I tried GE Profile 7-Quart Smart Mixer with Auto Sense in my home: is this smart mixer REALLY worth $1,000?!

There’s no stopping technology when it comes to adding smarts. We’ve got Alexa-enabled coffee makers, smart water bottles, and taps you can talk to. The latest smart kitchen device takes the iconic stand mixer and adds tech. Meet the GE Profile Smart Stand Mixer with Auto Sense. With a built in scale, ‘sensing’ abilities, an app that can automate your baking, plus the option of voice control, this new baking genius takes the smart kitchen from simmer to rolling boil. I recently had the chance to be one of the first reviewers to get hands-on with this mixer for an extended period of time and to be able to try it out in my home kitchen. In this review, I’ll test its features, try several of its automated recipes and compare it to the power of a regular stand mixer. I’ll wrap things up by letting you know if I think this smart kitchen device is a good investment.

GE Profile Smart Stand Mixer with Auto Sense review: What makes it ‘smart’?

There are a couple of components that make this mixer stand out from the rest of the crowd. Mainly that it connects to a companion app which can assist with several additional smart functions, including weighing what’s in the bowl, and even sensing the torque from the mixing head and adjusting its mixing power accordingly.

The GE Profile Mixer’s 11-speed motor can tell the difference between mixing cake batter, kneading dough and whipping cream for example by sensing resistance in the bowl. What GE calls Auto Sense Technology then kicks in by controlling the motor’s torque and speed, supposedly creating the perfect texture for your recipe. It can also automatically stop when the dough reaches the perfect firmness to prevent over-mixing, a common mistake that can ruin a recipe.

Set up

The first thing I’m going to say about this mixer is that it is astonishingly heavy. The box is all but impossible for one person to move on their own, since the package weighs over 53 pounds. Unpacking was a legitimate challenge, not that I am taking points off the score for that. This is just to say that this mixer is substantial and feels durable as a tank. It gives me a lot of confidence that this mixer will last as long as the iconic KitchenAid that’s on most home bakers’ lifelong wish lists.

What you get

Getting ready to use your mixer takes a few minutes of preparation and connection. When you unbox the mixer you’ll be able to see its parts:
The weighty mixer motor, a stainless steel bowl with handle, a pouring spout/mixing shield and three attachments including the 11-wire whisk, a batter beater and a dough hook.

Getting the bowl seated in the mixer arm is a little bit different than other mixers I’ve tried. Two angled levers poke out from underneath the C-shaped mixing bowl seat. Place your thumbs on both of them at the same time and push down to release the bowl. Conversely, pushing them up and clicking them will keep the bowl in place.

Accessory port accepts KitchenAid attachments

There’s also a powered accessory port on the front that will also accept KitchenAid attachments like a pasta roller.

Next up you’ll need to pair your GE profile smart mixer with your home’s Wi-Fi network and for that you need the GE Smart HQ app.
Log into or create a account, then plug your mixer in to begin the pairing process. The app walks you through the steps, and I was connected in just a few clicks. Using the app and the wireless connectivity you can cook using guided or auto sense recipes.

What are GE Profile Guided Recipes?

Guided Recipes are recipes that are provided step-by-step for you to get the most out of your mixer. The app will guide you through the steps and help out by doing things like taking weights of ingredients.

What are Auto Sense recipes?

Auto Sense Recipes are recipes are where the mixer is able to monitor and detect changes in viscosity of your batter or dough, using measurement of the motor’s torque. This feedback is used to optimize mixing, whipping and emulsifying so that you can, in theory, have perfect results every time.

Using GE Profile 7-Quart Smart Mixer with Auto Sense

You can operate the mixer in two ways; the first is on the mixer itself by using the LED-lighted dial and a small screen on top of the machine which lets you select speeds and see what’s going on.

The other way is to control it with your smartphone, though this is not as autonomous as it may seem. For example, while you can set the speed you want and the time or duration of your mixing, once you tap ‘start’ on your phone’s app screen, you still need to go to the mixer itself and touch the start button on top of the machine for the commands to take affect. The mixer is not completely autonomous. You can imagine this is a bit of a safety feature.

Connecting the attachments is easy; they will simply push and lock up and in, and to remove them, push the ring holding them in place, up. The connection feels quite secure, more-so even than the twist and drop connections KitchenAid uses.

