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Remember the old hand crank kitchen beaters of yesteryear? You know, the ones grandma used in earnest when baking her special delicacies and you played with on the floor because they looked like cool toys. Then when grandma actually let you try your hand at beating a few eggs you pooped out after several spins and turned the job back over to grams. With today’s busy schedules, kitchen mixers bring ease and simplicity to a world where baking has gone the way of the dodo bird.

With all the kneading and beating and mixing that used to go on in the kitchen it’s no wonder the women of the house used to have strong hands. Well, not anymore. But it seems a reasonable trade off. Not being able to crack a walnut with my fist doesn’t bother me a whole lot. No being able to find time to bake like grandma, however, does.

You could ease into the world of mixer’s, but I say go for the big guns first. Just by design, you’ll find them easier to use. A Kitchenaid stand mixer is big and bulky, meant to be stored on the a counter, not hidden in a cupboard you have to dig through on hands and knees every time you want to use it. Remember: out of sight, out of mind.

A counter corner is a perfect spot to keep your mixer – far back enough to leave you space for every day kitchen routines, yet close enough to pull forward when you need it. Due to the weight and bulk of the machine keep it on a inexpensive cutting-board for ease of movement. Then you can just slide it in and out of it’s corner without straining your arms and back. Better yet, if you’ve got the space, just keep it out and ready for use on a constant basis.

Kitchen mixers aren’t just for cakes. With the various attachments, you can be making a complete dinner in no time. Mixing meatloaf, mashing potatoes, kneading dough, and whipping cream to top that delicious dessert are all a cinch. And the clean-up is fairly easy when you’re finished.

Holiday cookies are no longer a headache when you realize that you can make several different batches with a mixer in the same amount of time it would take to make just one by hand. You can spend one afternoon making all your goodies for the season. Store in the freezer and your ready to go to that next holiday party with a tray of homemade goodness without all the hassle.

(A special tip to remember when using a large mixer for cookies though, is to make sure you don’t over mix the dough. Smooth cookies are what you will end up with if you don’t pay attention, and unless that’s what the recipe calls for, your cookies will spread and flatten when cooking and you’ll lose the chunkiness of homemade hand-mixed cookies.)

Kitchen mixers aren’t cheap and they can be heavy and bulky. But with a home on the counter to keep it handy and in sight you will be using it far more often and it will be well worth the expense. You’ll be making treats just like grandma used to make, only without all the fuss. And nowadays, who needs strong hands? It’s easy enough to buy walnuts already shelled.