I have the 610 from WS. It is loud. The pitch is a bit lower than the previous Artisan I had, but I make pizza dough every week on setting 2 for approx 10 minutes and it is loud enough to be annoying. Whipping egg whites on speed 10 is not louder, just different pitch, but still annoying. Works great though and much more robust than the Artisan model.

GB, Nobody on this forum seems to have it. Cook's Illustrated recommended it with reservations (despite of it being nearly identical to All-Clad in appearance and cooking even a little bit faster) because most testers complained about it feeling "top-heavy" and "unbalanced," with a handle too thin to accommodate its weight, which made the helper handle more of a necessity than a bonus feature. They tested the 80116/514 model - not sure if it is the same you have in mind. My local WS is having a clearance sale on AC 3-ply. You may wish to see if yours does too as the prices are amazing. Good luck!

That's prolly the price they were here, too, Annie. I was on a mission to get primer & plywood for cabinet shelves when I spied them. Last thing I need is dishes; anyway, that's what I told myself since I have nowhere to put them right now so I only let myself be momentarily distracted. (And yes, they are pretty, both styles.) And I do need a set of dishes since DSI broke one of the dinner plates to the set of $4 rummage sale dishes that I happen to like a lot. I'm hoping I'll find a plate that matches when rummages get started back up this spring/ summer since I'm not tired of them yet. I had brown dishes for a while, too. Got tired of those real quick so I know what 'ya mean about them being ugly!

I went through a KitchenAid Artisan in three years, which disappointed me. I did some research, found a local store carrying the DeLonghi (now with as much badge engineering as GM: Kenwood, DeLonghi, Cuisinart, Viking). I talked with them, bought it, brought it home and started a batch of Oatmeal Raisin cookies; it blew a circuit halfway through the batch, where the puny KA would just keep mixing. I called the store (their solution? "Let the mixer rest for 30 minutes and resume." My response, "Mix for five minutes, rest for 30? Really?"), and cleaned the mixer, returned it, and got a refund (after much wrangling). Instead, I bought the KitchenAid 600 Professional, which ran for three years before grinding gears off this morning on a batch of PeanutButter cookies.... My mixer gets used twice a week, usually on desserts, and never get close to bowl capacity, so they're not abused. All of which to say: you can spend $400 for three years of mixing with a KA, or the same for a DeLonghi that shuts down in ten minutes.... The earlier comment about wattage ratings is accurate: it's not about output, but usage. Based on experience, I'd buy the Hobart (KA is a spinoff of Hobart), but based on budget, I'll either repair the KA or replace it with another.