Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker XL (KVL85)

Where the KitchenAid wins on polish, the Titanium Chef Baker XL wins on muscle and capacity. Kenwood rates the motor at 1,200W and pairs it with a 7L bowl (plus a nesting 5L bowl), which Kenwood says handles up to around 2.5kg of dough, so it is the pick for double cake batches, big bread bakes and anyone who finds a 4.8L bowl limiting. The standout feature is the built-in EasyWeigh digital scale: you weigh ingredients straight into the bowl, and reviewers report light sponge mixes and stiff egg-white peaks in a few minutes. It also takes Kenwood's own attachment range. The trade-offs versus the KitchenAid are aesthetics and feedback consistency: it is a bulkier, more utilitarian machine, and aggregated customer ratings are more mixed, which is why we score it just behind on reliability and feedback despite its stronger spec. Its official RRP is high (around £689), so it is best bought on offer, where it often lands near £479.