The Forte, which comes in up to seven colors depending on where you buy it, has a Direct Drive motor that offers 10 speeds to switch between, along with a smooth-start setting. With this setting, the attachments are meant to gain momentum to reach the speed you’ve selected rather than jumping into hyperdrive. While I wasn’t expecting the setting to begin at a snail’s pace, I found it more of a half-speed start than a smooth ramp-up. The Forte’s speed settings can be adjusted via a chrome knob on the top of the mixer rather than on the side. I found this was just for looks, not convenience. With tilt-head mixers, you commonly see the top of the mixer bouncing around with thicker batters—the Forte was not exempt from this. Smeg's team actually let me know it was supposed to do this, and this motion better mimicked “hand-kneading” for doughs. This seemed a bit gimmicky to me, as most tilt-head stand mixers move while kneading.…