Consumers often find that their KitchenAid Artisan stand mixers are not mixing the batter properly and that the beaters do not come very close to the sides or bottom of the bowl while mixing, leaving unmixed batter in those areas. While this can be annoying, it's not product flaw, but merely signals that you may have to do a small adjustment when setting-up your mixer. This problem may also apply to other KitchenAid stand mixer models.

KitchenAid has provided a solution to this problem in your product manual. For the KSM150 Artisan series, you'll find the instructions for Beater to Bowl Clearance, on page 9 of the manual.

The reason you may have to adjust your mixer is that when manufactured, the KitchenAid stand mixers are set for the beaters to just clear the bowl when mixing. However, this clearance may need to be adjusted so that the beaters are closer to the bowl during the mixing, without coming into contact with the bottom or sides of the bowl. When the mixer is adjusted properly, the mixing action pulls all the batter in from the sides and bottom of the bowl, leaving hardly any scraping required.

If you've experienced this problem, review your product manual and look for instructions for adjusting the 'Beater to Bowl Clearance'. If you don't have a manual, you can find obtain one from KitchenAid.

Tilt-head models have a screw just below the area where the head is attached to the stand. You'll need to unplug your mixer and tilt the head up to find the screw.

A slight clockwise (right) turn will lower the beater and a counter-clockwise (left) motion will raise it. The illustration shows the visible adjustment screw after the mixer head is tilted up on a tilt-head KitchenAid mixer.

Bowl-lift models have an adjustment screw on the lower portion of the stand and you'll need to place the bowl lift handle in the down position to see it, after unplugging the unit. The adjustment to lower the beater is clockwise (right) and counter-clockwise(left) to raise it.

You should use the flat beater to make this adjustment ensuring it just clears the bowl. If you've over-or-under corrected, the bowl may not lock properly in place, or you may hear the beater hit the sides or bottom of the bowl. So you may have to counter the adjustment slightly to correct it. These instructions also work to properly seat a BeaterBlade mixer attachment on your KitchenAid mixer.

Having the beater in the correct position is very important. If the beater hits the bowl, it could become chipped and the finish will affect cleaning. It can also cause problems with the mixer motor.

If you have trouble adjusting your stand mixer beaters correctly, contact KitchenAid customer service.

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Read KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer Review
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