Can I use GE Profile smart mixer without Wi-Fi?

You could simply use this mixer without Wi-Fi if you wanted, as you would any other unconnected stand mixer, but that would be silly, since this mixer is substantially more expensive than an unconnected mixer. The technology and the guided assistance is part of the point.

Even so, on its own as a simple mixer, this device is a dream. That formidable weight means it will absolutely not budge through even the stiffest doughs. The mixing action is smooth, and even on higher levels of power the machine is not extremely loud.

The mixing bowl is large (holding 7 quarts) and heavy and feels solidly built.

Not meant to move

I’m going to touch on some thing briefly here because I actually think it’s quite important if you’re considering this mixer. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, the mixer is extraordinarily heavy. It weighs about 50 pounds, which means if you’re the type of person who stores your mixer in another location and breaks it out when you need it, that could very well be a problem. I consider myself to be a reasonably strong and fit person, but it is a serious struggle to move this mixer around my kitchen. For me, this mixer is best suited to being placed in one location in your kitchen and left there forever.

Also, in my particular kitchen, at 17-inches tall, the machine was just a bit too big to fit underneath my overhead cabinets. I’m not going to crack on GE for this, but you’ll want to measure your space depending where you want to put it.

Making & baking with GE Profile 7-Quart Smart Mixer with Auto Sense

I had this mixer for approximately two weeks and used it to make almost a dozen recipes. In some cases, I simply used my own recipes while in others, I chose to use both GE’s guided and auto sense recipes.

Glorious Cinnamon Buns!

There’s a recipe booklet that comes with the device, and while I have my own preferred family recipes for most things, I decided to give GE’s recipe a shot. The cinnamon bun recipe uses a Japanese milk bread style dough and I’m a big fan of this technique, so I was excited to start with this.

The mixer absolutely made making homemade cinnamon buns, a breeze. The recipe is solid, the technique and instructions are flawless, and I was blown away with the finished product. The buns were tender, fluffy and delicious.

Trying 1-minute aïoli

Next up was GE’s one minute aïoli. I whipped this up for burger night instead of going store-bought. While I might be inclined to tweak the seasonings; a little more lemon and garlic… The technique worked flawlessly, and I had thick creamy freshly made mayonnaise.

I baked Potato & Herb buns

For a dinner party, I decided to use another of GE’s guided recipes. The ingredients for the potato and herb bun recipe seemed a bit unusual, including both instant, mashed potato flakes and skim milk powder, but the result was truly tasty and wonderfully tender buns. The steps for this involve using the batter, beater, or paddle attachment to bring the ingredients together initially, then you scrape down the bowl and use the dough hook to finish things off. After letting it rise, punching it down, then forming dough balls into a lovely wreath shape, these baked up wonderfully golden and were the perfect accompaniment to dinner. Plus they came together relatively quickly, even with rising time factored in.

I quite enjoyed not having to overthink a bread recipe and monitor every step while hovering over the bowl. Being able to trust in my technology gave me time back in the kitchen to do other things like brush my chicken with butter, or do a bit of washing up.

Making Pavlova

The GE Profile smart mixer also made a pavlova that wowed my dinner guests one evening. Making a crispy-yet-creamy pavlova can be a delicate art, and using the GE guided recipe where each step was timed to perfection (and the mixer would stop automatically when it was finished certain steps) made it so easy, and resulted in a showstopper of a dessert.

On-device controls

The placement of the on device controls on the very top of the machine is either clever or frustrating, depending on where you are planning to keep your machine. If you want it to live underneath any overhead cabinets, it might prove impossible to access the dial. But if your mixer is going to live, sitting out somewhere in your kitchen, the top side dial is actually pretty convenient.

There’s a smooth rotating speed dial, which will choose among the 11 manual speed settings, there’s also a scale/timer button near the front, left and right toggle buttons and a centre start and pause button. You can also reverse the mixers direction or zero the scale using the button towards the back of the machine.

The controls are intuitive, and easy to interpret.

Using Voice Control: it works but not worth it

This mixer can also integrate with Google Assistant and Alexa for hands-free control using only your voice. I opted for Alexa and it was easy to get set up using the Alexa app and linking the GE Smart HQ ‘skill’.

