I am sure you will get many helpful responses and solve your problem. The posters here are incredibly generous about sharing. That said, I don't have a KA myself but I've seen discussions about Handy Caddy and Magic Sliders elsewhere if you want to Google those until others respond. Good luck!

I absolutely love my KA. I leave mine on my countertop with a beautiful towel I bought in Italy covering the bowl so that dust doesn't get in and is always ready for use. It is very heavy (part of l the beauty, to me) and does sort of stick when I slide it forward, but it is worth the effort. I think PhoneLady's suggestion of the sliders is definitely worth looking into.
I hope you can find something that works so that you can get full use of it. Good luck!

i love my ka mixer but it is heavy! i leave it on the counter always. hope you like yours more as you get used to it!

I put what looks like felt pads, that you peel the back off and stick to mixer. It is really easy to pull forward on countertop and push back when through! Thy sell them at Home Depot, Lowes, and BB&B I think!

Red

I love my Majestic Yellow, but I totally get how it's awkward and heavy to move around. Mine seems to go back into its spot when I push it more easily than when it's been sitting and I try to slide it forward. I kind of have walk it out. Where mine sits is different from where I use it in my prep zone. If I'm just doing a little job, I'll use a hand-mixer or maybe just a wooden spoon.

Felt pads sound good, but does it then tend to move when it's doing heavy mixing?

I've had mine since I first started keeping house, back a "few" years ago. I love it. But, yes, it is quite heavy. In my old kitchens, it used to sit on the countertop. In the kitchen that I had up until a few months ago, it was in the basement...unused because of it's weight...and there was no place to keep it up in the kitchen.

In the remodel, one of my main requirements when we first started considering a new kitchen was a cabinet to put it in with a lift because I didn't want it sitting out on our counter. We got the Knape & Vogt lift because it has a gas assist cylinder that makes it easy to raise and lower...I've had opportunity to raise and lower it with the mixer on it, but haven't been able to use it yet there because we've been waiting for about two months now for the GC to get in gear with electric and get the outlet in the cabinet.

I'm not sure that I would want to put anything on the bottom to make it slide easier though since part of the thing that's good about it is that with the weight, when you are mixing, it doesn't jump around. Maybe it would still be okay, I don't know.

The thing about the stick-on pads is if you find they are not appropriate you can always just take them off.

Good reading, since I have always wondered what I will do when I get my KA at long last.

Thanks loyalandtrue for the idea on the towel over the bowl.

I keep mine on a table in the dining room because counter space is at a premium in the kitchen (and the wall cabinets are down too far so it doesn't really fit under them... so many problems with the kitchen...). Anyway. I just wanted to let you know that you can shred cooked chicken breast (boneless) in the mixer with the "tree"-like attachment. I have been using a KA for (give or take) 30 years, and I didn't know this until a couple of months ago. Life-changing. All of a sudden I want to seek out recipes that use shredded chicken just because it is so easy to shred.

My KA is a pro lever lift. It lives on it's very own counter at our current house..and it will have to live on the counter somewhere in the new house in a few weeks. I use mine every week..some times daily.. So I am not lifting that thing up and out of a cupboard every time I need it.

My cabinet maker built this crazy awesome set up where I leave the KA plugged in inside the cabinet I just slide it forward to use, then slide back. No more lifting. I love it.

The whole point of a KA is that it's heavy. Otherwise, it would walk around the counter while you're kneading pizza dough.

I also have a hand mixer that I use for lighter jobs. But when you need the KA you need it.

My Mom had hers on a lift -- believe Rev A Shelf has them -- but I used to bump into it and it sort of jiggled. Made me nervous.
Mine is in the pantry and when I need it, I move it. It's heavy but no big deal.

When I was using it all the time I just left it out on the counter. I don't care for covers but I've seen them for the mixer.

If you want to love, it make an old-fashioned cake. No appliance creams creams butter and sugar better for a cake. No appliance mixes a heavy batter as evenly.

My husband gave me my first KA for Christmas a couple of years ago. I love it and recently got the big glass bowl to compliment it. But if he is home, I have him get it out for me as it is heavy. I don't like things on the counter or have room so I keep it in a cabinet. I made my very first cheesecake in it and it turned out! I was shocked, I'm not that handy in the kitchen!

