Combines durability and performance to fit all your mixing needs.
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4447 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: Red
• Brand: Sunbeam
• Model: FPSBSM2104
• Released on: 2011-03-10
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 16.10" h x 14.70" w x 9.80" l, 12.15 pounds

Features

• 12 variable speeds allow soft start ensuring superior control regardless of mixture
• 3-way mixing action; synchronized bowl and beater automatically increases and decreases speed with adjustment of the control knob
• 350-watt motor and full die cast metal body combined with non-skid rubber feet keep the mixer completely stable during operation
• Off-center bowl position lets you add ingredients while in use and results in less scraping
• Chrome beaters and dough hooks, and stainless steel 4.6-quart mixing bowl included

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

379 of 386 people found the following review helpful.
Kitchen Aid vs. Sunbeam
By ut158
I have a Kitchen Aid already. I got this because we had one when I was a kid and this was kind of nostalgic. There has been no significant change in the design of the Sunbeam since I was a kid, at least as far as I can remember. I don't remember the head locking either up or down, but maybe it did, I don't know. More on that later... I think you are already familiar with the mechanics of how the Kitchen Aid mixes things (the planetary motion) vs how the Sunbeam mixes things (a hand mixer on a stand) so I won't go into detail on that, other than to express my preferences between the two.

Round 1: overall mixing ability
Today I was trying to make banana bread. First I have to cream some butter with eggs and sugar. After this was complete, I threw in some bananas and had the mixer mash them up. It appears that when you have semi-solid things (like butter or bananas) that you are trying to incorporate into a batter, the free-spinning bowl tends to spin the item right up to the beater, but then at first it doesn't want to go any further. After doing a little convincing, the beaters just buzz right through it and the bowl spins around until it reaches the obstacle again. This time there is less resistance and better mixing. On the 3rd go around, it's even better, and so on. I've made this same recipe dozens of times on the Kitchen Aid and this process goes a little faster and with less intervention. Don't get me wrong--the Sunbeam does just fine with this sort of task, it's just that the Kitchen Aid does it better. I'm going to say that Kitchen Aid is the clear winner here.
WINNER: Kitchen Aid.

Round 2: bowl scraping
Both mixers are very good at getting right up next to the edge of the bowl so that minimal bowl scraping is required, however neither is perfect and both will need a scrape or two during your food prep (NOTE: for either model, the paddles should not actually touch the bowl. If they a re, you need to make an adjustment). You cannot scrape the Kitchen Aid bowel while it is running (well, at least not without a very high risk of damaging your mixer, the spoon and/or your hand). The Sunbeam, however, allows you to not only easily scrape the bowl while it is on, but it will even spin the bowl for you so you can just stick a rubber spatula in and hold it in place and the mixer will (sometimes) do the rest for you. I was even able to hold the spatula up to the beaters and thus wipe the spatula clean while it was on. NOTE: the very center of the bowl may sometimes appear to need a good scraping during mixing, but if you just adjust the bowl position using the bowl size lever, it will take care of it for you. It's manual, but easy. This is only sometimes necessary and I suspect if I ignored the problem, the mixer would eventually get everything in the middle, anyway.
WINNER: Sunbeam

Round 3: power
I'm afraid I haven't exercised to its f ull ability yet, but trying to run bread dough through 2 hooks feels a little awkward. I have made bread in this (and it came out great) but it sure sounded like it was struggling. On the other hand, the Kitchen Aid boasts a lot of power... HOWEVER, it has an intentionally engineered weak point--a gear that will break if it sees too much of a load. I've had to replace this gear twice on my Kitchen Aid. It costs about $100 to have a pro replace the gear for you, or if you are not too timid to open up the device and get grease all over, you can do it yourself for about $10-$20. Let's just say I'm not terribly impressed with the whole "power" aspect of Kitchen Aid's offering.
WINNER: Draw

