At a CES booth dotted with vanilla macarons baked by Food Network star Jackie Joseph, the tech I elbowed through throngs of people to demo wasn’t a foldable tablet with a slide-out screen, a TV that sticks to your window with suction cups or any of the other weird and futuristic gadgets and doodads here at the show. I was making my way to see a new gizmo I’d be likely to use in everyday life: the GE Profile Smart Mixer that takes aim at its stalwart KitchenAid rival.
Where do I even begin with the awesomeness? I should start by saying that the GE Profile Smart Mixer is a real device you can buy today at Crate & Barrel for $999 (it’ll make it to other retailers in the coming months). And while there were working models on a ballroom table with pretty spotty Wi-Fi, I didn’t have a chance to bake anything with the stand mixer myself. But I did mash a bunch of buttons to turn a paddle over some butter, lift the bowl mechanism and snap several attachments, like a balloon whisk, in and out.
Here’s what impressed me. First, GE didn’t just slap an app on a stand mixer and call it a day. The mixer’s mechanical and “smart” designs felt thoughtful and genuinely useful, from the way the attachments most easily click (versus rotating) into place, to the built-in scale that reads weight out to you in the unit of your choice, so you don’t have to grab a separate food scale and bowl to weigh out precise ingredients before dumping them into the stand mixer. Time and dirty dishes saved!
Now for the “smart” parts. There are several. In addition to the integrated scale is a built-in timer. You rotate a dial at the top to select your speed. When the timer stops, the mixer stops, too. And by the way, the speed goes to 11.
When you fire up the app and select Auto Sense mode for guided recipes (like for meringue), the GE Profile mixer will sense the viscosity and stop when it “feels” you’ve achieved stiff versus floppy egg white peaks.
I used this GE Profile smart mixer to set automatic timers, weigh butter and mix.
James Martin/CNET
Then there are the voice commands for Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Right now, you can just tell the stand mixer to turn off, but other commands are in the works.
As for the other tidbits?
- The GE Profile has a reverse mode to spin counterclockwise, like if your tough dough gets stuck or you missed a spot.
- The work bowl easily raises into place with two paddle levers in the front (I’ve had to wrestle with the KitchenAid in the past).
- The paddle, whisk and dough hook attachments snap in (versus twist in), and there’s a quick-release motion to cleanly get them out.
- You can use KitchenAid attachments through a standard “port” on the top.
- Work bowl and attachments are dishwasher safe.
I’m looking forward to putting the GE Profile Smart Mixer to the real test: attempting to whip up a batch of vanilla macarons for myself.
