Commercial Floor Mixers

Go to the floor when the batch size no longer fits the bowl, when the machine is mixing stiff dough several times a day, or when the mixer is running almost continuously. Benchtop machines are built for lighter duty and shorter runs, and a stiff dough is what kills them.

Floor mixers are the default in a pizza shop or bakery for that reason. If you are mixing sauces, batters and cream rather than dough, a bench machine from commercial counter top mixers is usually the better purchase.

Spiral for dough, nothing else. The fixed hook and turning bowl develop gluten faster and with less heat in the dough, which is why bread and pizza producers use them. A spiral mixer will not whip or beat.

Planetary if the machine has to do several jobs: dough, batter, cream, mince through an attachment. It is the versatile choice and the compromise choice — commercial planetary mixers cover it.

Size it to your normal batch, not your biggest one. A bowl run far under its capacity does not mix properly, and one run over capacity strains the machine and climbs out of the bowl. Capacities are stated on each product page in both volume and flour weight.

Tell us your batch in kilograms of flour and how many batches a day, and we will tell you which machines in the range suit it. Two batches in a smaller machine often beats one in a machine that is too big.

A level floor that can take the weight, clearance for the bowl to be removed and for a person to work around it, and the electrical supply the unit specifies. Larger machines are commonly three-phase, and that is the single item most likely to delay a fit-out.

Have an electrician confirm the supply against the unit's data plate before delivery. The power requirement is on the product page, and we will flag it when you ask about a specific model.

Measure the doorways, the corridor and any lift first, then measure the machine. Floor mixers are heavy, awkward and taller than people expect, and they are the appliance most often stopped by a doorway.

Plan a trolley or a pallet jack and the people to do it, and place it where it will stay — a floor mixer is not something you shuffle around later. Keep the dough handling next to it: commercial dough rollers and commercial dough dividers.

For a planetary machine: the hook, the paddle and the whisk as a minimum, and a second bowl if the machine runs back-to-back batches. A second bowl is the cheapest capacity increase there is. For a spiral machine there is nothing to swap, which is part of its appeal.

Check which attachments the specific model takes before buying extras, because they are not interchangeable between brands. The wider dough line is commercial dough processing equipment.

Keep the bowl, the hook and the guard clean, check the belt tension and the bowl locking mechanism on a schedule, and never run the machine with the guard off or defeated. The guard interlock is the part most often disabled and the one that matters most.

Listen to it. A mixer that labours, smells hot or walks on the floor is being asked to do too much or needs service, and ignoring it ends the machine. Tell us the model and we will point you at the right parts in spares and accessories.