If you're looking for a new or another appliance then our Smeg SMF03 stand mixer review is worth a read.
Has a long lockdown inspired you to make more of your own food from scratch? Or perhaps the return of The Great British Bake Off to our screens has you thinking you’ll see if you can get better results than the TV bakers? Or maybe it’s time to treat yourself to the latest in small appliances for your kitchen? Whatever your motivation, you might have your eye on the SMF03 stand mixer from Smeg.
Want to find out what it’s like to use? We’ve been whipping, mixing and kneading with this stylish machine to find out, and you can read on to see how the machine fared.
Can’t wait to buy? Keep scrolling to see where you can get your hands on one of them for the best prices then, check out our best stand mixer buying guide for a comparison.
Smeg SMF03 stand mixer product shot
How the Smeg SMF03 stand mixer looks
There’s no denying that this stand mixer is a handsome appliance. It makes an attractive addition to any kitchen worktop and might persuade even the biggest fan of kitchen minimalism to keep it out on show (and ready to use). It’s one of Smeg’s 1950s style designs, which includes the iconic fridge, but also a dishwasher, tap, and other small appliances such as kettles, toasters, coffee machines and plenty more. They all have authentic vintage good looks with curvaceous lines and appealing coloured finishes, and work as one-off features or teamed in your room.
The model we tested was the cream colourway, which adds to its retro look, but there’s also black, which is ideal for a sleek contemporary kitchen, or to add a vibrant accent, go for the red version. All are glossy finishes that draw the eye.
It won’t just make an impact because of its retro appearance and its colour, however. This stand mixer is a sizeable addition to any worktop at H37.8 (49 with head up) x W40.5 x D22.1cm. In other words, if you don’t have a big kitchen, you will be sacrificing a precious preparation area to fit it in. And if you’re considering keeping it in a cupboard and just getting it out for baking, bear in mind that it’s no lightweight at 8.81kg – probably another incentive to keep it on the worksurface.
What's the Smeg SMF03 stand mixer like to use?
Using the Smeg stand mixer is (sorry, we can’t help ourselves) a piece of cake. The head of the mixer raises at the touch of the rear button allowing the stainless steel bowl to be put into position and locked into place. After that all you need to do is fit the accessory required for whatever you’re mixing into place, which is also a fuss-free procedure. The speed selector is on top of the mixer’s head, making it easy to reach and giving you the option to position the mixer as you prefer on the worksurface – a choice you don’t get if the control is located on the side of the appliance.
The speeds you can select from run from one to 10, and icons indicate the speed ranges appropriate for the accessory you’re using as a reminder. There’s no separate ‘on’ button so once you’ve positioned the bowl, fitted the accessory you need, and plugged the mixer in, it’s started by sliding the speed selector.
Once you’re done mixing? Move the speed selector to the 0 setting, in other words, ‘off’, and you can raise the head of the machine again, lifting the attachment out of the bowl so it can be removed. The bowl can then be unlocked and removed from the mixer.
This Smeg SMF03 stand mixer comes with four standard accessories. There’s an aluminium flat beater to prepare cake batters, biscuits, icing and so on. There’s a flex edges beater which is made from stainless steel but has flexible silicone edges. We found this the top choice for making cakes as it reached right to the edges of the bowl so nothing got left out of the mixture, and it ensured the ingredients were thoroughly combined.
Smeg SMF03 stand mixer with whisk attachment
There’s also a stainless-steel wire whisk for beating, mixing, whisking and whipping ingredients such as cream. For making your own bread, pasta and pizza, there’s an aluminium dough hook. There’s also a pouring shield that prevents splattering when you’re mixing.
We didn’t test them, but there are other accessories you can buy separately including a pasta set, slicer and grater, food grinder, and even an ice-cream maker.
The stainless steel bowl has a capacity of 4.8 litres. What does that add up to in terms of quantities when you’re making? Well, it’s a maximum of 2.8kg of cake batter, 2.6kg of batter for desserts, 1.3kg of bread, pasta or pizza dough, one litre of whipped cream, and 12 egg whites. Note that there are also some minimum quantities: for example, three for egg whites, and 100ml for whipped cream. The bowl has a handle that’s comfortable to hold and its base fits neatly on to electronic kitchen scales to allow you to weigh ingredients directly into it.
How does the Smeg SMF03 stand mixer perform?
We got good results using this stand mixer. Both the cakes and bread we created with it were delicious, and the mixer made the whole process efficient and speedy.
We liked the fact that the stand mixer was easy to use right from the first go, and suited left and right handed operation due to the speed selector’s position. Picking the right attachment for whatever we wanted to make was easy, as was getting the right speed.
This stand mixer has a planetary rotary movement. The bottom line is that the accessory you fit for a particular procedure rotates around its axis in the opposite direction to the rotary movement of the mixer. The point is to maximise bowl coverage and create consistent results.
The pouring shield is definitely worth adding to avoid unnecessary clean-up of the worktop around the mixer (yes, we forgot on one occasion and had a puff of icing sugar to clean from the surface and nearby objects).
Who would the Smeg SMF03 suit?
It’s a great buy for those who are keen bakers. It delivers great results, it’s easy and convenient to use, and much of it can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
And while the extra accessories don’t come with the stand mixer, the availability of pasta rollers and cutters, a slicer and grater, a multi-food grinder, and the ice-cream maker give you a whole host of additional opportunities to serve up home-made dishes and treats for maximum flavour, and the satisfaction of creating them yourself from scratch.
What we don't like about the Smeg SMF03 stand mixer
The quibbles we have with this design? Well, you do need sufficient kitchen space to accommodate a small appliance that’s actually of fairly large dimensions, and it’s not ideal if you want to keep it in a kitchen unit when it’s not in use, or if you move home frequently for whatever reason, because of its weight.
When it comes to the actual recipe preparation, we found that there was a fair amount of some mixtures that needed removing from the attachment once it was lifted out of the bowl to avoid waste.
As mentioned above, we’d definitely recommend using the flex edges beater for cake preparation as this was the most effective way to thoroughly combine the ingredients. Without it, we did notice that there was a trace of some ingredients that stuck to the sides of the bowl and had to be manually blended in to ensure thorough combining. Butter also blended into the mixture much more speedily with this tool.
Is it worth the money?
Stand mixers aren’t generally a low priced piece of kitchen kit and, at a recommended retail price of £449.95 (and less in sales and promotions), the Smeg SMF03 stand mixer is somewhere in the middle of the range of what you might expect to pay to add one of these to your room.
Our verdict on this model? If you’re a regular baker after a powerful and easy to use and clean mixer that’ll look good on your worktop, we reckon you won’t be disappointed you spent your hard-earned pounds on this machine.
About our review – and our reviewer:
Sarah Warwick has specialised in homes and interiors for over 20 years. She was Executive Editor of Ideal Home magazine, and has written for nationals, magazines and websites including Real Homes, Homebuilding & Renovating, Grand Designs, Homes & Gardens, Houzz, The Guardian, House Beautiful and Country Homes & Interiors. She put the vacuums through their paces all round the house, on all sorts of dirt and debris, and a variety of flooring and surfaces.