When it comes to actually using the voice control, it’s not as helpful as you might think. For example, you can’t just ask Alexa to start the mixer; you need to be in the right ‘mode’ and that means you’re already using remote control via the app or a guided recipe. If you’re not Alexa will simply tell you, “stand mixer isn’t in a mode that accepts requests”.

Here’s what that means: If you’ve used the app to start the mixer, you can ask Alexa to stop it, but because, as I mentioned earlier, starting movement on the mixer need to be done manually by pushing a button the voice control seems to be extremely limited. And to be honest, it takes a lot more time to say ‘Alexa, turn stand mixer off’, than it does to just push the button to stop it. I was able to get Alexa to enact timed controls by saying, “turn the mixer off in two minutes,” but when I asked Alexa to adjust the speed she’d say, “stand mixer isn’t in a mode that accepts requests”.

As for what else you can do with voice control, I’m not quite sure. The tips and suggestions section of the GE app is blank.

Bottom line here: the smart voice control integration works, but it’s not really worth using, since it takes longer and you won’t know when it’s going to work and when it won’t.

Auto Sense Recipes: making butter

I’m going to spill a little bit of ink here about the usefulness of the Auto Sense recipes. During my testing there were only three such recipes available inside the GE app: They were for homemade butter, French meringue cookies, and how to cream butter and sugar for baking.

I opted to make fresh butter from heavy cream. This recipe is a bit of a strange choice, since butter is actually really easy to make without any technology necessary. Even schoolchildren often get an opportunity to make butter by passing around and shaking a mason jar filled with cream. I’ve made butter numerous times before in everything from a blender to a food processor, and another stand mixer. It’s easy enough to tell by looking when your cream has separated into butter and buttermilk. Having the machine turn off by itself when it detected this was novel, if unnecessary.

I’d say that after testing one of them, two of the three Auto Sense recipes don’t seem like they are really all that helpful. If I have more time with the mixer I’ll also try the auto sense meringue cookies.

Particularly at the price point this mixer is at, I was expecting more recipes and more assistance from the app if I’m being honest. This is a brand new to the market product, so I will trust more is coming, but for the sake of new users, I hope it’s soon.

Clean up

I find using a device like a mixer becomes more convenient the easier it is to clean. All of the parts and accessories of this mixer. Are dishwasher safe or can be hand washed in the sink. The stand mixer body can simply be wiped with a damp soapy cloth.

Overall review: GE Profile 7-Quart Smart Mixer with Auto Sense

Here’s my verdict: this is a beautiful machine, and it mixes like a dream. But there are a few features that may seem limited. I use my old workhorse KitchenAid stand mixer several times a week and love it, because it can handle tedious and tiring mixing and whipping chores easily for me, enticing me to bake things like bread and cakes at home. So is adding smarts to a stand mixer worth it?

Adding a built in scale, torque sensing and automatic timing features, as well as guided recipes I actually looked forward to making again (the GE cinnamon buns were baked up three times in my two weeks with my loaner mixer!) shows that this device has definite promise for serious home bakers. I think it absolutely delivers on its promises of adding meaningful smarts to a kitchen stalwart.

When it comes to the downsides, there aren’t currently a lot of automated recipes available in the app yet, but hopefully GE will be growing its database quickly. Voice control, while it works, isn’t as helpful as it could be since you need to be in the right hands-free mode. Plus what you can do with your voice seems like a short list.  The other major downside for me, was that this mixer is far too large and heavy to move easily around the kitchen. You should absolutely find a place for it to live for eternity on your countertop, since storing it away and lugging it out will likely make you cringe.

In short, I found the GE Profile Stand Mixer does make baking easier with more reliable results. I can definitely recommend it if you’re a regular baker looking for a stand mixer that can do more than average…. But with one caveat: it’s quite expensive at $999US, even when compared to a large capacity KitchenAid Pro version at $549-679US. It’s available only at Crate & Barrel and Canadian availability is unclear at the moment. With limited recipes and voice control seemingly in its infancy in this machine, you also wouldn’t be sorry if you waited for Gen 2. Or to see what KitchenAid might be cooking up by way of competition. Learn more from GE’s website.

You can also check out my review of the super-cheap Aucma stand mixer here.