If your stand mixer isn’t working quite right, here’s a possible solution

Let’s face it—few things are more infuriating than whipping your own cream and never achieving those perfect peaks or making a batch of your favorite homemade cookies only to wind up with a gob of unmixed butter at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

There can be many variables for your stand mixer’s performance, such as horsepower, bowl shape, and temperature. But one of the most common nuisances is definitely your mixer’s bowl clearance. When the attachment is too high, you will wind up with an unsatisfactory gob of ingredients at the bottom of the bowl. When the attachment is too low, you will find scrape marks on the bottom of your steel bowl, or the bottom of your white coated paddle attachment might be chipped. It may even get so bad that you are unable to lock the head into place!

Fortunately for bakers and KitchenAid owners everywhere, the solution is simple!

Test the Bowl Clearance

To test your bowl clearance, drop a dime into the bottom of the bowl and use the whisk attachment on low. You want the whisk to be able to move the dime, but not scrape against the bottom of the bowl. If the dime does not move, it means your blade is too high.

Then Adjust Accordingly

On a tilt head mixer (looks like this KitchenAid mixer) you will find a small silver screw where the head meets the stand when tilted back. If the attachment is too high, start by turning the screw a quarter of a turn clockwise. If it’s too low, turn it a quarter turn counterclockwise, and then repeat the dime test. Keep making small adjustments ’til it’s working perfectly!

If you have a bowl lift mixer (like this pink KitchenAid beauty) the process will be the same, but the screw is located on the inside of the stand. Of course, other brands will have their own maintenance instructions.

To make sure your mixer is working at its peak performance, check the bowl clearance every six months.