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.

ATTENTION PEOPLE No dishwasher is silent or anywhere near silent. Do not believe your friends or neighbors, or GWebbers or the sales or marketing people. That product just doesn't exist. The new generation of dishwashers especially the Europeans are very quiet. That is not silent. Do not take what someone around here say literal: "I can't hear my dishwasher when it's running" They really mean: it's very quiet and "I can barely hear it" and "compared to that GE Potscrubber I had it darnnear sounds silent" Not really the same as silent. Fridge had a poor experience with Miele service, no one is perfect as these companies employ humans and all of their frailaties. What people gush about around hear is that Miele generally makes really good products and responds well to service. They do make a shoddy item once in a while and have some turkeys working for them but odds are favorable you'll have a good experience. Besides , who else gives you your money back because you don't like a dishwasher 3 months later? Other brands don't have as good of odds, but even so you can still get a unit that works well for 20 years or finds a gem of a customer service rep should you call on them too. Nothing is absolute or lasts long term. Look at Toyota, they pretty much owned the car industry at the turn of the century, lead everyones top 10 list and were lights out with J.D. Powers. Got a bit too big for their britches the last 2 years and things have changed. It's NO GUARANTEE , just ask the folks that bought a Prius recently who reasoned "it's a Toyota, it'll be great, perfect , and lovely for ever, and if it breaks they'll hold my hand and ply me with hot chocolate and I'll feel all warm and fuzzy again." samie - western Canada is very large and sparsely populated, how many svc. techs would make you feel good? A better question to ask would have been " My DW is broken, how long before you can get to my house to look at it?"

Pharaoh x 3 for confused; please explain. I have a double bowl undermount stainless sink surrounded by a seamless single slab of silver sea granite. 11 years later it's still going strong. Not a crack or chip anywhere in the kitchen and I don't baby it. Hope I didn't jinx myself! Love the color and wish I could keep it for my remodel, but layout changes prohibit that. Dishdiva; how stressful! I'm glad they'll be replacing it. I'd insist on it. My sister experienced something similar. Big beautiful slab of granite for the island was installed with a crack. She saw it and made them replace it. Installed again and they used the same slab repaired with filling! Supposedly not noticed by the contractor when installed. Like sis wouldn't notice? Not a chance. She was livid, rightly so, and made them replace it with the new piece she picked out before the 2nd install. She has cream paint finish with a walnut island, Plain and Fancy I think and they were able to remove it twice without damaging the cabs and believe me if they did, she's have them replace those at their expense also. Hope that's reassuring. Love the color of your granite (green fan here) and what you've shown so far and I look forward to seing your finished kitchen. Please keep us posted. I've got my fingers crossed that 3 times the charm!

Bet your KA came with a manual... part instructions on using it and part recipes. This is the "basic white bread" recipe from that book that makes TWO loaves: 1/2 c milk 3 T sugar 2 t salt 3 T butter 2 packages of active dry yeast 1 1/2 c warm water (105-115 degrees) 5-6 cups ap flour Milk, butter and sugar into small sauce pan... on stove till butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cooled to luke warm. Yeast dissolved in warm water. I just stir it a little to make sure it's not in a clump. Pour into "warmed" bowl of mixer... I just fill with HOT water and dump out. Milk/sugar/yeast combo dumped in, along with 4.5 cups of the total flour, with dough hook. Speed 2 for 1 minute. Add as much of the remaining flour until the dough clings to hook and pulls off side of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 for 2 more minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, flip to make sure all covered. Cover, let rise till doubled... about an hour. Punch down dough, cut in half, place in 2 greased loaf pans... 8.5X4.5X2.5", cover and let rise again till double... about an hour. Both rises should be in a warm place. I usually turn on oven to LOWEST temp while assembling the bread. Then turn OFF for the rise time... usually still warmish. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack. Most used recipe from book is the "crusty" pizza crust... that page has more schmutz on it. Recipe makes one 14" pizzas. 1 pkg yeast 1 c warm water 1/2 t salt 2 t olive oil 2.5-3.5 c ap flour corn meal Pretty much same procedure as with bread except only one rise. As I'm reading the recipe, it dawns on me I'm not actually doing what it says!?! Says to form into pizza on bottom of pan... pan brushed with olive oil & sprinkled with corn meal. I use a wooden peel and used the corn meal so dough will come off onto pan. Recipe says 450 for 15-20 minutes. I usually set oven as HIGH as it can go and check after about 7-8 minutes.