Round 4: ease of use
* Both are very easy to use, although if you have ever tried to add ingredients to a Kitchen Aid while it is on, you know that you need some sort of device to assist, or you will make quite a mess. That isn't a problem with the Sunbeam--there's p lenty of room on one side of the bowl to add whatever you need.
* On the other hand, the head-locking mechanism on the Sunbeam is a little awkward. One of my Kitchen Aids is a tilt head (like the Sunbeam) and the other is a bowl lift mechanism. The tilting Kitchen Aid's head is much easier to deal with than the Sunbeam because it locks down with a simple lever and then there is no need to lock at the top. The Sunbeam, by contrast, has a button you have to press to lift and then press again to lower and it's awkward to press in either case. I much prefer the Kitchen Aid's approach here.
* The Kitchen Aid has a handle on the bowl that makes it MUCH easier to hold while scraping. The Sunbeam cannot have a handle since the bowl spins.
* Some of the Kitchen Aid models come with implements that are not dishwasher safe (My Artisan series implements are all dishwasher safe, but my pro-series model made it very clear that I should not be putting it in the dishwash er--if I wanted to wash in the dishwasher, I should buy the coated version. That was a turn off!). All of the Sunbeam's implements ARE dishwasher safe (no extra purchases required).
I think that adding ingredients during mixing and easy clean up are of greater importance than holding the bowl or putting it in place, so I'll say the Sunbeam wins, but only by a little.
WINNER: Sunbeam

Round 5: versatility
The Kitchen Aid has the ability to use dozens of attachments. The Sunbeam just mixes. I only use my Kitchen Aid for mixing, so it's a draw for me, but if I wanted to do more, I could, but only with the Kitchen Aid
WINNER: Kitchen Aid

Round 6: aesthetics, overall impression
This has a lot more to do with personal preference than the other categories, but here's what I'm considering...
a) Volume/loudness. Neither mixer is terribly loud. The Sunbeam may be slightly quieter... maybe?
b) Size/Weight. The Sunbeam is lig hter than it looks. My wife hates hefting the Kitchen Aid around, so for her, this is a win for the Sunbeam. For others, the weight gives an impression of quality, so it's a win for the Kitchen Aid. Once again, this is preference. Both take up comparable amounts of space.
WINNER: DRAW

So that's 2 wins for Kitchen Aid, 2 wins for Sunbeam, and 2 draws. To me, the most important category is "Round 1: overall mixing ability" and Kitchen Aid wins that one, so if I had to choose between a Kitchen Aid and a Sunbeam and all other factors (such as price) were the same, I'd go with the Kitchen Aid every time. HOWEVER, the fact of the matter is that the Kitchen Aid is roughly 2x-3x the price of the Sunbeam and if I had to live the rest of my life with just the Sunbeam, I could be perfectly happy. If cost is an issue for you, and if you don't want to use any fancy attachments, I'd recommend the Sunbeam. If you have money to throw around, the Kitchen Aid may be a better appliance. Either one will serve you well.

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful.
Great looking, hard-working, and virtually mess-free
By Jo Ryan
I'm not a real big baker and for the past forty years have gotten by happily enough with a hand mixer, but this handsome, powerful stand mixer is opening new vistas for me. So far I've made mashed potatoes, chocolate butter-cream frosting, meringues, and whole wheat bread, and it's been easier and less messy than my handheld mixer ever was. I can see myself using this more often and for more things because of its greater ease, power, capacity, and the dough hooks, which made kneading bread--something I've previously had to do by hand--a snap.

I love the 4.6 quart stainless steel bowl with its steep, almost straight sides since it gives me so much depth for mixing and keeps virtually all the splatters within the bowl. With my handheld mixer and more rounded mixing bowls I would inevitably end up with batter on myself, the mixer, and even the counter around where I was working. Now, that just doesn't happen. Although this is a much bigger and heavier mixer, it's actually more convenient to use. I've been storing it on top of my refrigerator (as opposed to in a case in a cupboard), and it's a snap to bring down, put in the color coded beaters or hooks, and start mixing. Even better, the clean-up takes no time at all since the only things dirty now are the beaters and the bowl. Further, these beaters can go in the dishwasher, which I've read some beaters of more expensive stand mixers cannot.

