleeping because would wake them up.). I now have the 7 qt. Kitchen Aid stand mixer - much much quieter (and powerful)
I completely agree with your comment about getting an extra bowl and beater.
hfletcher says
Hi Carolyn - I updated the article to include my review of the Breville and the KitchenAid. You can find it at https://pastrieslikeapro.com/?s=Breville+vs.+Kitchen+Aid#.WEmDmWX6cXc. I had a very old but original K5A made by Hobart which I loved. However, only the body remains the same now. When it came time to replace it I bought the 5 quart Kitchen Aid Pro. It was so noisy, we packed it back up immediately and returned it. That is when I remembered hearing about the Breville. I bought it and never turned back. Hope you get a chance to use one someday. It will change your baking.