Inalsa Kratos Stand Mixer Review | Product Review

As a baker,owning a good,sturdy stand mixer has always been on my bucket list.However,we did not get any sturdy mixers in India till a few years back and the ones available were imported ones and carried a heavy price tag.

In 2013,I got myself a basic stand mixer from abroad and even though it was just a hand held mixer with a bowl,I was quite happy with it.Only when it conked off and gave up on me completely did I seriously start looking out for a stand mixer.I had only a few requirements though - a good whisk for cake batter and for mixing frostings - buttercream,whipping ganache etc and a basic dough hook for kneading dough,though I wasn't very particular about dough hook as I knead my bread dough in my food processor.

When I held a poll in Instagram,majority of the votes came in for KitchenAid,no surprises there and many told me to go for it in spite of it's hefty price(it retails for 46k in their website).I wasn't ready to make an investment that big and looked for affordable alternatives.

After checking out a lot of reviews and videos,I zeroed in on Inalsa Kratos Stand mixer.It was priced reasonably and had all the attachments I was looking for with a 5 liter bowl and a dough hook as well.I decided to go for it and after using it for almost 2+ months,I'm quite happy with it.

So let's see the features of the mixer first -

• Inalsa Kratos comes with a 1000W motor 
• It has a 5 Liter Stainless steel bowl
• 8 level speed controls with pulse function
• LED indicator,dust proof splash guard,Safety lock protection,Anti-slip feet
• Attachments include - Main unit with 5 Liter Stainless steel bowl,1 Whisking cone,1 dough hook,1 mixing beater,1 splash guard along with instruction manual.
• Also includes a Inalsa certified 2 year warranty.

I put up a Q&A on Instagram asking people what they wanted to know about the mixer and received many queries.I will address that first before going into the review.

1.What is the price of the mixer ?

 I purchased it for 9k from Amazon and the price is more or less the same today when I checked too.

2.How sturdy is the mixer?

The mixer comes with an Anti slip feet and is quite sturdy.It stays firm while mixing cake batters,making buttercream or while making cookie dough.However it moves ever so lightly while kneading bread dough.I have read reviews on Amazon which said it walks on the counter etc and moves a lot but haven't faced anything of that sort.If we stick to the recommended speed for each requirements,the mixer does not move at all.

3.What is the purpose of the stand mixer,does it make a huge difference than the usual hand beater?

Having a stand mixer makes you go hand free while mixing cake batters or kneading dough for breads.It helps when the mixing process is long(buttercream) or beating eggs(for cake).Also,stand mixer is more powerful than the regular hand beater.

4.How many cups of flour can we knead at one go?

I started with 1 1/2 cups of flour and have made dough with 4 cups of flour as well and the mixer comfortably has space for more.The maximum amount to be used is 600 gms of flour.

5.Is the mixer sturdy,does it vibrate at high speed?

I have answered this but adding a few points more.The manual comes with very clear instructions on speeds to follow while using different attachments.If we follow this there is hardly any vibrations or movements.

6.Does the mixer heat up while mixing?

Like I said before,if we stick to the basic speeds according to the attachments,it doesn't heat up.I have kneaded dough for up to 10 minutes and the mixer did not vibrate or heat up.

7.What attachments do you use most often?

I use the paddle attachment/beater attachment for making cookie dough,making buttercream.Whisk attachment for making cake batters and whisking ganache.

However the one I use the most is the dough hook for kneading bread dough.

8.Do you find any difference in hand kneaded dough or mixer kneaded dough?

No difference except in the time and effort involved.

After going through the questions I understood the majority of them wanted to know about the dough hook attachment and how sturdy the mixer was while kneading bread dough.So I will mainly focus on that in this review.

The mixer,like I said,comes with a manual which clearly indicates the speeds to be used for each attachments.For the dough hook,the speed levels are 1-5 and the time is 3-5 minutes.

1 speed run for 30 seconds,3 speed run for 30 seconds and then 5 speed run for 2-4 minutes to form a cluster.It clearly indicates that the mixer will wobble if we go above speed 5.

Now after using it for a couple of times,I follow my own speed patterns.For instance,I run it on speed 4 for about 2 minutes and then switch off for a minute.Continue 2 minutes on speed 5 and then again switch off.Like this I do 2 minute runs in speed levels 4-5 and get my dough kneaded beautifully in under 10 minutes.

What this does is,the mixer does not heat up.The dough gets rested in between kneading and we get good windowpane in about 6-7 minutes.It does sound a bit confusing at first but once you start using it,you will understand the pattern and it will be so easy to operate the mixer without any wobbling or vibrating.

However I would suggest you use the mixer with a minimum of 2 cups of flour.Anything less than that and the hook struggles to reach the bottom.I have made dough with 1 1/2 cups and even though I did get a beautiful dough(and a good loaf of bread)I got better results while using more flour.

I am a happy customer and if you were considering to buy this mixer and were hesitant to do so after reading the reviews,take my word for it and go ahead.For the price it is truly a deal!

I purchased this mixer myself and this is my honest review :)