As far as power goes, the mixer has plenty but is not too loud. The dough hooks worked great on the Bob's Red Mill whole wheat bread I mixed and made the eight to ten minutes of required kneading no trouble. I did wonder if the mixer's kneading was comparable to hand kneading and if I should adjust the time, but ended up kneading for about nine minutes, and the bread rose perfectly. The mixer had no trouble with one large loaf, and I think it could have readily handled two.

So what about drawbacks? I think the button to rais e the head is somewaht inconveniently located on the shaft of the mixer and would like it if it were up on the head. Also, it would be nice if the head could be set at different distances from the bowl since at times it seemed either too close or a bit too far away. Further, the instruction/recipe booklet is only so-so and could be greatly improved with more interesting, varied, and health-minded recipes, plus tips on how to use the mixer. I was disappointed there wasn't a single recipe for bread, let alone whole grain bread, and very little on how to use the mixer for various tasks. I've found it's taking me a while to learn how to use it well, getting the bowl to turn with different contents, and I think some instruction, coupled with recipes and recommendations from skilled users, would make make a great addition. The mixer does not come with a small bowl, for example, and that made it awkward to use the first time I tried to make frosting. The second time I tried using a smaller bowl of my own, and it actually worked! I also have discovered I can mix with the head up and use it more like a hand mixer if I want. Having all these tricks explained from the get-go would be a real asset.

I can't really compare this to other stand mixers or the Kitchen Aide products but would advise buyers to approach mixer reviews on consumer sites with caution. I've read through dozens of them and think many are plants both for and against this product (in other colors) and its competitors, and that they often raise `straw man' arguments. For example, one reviewer for this product in another color said it was messy to use, and that seems almost impossible in my experience. Another said the unit lacked mixing power for something easy like cookies, and I also find that very hard to believe. If a reviewer has written nothing but one mixer review here at Amazon, for example, I'd question his or her motivation; when a product has dozens of those one-re view reviewers, I'd suspect an orchestrated campaign.

Although this is neither the least expensive nor the most expensive of stand mixers, it's much more versatile than my hand mixer, attractive, well-built seeming, and overall a pleasure to use. I think it would be great if you could try both a less expensive and a more expensive model before buying, but if you can't this seems like a fine looking, dependable option that's sturdier than the cheaper ones and more affordable than the costlier ones. The deep red and stainless steel look gorgeous together, and the vintage styling is terrific in a modern, 'midcentury' kitchen. Four and a half stars since it could use a better instruction book and information on buying other attachments and a smaller bowl.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Lightweight, and easy to use
By P.B.
It is fairly light weight for it's size. It is very durable, so it not going to fall apart after the first use. I had it all the way up to the highest speed and it was not any louder than my hand held mixer. The bowl is easily set into place and removed, along with the blades. While mixing, the bowl spins, so there is no real need for you to spin the bowl so the mixer gets to everything. Also, it is easy to slide the switch that moves the bowl so the blades can be in the center or along the side. In each position, the bowl with spin slowly, yet it is easy for you to spin bowl if you want it to spin a little faster, and can switch the position of bowl while mixing as well. There is a button along the side to lift the blades out of the mix, as well as an eject (marked) button to remove the blades from the mixer. It does come with a nice size bowl, I might enjoy a smaller bowl at some point but the one that comes with the mixer is nice for cake mix or bread dough. For what I do, I wouldn't want anything larger. I am looking forward to the holidays to have a reason to use it, and maybe try it out on making mashed potatoes from scratch.

I have recently bought the smaller bowl for this and it is the perfect size for me. Small stainless steel bowl for Sunbeam Heritage mixers.The bowl that came with the mixer is the biggest I would use, especially for home use. The smaller bowl is perfect for smaller projects. My husband is in the army, so when he is deployed it is just me and my daughter, so most of the stuff that I would use the mixer would be for small amounts.