This Sage Stand Mixer is a rival for KitchenAid - and it's nearly £150 cheaper

The Sage Bakery Boss is a stainless steel marvel of a stand mixer. The simple controls, sleek design, and versatile extra accessories make this a seriously special addition to the stand mixer market.

Having conquered the world of coffee, Sage has decided to try their hand at stand mixers. As you might have guessed from the name, Sage's The Bakery Boss is more than competent and confident in the kitchen. Whether you consider yourself to be a beginner or you sit amongst the ranks of Mary Berry, you'll be well set up with this stand mixer.

I put this through a series of tough tests in our kitchen to work out whether this is worth the splurge. It's been compared to some of the best stand mixers on the market, so if you're debating the splurge, here's everything you need to know.

Specifications

Unboxing

The Sage Bakery Boss comes neatly packaged. Whilst it's not all recyclable, which is a shame, you get a perfectly preserved stand mixer as well as plenty of neat accessories. There are two bowls, one flex edge beater, one normal beater, a whisk, and a dough hook. It's enough to look smart on your counter and to add some style too.

Who would it suit?

At first glance, the controls for the Sage Bakery Boss look a lot more complicated than your average stand mixer. However, as soon as you start using them, you’ll see that they’re actually make simple. As you twist the speed dial, you’ll see a scale light up, which takes you from folding and kneading, to light mixing, to creaming and beating, to aerating and whipping. This is essentially a rebranded low to high scale, but it’s really useful for beginners to know about.

When you use the Bakery Boss, a light will also turn on, helping you to get a better look at your baking task. It’s not an essential, but it is really helpful and I got used to this luxury very quickly. Soon, I felt dismayed if there wasn’t a spotlight on my sponge mix.

Aside from that, the tilt head function. And various accessories work like any stand mixer. They twist and click into place and stay secure in even the toughest task. If you want more of the details about how they work, you’re in the right place. 

What is it like to use?

At first glance, the controls for the Sage Bakery Boss look a lot more complicated than your average stand mixer. However, as soon as you start using them, you’ll see that they’re actually make simple. As you twist the speed dial, you’ll see a scale light up, which takes you from folding and kneading, to light mixing, to creaming and beating, to aerating and whipping. This is essentially a rebranded low to high scale, but it’s really useful for beginners to know about.

When you use the Bakery Boss, a light will also turn on, helping you to get a better look at your baking task. It’s not an essential, but it is really helpful and I got used to this luxury very quickly. Soon, I felt dismayed if there wasn’t a spotlight on my sponge mix.

Aside from that, the tilt head function. And various accessories work like any stand mixer. They twist and click into place and stay secure in even the toughest task. If you want more of the details about how they work, you’re in the right place. 

You get two different beater attachments with the Sage and, over time, I found myself gravitating towards the flex edge beater much more. It’s like having a built-in spatula that wipes down the sides of the bowl. The only time that I opted for metal was when I had hard butter to work with, such as on a pastry task.

To make my cake, I added sugar and butter to the bowl and let the attachment cream them together. I made sure to set the speed to creaming and the mix looked light and fluffy within thirty seconds. Next, I added in the eggs, flour, and cocoa powder. This is a great way to check that your stand mixer can integrate wet and dry ingredients without a problem. 

The big bonus of having the glass bowl is that I could really clearly see that the Sage was doing a beautiful job of mixing my cake batter together. You can see just how glossy and smooth it looks in the pictures and I can promise you that the baked goods were just as delicious. It’s not a tricky task to nail, but the Sage executed the basics perfectly. 

The next step up from mixing cake batter is kneading bread dough. I fitted the hook, added in my flour, yeast, salt, oil, and water, and twisted the dial so that the kneading level was lit up. 

Bread dough is always going to be harder than cake dough, but I was surprised at how much the Sage struggled here. I’ll give it some extra grace because my bread dough recipe is typically on the lower side of hydration, so it made a dough with the top of my ingredients, but just span what I had made in the flour at the bottom. 

I tried a wetter recipe and that seemed to put the Bakery Boss back on track. This bread dough was smooth, elastic, and perfectly kneaded. It’s worth noting that this isn’t quite a bread expert: it’ll cover your basics, but not the more complex recipes. 

Whether it’s cream or egg whites, having a stand mixer that can achieve stiff, glossy peaks in minutes can save you on a lot of arm work. I tested the Sage Bakery Boss on both vegan double cream and normal cream to see how versatile the results would be. It’s safe to say that I was suitably impressed. The Sage had both cremas to a thick consistency in just over one minute, which is one of the fastest results I have recorded. There weren’t any big bubbles in the mix either, just a smooth, lighter-than-air mouthfeel. 

Cleaning

All the parts of the Sage Bakery Boss are dishwasher safe, so you can stack them away and let your appliances do your dirty work. The machine itself doesn’t get messy — you can thank the splash guard for that —  but it’s worth giving it a wipe-down after use. It’s a nice looking machine that warrants some good maintenance. 

Once everything has been washed and dried, you’ll need to work on a storage plan. One bowl and attachment can sit in the stand mixer, but the others will need to go in a drawer or cupboard. If you have lots of storage space and some good arm muscles, you could even move the stand mixer off the counter. However, I’d recommend leaving it on display. This is attractive, after all.

How does it compare?

You’ll inevitably be asking, is the Sage Bakery Boss better than a KitchenAid? The short answer is not quite. Whilst I love all the visual aids on offer from the Sage - the guide on speed settings and the overhead light - when you get down to the nitty gritty, the KitchenAid is a much more thorough mixer. It made better bread (with less input) and feels like it has the edge for how robust it is.

On the other hand, there are lots of aspects that I prefer on the Sage. For example, KitchenAid's Artisan will cost you at least £150 more than the Sage and yet you get an extra bowl and an extra accessory. If you'll just be using it for whisking and mixing, I found the Sage had an almost identical performance record. It'll depend on how you bake, but this could be a rival for the KitchenAid Artisan. 

Should you buy it?

If you want a slick, sleek, stylish stand mixer, the Sage Bakery Boss is perfect. It comes flush with useful accessories and is reasonably priced too. However, it lacks some of the finesse on offer from the KitchenAid Artisan, so if you have the extra money, you might want to stretch the budget.

How we test

At woman&home, we take our stand mixer testing seriously — partly because I’m an avid baker and will happily whip up cakes, bread, and cream in the name of research. Every stand mixer I review spends at least two weeks on my countertop, where it goes through a series of rigorous tests.

To start, I put each model through three essential tasks: mixing cake batter with the beater, whipping cream with the whisk, and kneading bread dough with the dough hook. These basics reveal a lot about a mixer’s overall performance. From there, I push it further with more ambitious bakes to uncover its strengths and weaknesses.

By the end of testing, I’ll know exactly who this mixer is best for and where it shines (or struggles) compared to others. I also compare different models to give you a clear picture of its value and how it stacks up in the market.