Smeg SMF02

Looks Great, Works Great… well at first… Dead at 5 months old, then SMEG came to the rescue – This is an update to my original review. I purchased this mixer at the end of April 2021 and was really happy with it for the first few months. Well.. we are now at the end of September … so 5 months in… and the transmission has failed. I used it about once or twice a week to make bread, meat loaf, cookies etc. and during a relatively light load (Laucke Golden Brioche which is not a dense loaf) with the dough hook and setting 2, the transmission failed. Machine got very hot at 5 minutes into the mix, a bad grinding sound and sound of skipping teeth… the old saying about manual transmissions on cars? If you can’t find them, grind them? That’s the sound.

So until I contact Harvey Norman/Smeg in the morning the machine is dead

I expected more from Smeg on quality and reliability. I wonder if this had been an Italian made mixer as opposed to a China made mixer if the quality would have been better…I can’t comment on this. I do know that originally this mixer was advertised as designed and made in Italy, but this model was made in the PRC.

Anyway…. I was shopping for a KitchenAid… but got a deal on this. Should have gotten the KitchenAid…..

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This is my second stand mixer, having had a Kitchenaid in the USA prior to moving to Australia a number of years ago... and its taken me a while to get around to replacing it here due to different power requirements from the USA. Suffice it to say I also shopped around a bit... but still had a preference to Kitchenaid.

What flipped it? We have a number of other SMEG appliances here in VIC including the 50's toaster and kettle. I caught the price at a promo where at $599 SMEG also included a grinder and a slicer/grater attachment. Also the reviews. Some of them were like religious disputes between brands, but in the main, they ranked the SMEG as generally consistent with the Kitchenaid Artisan, Kenwood Chef and Breville models. My traditional favourite, the Kitchenaid KSM160 was $200 more without the promo... so we grabbed the SMEG.... And I am not sorry.

I mostly bake bread. Cookies/biscuits, cakes, pies, merinques, are a nice thing but secondary. One of the features I liked was the 800w high torque motor. SMEG is very clear in the instructions that bread with the dough hook should be between 1-3 on the settings and the torque works here really well. I love sourdough rye with caraway and kibbled rye and this makes for a heavy thick and sticky dough. The SMEG just powers through on setting 1 and does a great job. Also getting other types of flour and water mixes ready for the autolyse function is a breeze and FAST. The SMEG does not apparently have a screw adjustment for the tool clearance in the bowl but this is a niggle. If you need whisk one egg... use a whisk.

Oh.. and the SMEG just looks GOOD...

I have also tried mixing cream, eggs, and I shredded a smoked pork shoulder for pulled pork with the flat beater... and this puppy is great. I have NOT tried the external attachments yet... I see some homemade sausage in my future and zucchini fritters but thats for later.....

Oh.. and the SMEG matches the toaster and kettle and my lovely neat freak bride even lets me keep the mixer on the counter because is just looks GOOD.

Now... there are a couple of beefs. The first is with Harvey Norman (and I take some fault here... I'm Catholic so guilt is part of the DNA) they did not even discuss, upsell or refer to the SMF03 model... and I did not think about it... only the SMF02 was on display. This is relevant because of the flex beater included in the SMF03.

The 2nd is with SMEG the company in Australia. They were quick to send out the promo attachments when I forwarded my tax invoice so good on them... However.. some of the other possible accessories are nearly impossible to find. Cannot find the glass bowl (SMGB01), the flex beater (SMFB02) here in AU, or much beyond the pasta maker and ice cream maker. Also there is no SMEGSHOP online store here in AU like there is in the UK and US.

I really recommend this machine

Enjoying this almost every day! – This is my first stand mixer bought in Oct 2020. Bought this mainly for cakes, pastries and pizza dough and also for its looks. I was a bit skeptical on the functions but this machine has surprised me. Like any machine its how well you can understand it and how you use it. Sponge cakes, Walnut cakes, pizza dough, pastry dough have been a breeze - have started using it 3-4 times a week. Would highly recommend this. My only issue has been that the dough hook that i use the most has the grey paint peeling a bit. Its anodized aluminum (just like your windows) so should ideally be quiet tough. Not sure if this is normal - no issues with performance though and it wont stop me from using it.