In my new kitchen I have a purpose-built cabinet under the island for the KA. It's on a pull out shelf so it's easy to lift onto the counter.

In my old kitchen it was on the corner countertop tucked back under the upper cabinets so it was out of the way when not in use.

I sat it on one of those flexible cutting mats from the dollar store, trimmed to a right angle on one end to fit into the corner. That made it easy to pull out and it didn't walk around much. If you were making something that would be likely to walk (bread dough) you could slip the mat out.

Thank you all for ideas! Sum5463, thats looks like a nice idea for our next kitchen. gr8day, that cheesecake looks wonderful and is good inspiration to get cooking.

When I came downstairs this morning, DH had put a thin flexible cutting board under it. I can now slide it.

I do plan on keeping it on the counter but need to determine exactly where. Right now I have more items on the counter than I want. I got to pick the color and it is crimson red so I don't mind people seeing it.

I can see how a lift would be very convenient.

I can't imagine this mixer walking anywhere when in use. My 30 year old Oster mixer which is light weight never moved when mixing heavy dough.

Sounds like this mixer really makes a difference in cooking.

jil314, I will keep that in mind. I never liked making pulled pork because it was too much work schreding. I read to let your mixer do it. It actually worked pretty well in my Oster and now hearing about chicken I'm thinking it may work really well with pork too in the KA.

cevamal, brilliant solution!

I have been using a pro KA for over 45 years. I am on my second, the first one went after 35 years. Like everything else, these new models are not nearly as strong as the older ones. My KD put a waist high roll out shelf in the pantry so I can just lift it out and transfer it to the counter. I have been lifting it up from a lower cabinet forever so this will be a big improvement. I may be old but I am still tough enough to tote it. LOL. That mixer has been an important part of my kitchen over the years. Both of my sons asked for KA's when they moved out on their own.

I'm still on my first, the original Hobart model, a tilt-back like the OP's, from 1968 and still going strong. It sits on the counter, where I use it regularly.

I'm not sure about the pulling-out problem. I see no need to pull mine out, I use it where it is, and only shift it to clean underneath.

I love my mixer. I can't imagine being without it. It really does so much more than other mixers. Since I got mine I have not used a hand mixer which was just tiring and unable to handle many tasks. It aces any kind of baking and makes it so much easier to add the ingredients. The ease of making a pizza dough or making my own whipped cream is totally worth it. A great recipe to make you love your KA mixer is Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake.

I don't like much on my counters but I do leave mine on the counter. If you don't push it completely back to the wall you don't have to move it back and forth. Station it just back from the wall far enough to get the top portion to fall back when you lift it. It's prettier than a microwave on the counter...

I love my KA Mixer! I just got it a few years ago and now can't imagine how I went so long without it. It stays on my kitchen counter, tucked away in a corner, and it is heavy to pull out. Felt pads on the bottom sounds like an good idea!

I have to ask, which attachment is it that looks like a tree? I would like to do that with the pulled pork or chicken but as I look at my attachments, none of them really looks like a tree. My imagination must not be on high!!

Here is a link to ka mixers and attachments. I think the "tree" attachment is the triangle shaped one that has "stems" inside it.

I can't leave my mixer out that far on the counter. It has to sit under the cabinets until ready to use. I can't use it under the cabinets as there isn't room for the head to tilt back. It can't sit in front of the cabinets as it would be right in the middle of prime prep area.

This old photo shows the area of the kitchen (betweent the sink and the range) the KA mixer will have to sit.

Here is a link that might be useful: KA Mixer and attachments

Thank you for posting the link, to original KA attachments. I would never have figured out the tree one, so thanks so much again! Can't wait to try it.

Just wanted to warn people when buying attachments for the KA make sure they are the real KA ones that are made of steel and not the knock off plastic ones because they will break off in your heavier doughs. At first it looks like a great deal and that you'd be savvy to take advantage of it but it's not a good deal because it is plastic and breaks. It is hard to tell that it isn't an original KA product in the advertising so be careful : )))