I don't have the professional, but we have had an Artisan model for about 4 years, now. No problems with leaks or stripped out gearboxes or anything, but I think Kitchenaids are overrated. Dough preparation is a pain with them, they are hard to get stuff into with the mixer running, flour sticks to the sides like crazy causing you to have to constantly stop and scrape, the hinge pin walks out of place constantly on ours, dough tries (and often succeeds) to climb up the hook to the drive head, and I inevitably have to put up with flour sloshing out of the bowl at one time or another during mixing. Big PITA, as far as I am concerned. I just ordered a Bosch built-in mixer/blender/slicer/grater that I am going to install in our new counter. Then I am going to move the Kitchenaid to the neglected appliance section of our utility room. If the Bosch works out, I reckon all I will use on our KA is the excellent pasta roller and fettucini cutter attachments. Not one complaint about either of those.

I recently stripped the gears in my Artisan. Probably could have gotten it fixed but instead used it as an excuse to upgrade to the Pro 600 and would encourage you to do the same, particularly if you ever intend to make bread. The Pro 600 cures pretty much every problem mojavean wrote about. It comes with a plastic chute/splash guard that makes it much easier to add ingredients to the running mixer. You've got the bowl lift, so no hinge pin to "walk" anywhere - although in my experience that was never more than a minor annoyance on the Artisan anyway. The Pro 600 comes with the new spiral dough hook, so no more bread dough climbing up the C-shaped hook that comes with the Artisan and all smaller KA's (the new dough hook also caused Cook's Illustrated to move the KA back to "Highly Recommended", tied with Cuisinart if I remember right). It really was an awful problem. For a regular bread baker, I think the dough hook alone would be worth the extra $. And the Pro 600 at 600 watts has almost twice the power of the Artisan at 325, also an asset when making bread. The capacity is neither here nor there - 5 quarts is plenty big enough for most things, I think. The only downside of the Pro 600 is that it is a little noisier, or at least there's a different quality to the sound. I'm guessing that has to do with more metal parts in the drive train but maybe that means I won't strip out the gearbox in this one. Bottom line: if you plan to make bread, pop for the Pro 600; you'll be glad you did. If you'll never make bread, I'd probably save the cash and go with the Artisan.

Kitchenaids are definitely overrated! I burned up my Kitchenaid Pro 6 making bread--just one loaf at a time, never more than once a week. I'm currently looking at commercial mixers, but don't really know much about brands. Recommendation: If you want a good light duty, versatile mixer, go with Kitchenaid. Otherwise, look for something more.

I make bread with my KA Pro, 3 loaves at a time, whole wheat. Any more would kill it I think. It sounds like a jet. I can't compare it to others, but it's been reliable for me.

Important: Measure where you want to store it. The big one won't fit on the counter under most cabinets.

Watch the sales and you won't have to pay $100 more for the Pro.

I have an Artisan mixer and LOVE it. I have had it for 3.5 years and honestly use it at least every other day, if not daily. I haven't had another one to compare it to, but for the jobs I wanted it to do, it is perfect. I make everything from simple batters, to icing, meringues, and almost weekly bread or pizza dough. I haven't had any problems with the dough hook that comes with it, and most often do double batches. I would highly recommend it.

My comments are pretty much the same as fori & markw's. If you make bread, then the Pro is the way to go. I would add if you make large multi-batches of icing, then the larger the bowl the better. I do like the wider and shorter bowl with the pro vs. the skinnier and taller bowl with the Artisan-easier to add ingredients to the bowl. On price-try Kohl's department store or www.Kohls.com. I think Dad paid around $350 (after sale discounts-they're always running a sale @ Kohl's) for Mom's new Pro this past December.