Hmm, I've also been reading this thread with interest because I was just about to buy a KA stand mixer. On their website, it says the Professional 600 series is "Flour Power" rated for 14 cups, "8 loaves white bread, 13 dozen cookies, 8 lb. mashed potatos" Also from their website: Warranty Our Hassle-Free Replacement Warranty guarantees that if your countertop appliance fails during the first year, KitchenAid will replace it free of charge. We will: # Deliver a replacement to your door # Arrange the return of the failed appliance # Guarantee the new appliance for one year For more information or complete warranty details on KitchenAid® countertop appliances, please call Customer Service at 1-800-541-6390. Sure doesn't sound like your experience. Maybe I'll have to look at the Cuisinart instead. W.

The "oil" you see is actually the grease they use to "pack" the motor head, and it has liquified. The grease protects the motor head from all the friction caused during use. This oil liquifying is usually caused by the motor being stressed. This happened to us twice with our KA mixer. We got it from someone who claimed she "never used it", but she must have at one point, for the grease doesn't liquify on it's own...LOL. Not meaning to make light of the situation, but all is not lost. You can bring it to a KA repair center and they can re-pack the grease for you. The last time we had it done, it cost us around $45.00. It actually lasted for quite a while before we had to do it again...but the last time was my fault. We have the "Classic" model, which doesn't have the higher horsepower, so the motor becomes strained easily. You still got a nice deal, though...and once you have it repaired, it should be as good as new.

I can't testify to the other models of Kitchenaid, but I have the Artisan - one of the smaller models that was on all the store shelves a few years ago for around $200 if I remember correctly, and I love it. Anyway, you have to (or should) use the ingredient ramp (I didn't know that's what it was called!) to add flour and stuff while it's turning, but I rarely bother with that, as it's awkward. I usually just stop the mixer, lift it up, add whatever I need to, then lower it and start it again. Or, sometimes, when I'm feeling impatient, I just do my best to add whatever, usually flour, and make a mess doing it. It has enough power for most of what I do, other than the large batches of whole wheat bread I sometimes make. It has a problem with heavy bread doughs, so I either start them in the mixer and switch to hand kneading, or I just hand knead them from the get-go. If I had it to do over again, and we had the money, I would have hinted very strongly to DH to give me the more powerful one for Christmas, instead of the one he did give me. Nevertheless, I love using it! It fits under my counter, even when tilted up. I haven't measured, but the distance from my counter to my cabinet is around 18" to 20". I shove it into a lower cabinet when I'm not using it, and keep it out when I'm using it a low. Yes, it is heavy, but I don't have enough counter space to keep it out all the time. Hope this helps. Sally

cotehele - I only use the Zo for mixing/kneading - it replaces what my hands used to do. I used to slowly add the flour into the liquid ingredients, and beat the mixture by-hand using a Danish Dough Whisk, and using as many as 500-700 strokes to develop as much gluten as possible while the dough was in the bowl. This cut down on kneading time and made a finer bread. When making dough by hand, properly mixing the ingredients is an important step people tend to rush through and not do a good job. If a shaggy lump of dough is tossed on the counter for kneading, then there wasn't enough time spent incorporating the flour into the liquid ingredients, and not enough gluten was developed before beginning the kneading. When it comes to using the bread machine, I rarely allow the dough to rise in the bread machine, preferring to use a dough-rising bucket so I can make sure the dough doesn't over-proof. Dough doesn't tell time, and all the rises are according to time on the machines. Dough ACTUALLY rises based on the ambient temperature, humidity, amount of sugar/sweetener in the dough, and the strength of the yeast. A timed rise is just a good (or bad) guess. It's especially important when using 100% whole wheat flour to keep the dough to just UNDER "double" for the rise. Whole wheat doesn't have the extensibility bleached and unbleached flour does, so allowing the dough to rise to double is actually over-proofing it. If I'm not getting a good oven-spring, that means the dough was over-proofed during one or both of the rises and the yeast was spent before it hit the oven - which seems to happen when I leave the dough in the bread machine to rise. When I use the QUICK DOUGH cycle, I can have dough in about 30 minutes. This includes pre-heating, mixing and kneading. There is also an add-in beep (about 25-minutes into the cycle) so you can add raisins, multi-grain cereal, etc. Placing dough in a dough-rising bucket is a perfect little environment for it, normally taking anywhere from 20-45 minutes to rise (depending on the ambient temperature and the type of dough). I may decide to toss it in the refrigerator for a nice long, slow, cool rise to really develop the flavors. It's nice to have options. If using the BASIC DOUGH SETTING, it takes 67-minutes for 2 rises (45-minutes for the first, stir down, and 22-minutes for the second) for a total of 1:50 for the entire cycle. So I save a lot of time there. I can cut that time by 45-minutes to an hour. Not that speed is everything, it's not, unless you are trying to get out several recipes in a 5-hour bake-a-thon. I also never make less than 2 to 2-1/2+ pounds of dough at a time. I can make 2-3 small loaves, or divide the dough for 1 loaf, 6 sticky pecan rolls, and a pan of dinner rolls (or 6 hamburger buns, or 6 hot dog buns) - all from one recipe of dough. I can program my Zo, but I never have (I hate messing with electronics). I generally use the QUICK DOUGH setting - no rising in the bread machine. That's the nice thing about a Zo, you can use it however you like, personalize the cycles to suit your recipes, and use whatever cycle works out best for you. I have a friend who programs hers for specific breads she makes. She sells her breads, so she has using the Zo down to a fine art. Choose to use the dough cycles or bake the loaf in it. Different strokes, different folks. I do an overnight sponge for our "Everyday Bread", so the Quick Dough Cycle is perfect because most of the work was done overnight in the sponge. The flavors developed, the acidic kefir (or buttermilk) provide lactic acid to break down complex starches and irritating tannins in the wholegrain flour, and make the finished loaf easier to digest. Soaking also increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grains more available. The sponge also makes the bread lighter in texture and color and I get a nice high rise not typical to loaves of 100% whole wheat bread when made with a fast mixing method associated with most of today's recipes and methods incorporated when using a bread machine. The Zo X-20 has a Sourdough cycle, but once again, it's timed and I'd never use it for rising the dough. All starters are different. Some are stronger than others, so 120-minutes for a rise may be too long, or not long enough. So for naturally-leavened breads, I use the bread machine for mixing and kneading, but never for the rise. -Grainlady