I leave mine on the counter. I thought that the shelf was cool, but took up too much lower cab space. Just my opinion.

Cj

I too leave mine on the counter and didn't want to waste cabinet space either. I was also concerned about how stable it would be over the long term. Those mixers are heavy things.

Ours is not on a lift, but it is on a pull-out drawer in our island (we specified 100 lb rated glides, and a shallower drawer height than our other pull-out drawers). I don't use ours every day, and it would end up taking up too much counter space for us and would likely get dusty and/or schmutzy between uses.

I have mine on a lift in the island. I think it is great, because it is such a heavy item, dragging across the counter and dusting it was a drag and it is so nice to pull it out, do my thing and then slide it back into obscurity. I don't miss the storage space, as I have lots of other storage, but I do miss the additional accent color in my kitchen, as it was the "inspiration" color for our kitchen in the first place! But now if I want to change accent colors, it will not be a problem.

Mine is on the counter because I like it for the color accent, it is cobalt blue. I didn't want to give up any cabinet space to a mixer. When I need the space I just store it in my pantry which is very close.

Mine is too tall to put on Kraftmaid's mixer pull-out stand, and probably too heavy. I just found this out today, actually. That's OK, though. It's very pretty.

I thought about one, almost got it, but in the end I realized the mixer would be out in the walkway whenever I used it, and there would not be any countertop space right next to it (close, yes, but not immediately next to it), so I decided to leave it on a counter, tucked into a corner.

Mine will either be on the counter or banished to another room. After upgrading to a large KA food processor, I find it redundant. I used to use it when my old fp was too small or underpowered, but the newer one holds so much more and is a workhorse.
I like the look of the mixer, so may just keep it out and dust occasionally, lol. I also got cool motorcycle flames stickers for mine like Alton Brown has. I have been waiting to put them on for the new kitchen ;)

Whether it works on a shelf/lift for you will depend on what you use the K-A mixer for. My old tilt-head 4.5 qt mixer walked all over the counter when I used the dough hook. I used to put it on the floor when kneading pizza dough for 15 min. My newer 6qt mixer is better in that it doesn't move quite as much with the spiral shaped hook.