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.

Thought I'd follow-up for anyone who stumbles across this. It appears that the two commercial units are identical except for the bowl that comes with them. The Pro-Line is nearly identical except it is not NSF (not an issue for most home users) and some of the gearbox is plastic rather than metal. Appears to be same motor & controller and all attachments/bowls are interchangeable between all 3 of these. The commercial are apparently just a tad quieter (better gearbox?) and have a longer and heavier power cord. The pouring shield will NOT fit on the 8qt bowl, but will on the 7qt bowl. The commercial 8qt bowl should fit on the pro-line.

I don't know much about it but like the sound of some of the features. The auto shutoff sounds great. If anyone is in the market for one they just happen to be on sale right now. BuyDig has them on sale for $259! Here is a link that might be useful: Google links

This is the method I have used for many years when making bread dough in my Kitchenaid stand mixer. The source is Betsy Oppenneer's The Bread Book. Mixing and Kneading Bread in a Heavy Duty Electric Mixer 1.Put dry yeast and proofing water into mixer bowl; whisk, proof yeast. 2.Fit mixer paddle on. 3.Add rest of liquid ingredients (milk, eggs, butter) to the yeast/water. 4.Add half of the flour amount of the recipe and any other dry ingredients. 5.Turn mixer on medium speed (#4 on KA) and beat 2 minutes. 6.Reduce speed to low (#1) and add rest of flour ü cup at a time. 7.Remove paddle, scrape well. Attach dough hook. 8.Scrape down sides of bowl, turn speed to #2 and add more flour 1 TB at a time (dough will cling to hook then spread back to sides of bowl). 9.Increase speed to #4 and knead 5 minutes. At the end of this kneading time the dough should cling to the hook and clean the sides of the bowl. If not, add flour 1 TB at a time, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. 10.Remove the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, let rise per therecipe ��" or ��" turn out dough, knead by hand a few times, form into a ball, drizzle a little oil in the mixing bowl, put dough in, swirl in bowl and turn oiled side up, cover, let rise.