I bought my wife the 5.5Qt lift bowl model number "KV25mexer5" from Costco. It has all steel gears. I got when they had basically 2 sales on it at same time. $50 off from KA and $30 off from Costco so we paid $249.00 total. For $250 it is probably the best choice you can find for a mixer, we have not had any problems with ours after 5 months of use so far. Hasn't had any problem making a 3 cup batch of bread dough using the dough hook and on speed 2 like it says to do. So far for us and especially for the price it was the best deal for our needs. It is loud but so is every other mixer in this power range. It seems rather solid, no grinding, everything works smoothly. I seriously looked at the Bosch Universal which is definitely a better mixer especially if you make a lot of large 6+ cup dough batches. But for the one I would buy (stainless bowl with blender) is $550 on sale. So more than double the price. For how much we use a mixer this Costco KA was our best deal by far, plus the added perk of if anything happens to it the first year or maybe even longer we could just take it right back for a full refund or replacement with no hassles. IF you use the hell out of a mixer though I would pay the extra and get the Bosch Universal. As far as where the KA "Stand Mixers" are made they are actually made in Greenville OH. The KA hand mixers are however made in China. But like most everything else made in China it is made there under the exact specifications that the American Company wants, unfortunately that happens to be cheap as humanly possible which is why they are made there. IF the American company stated we want the best possible mixer you can make and stated exactly what they wanted, what materials to use etc that is exactly what they would get from China. So while everyone continually puts the blame on China it really has next to nothing to do with them. It is the American company that purposely wants crap at the cheapest price possible.

I have a lift bowl model not a lift head. I usually pull it a bit toward me on the counter to work on it, but I don't have to pull it entirely clear of the cabinets because the head doesn't lift. The attachment in Lars's picture is the rotor slicer/shredder. I've not used it for grating cheese. I use it for shredding potatoes for latkas and for shredding apples for charoset. For the latter, I also pop in the nuts and it does a fine job of grating them to small bits. For grating I pull it out all the way and turn it sideways. It just takes a bit of muscle. I don't notice the feet grabbing - perhaps the feet on mine started out a bit harder. It is great for egg whites so if you've had trouble with them in the past, you might give it another try now.

I have a Viking 5-qt. stand mixer that I got for Christmas a few years ago from my DH (and, yes, he is dear to me for getting me a kitchen appliance that I love LOL). I decided on the Viking after my old KA finally bit the proverbial dust. It was a basic 300 watt model that was manufactured about 25 years ago. After having it leak oil from the motor head and having it re-greased and packed more times than I care to recall, I finally realized that it just didn't have enought power to keep up with what my needs are. The Viking was a good fit for me. Since the Viking came out, there have been others to follow suit, like the Cuisinart and Breville. I don't know how they compare to the Viking, but I'm very pleased with it. It is louder than a KA, but that doesn't bother me...as long as it does the job, that's what matters. It is a workhorse. BTW, it's manufactured in the UK, unlike many others, which are manufactured in China. Sometimes you can't get around buying something made in China, but given the choice I would prefer not to.

I received my beaterblade yesterday from Amazon, just in time for today's cookies. After reading the thread from the N.Y. Times regarding butter ... this blade is the answer. It works wonderfully!!! I made 14 doz. cookies today using the blade. Made sure that butter was at the correct temperature. I'm in FL so I stuck my 6 qt. bowl in the freezer to "chill". Then turned down the air conditioning. I made chocolate crackle cookies, cranberry/walnut cookies from a thread here in the Cooking Forum, and spritz cookies. Made sure the butter/sugar was thoroughly creamed and proceeded. The beaterblade does cream butter/sugar in 1/2 the time and does a great job! I've always made good cookies, but this year's array are really, really good! Thanks for the headsup on this product. I'm amazed that it works so well!