I recently purchased a Cuisinart 7 qt. stand mixer, SS color. I'm still cleaning up after the kitchen renovation so I haven't used it yet. Almost going to use it today but got tied up with the laundry.

I read lots of different reviews comparing the Kitchen Aid vs. others stand mixer and decided on the Cuisinart for its power with the kneading set. It's a bigger motor than the kitchen Aid 6 qt. I believe it's made by DeLonghi.

I had a 25% coupon with Linen 'n Things which made it cheaper than purchasing online.

Kitchen Aid, white, bought in the mid eighties. Love it!

Moni

Kitchen Aid - got it for Christmas last year - it's yellow and I love it!!!

I have a 30 year old KitchenAid. We had to replace the motor once when DH burned it out kneading WW bread but that was over 20 years ago and it is still hanging in there. I only use it for big batches or double loaves of bread so it doesn't get a lot of use anymore. I am looking around myself because I can't believe that it will last much longer.

Amazon was suppose to be having a sale on their KA Pro 600 for around $200 with rebates from KA. If you go over to the Cooking Forum you will find a topic on it with links. The title of post is "KA Artisan Mixer , Help!!! want to upgrade" or click on this link.
Clare

I have the largest Kitchen Aid stand mixer in white; cannot remember its name. I don't cook as much with it now that the kids are gone. Used it to knead dough, etc. Works well now, and it is about 34 years old.

Me! Me! Me!

I just got a KA stand mixer for Christmas yesterday and I am so excited about getting it. It is white, 4.5 quart bowl, 10 speed, 300 watts and says Ultra Power on the side of it.

I haven't used it yet but I sure am looking forward to making my batches of Christmas cookies with it.

I wanted a red one but now I am glad that my brother Paul chose the white one for me.

Anne

I have a 50+ yr old Kenwood Chef......and I love it...it never lets me down

I have a white KitchenAid 5 quart mixer. I think the motor is 350 watts. Hubs gave it to me in 1987. I love it.

Same as Lindsay's. It's over 10 years old and strong as ever. I love it!

Sheryl

I have the same one as Anne and love it.
Judy

Viking 5-qt. in red. I've been making double batches of cookies all weekend. Cranberry-orange biscotte, chocolate cocoa peppermint cookies, Kentucky Bourbon fruitcake cookies, and sugar cookies. DH gave me the Viking 2 years ago for Christmas after my KA finally gave up the ghost. I make alot of bread and the poor old thing just couldn't handle the intense kneading any more :o(

I've had an Oster Kitchen Center since sometime in the 1980s and have used it many, many times. It's been excellent. I'm going to use it today when I make divinity.

Linda

I have a Kitchen Aid and don't use it. There's no place on the counter top for it, and it's too heavy to lift (I have very little strength in my hands anymore).
Hopefully, with remodeling we are planning in the kitchen, it will have a slide-out cubby storage place on the counter.
Frankly, it's not a priority for me....I do fine with my hand mixer.

I have both a stand and hand mixer and couldn't do without either.

My Kitchen Aid stand mixer is about 33 years old and has never needed any repairs. I don't think you can go wrong with a KA--they're a quality product and the company stands behind them, from what I hear.

Oh, just a side note--first year I was married, I burned out THREE hand mixers. Next I bought a Sunbeam stand mixer--figured that would last better--it did--I got ONE year out of it. Figured with the use I give my mixer, I'd better off with a KA, bought one the third year I was married and it's been going strong for me ever since--through mixing stiff cookie doughs, kneading artesan breads, and whipping cream--it does every job beautifully.

I'm another one with a KitchenAid 5 qt., bought in the 1980s. It still works well, but the attachment hub stopped functioning last year. When I accumulate some extra money (whenever that will be!) I plan to give it to my DIL and buy myself a new KitchenAid 5 qt. Pro. Not sure what color. I like the red, but it doesn't go in my kitchen. Maybe white-on-white.

Kitchen Aid! I have the almond, 4.5 quart, I think. We use that thing like crazy and it just keeps on going. Never had a problem with it.

I have a white KA stand mixer and a green KA tilt-head. Wouldn't be without one!

I have a hand mixer which I never use, a sunbeam stand mixer which I use quite often, and a kitchen aid that I use for cakes, and big batches of stuff. I've had my KA for 15 years...and I love it.

kitchen aid's are what i own. i have my grandmothers (original white) which was tossed in the garbage by family cuz it wouldn't work. my wonderful dh saved it and rebuilt it for me. work horse for sure. i also have the professional 650 watt (brushed silver) which i love but don't use except for double batches or very heavy duty mixing. if i needed an even heavier duty i'd get commercial types. ~ liz

I have the KA Accolade. It was hard choosing a model of KA! There are so many different ones and then some had the bowl lift, mine is tilt head. Then wait til you get to the color part! LOL Mine is I think Sea Grass green? I wanted the dark green (hunter maybe) and DH talked me into the lighter green.
I love mine! I also have the ice cream freezer bowl and that makes fantastic homemade ice cream!

Another Kitchen Aid owner here, gee paid all of $99.00 about 30 years ago, It's Harvest Gold colored....still going strong...have to leave it on counter since I can't lift it any more. Gave my DDIL a white one a few years ago, she uses it all the time.

Sue

Be awared that the KA made years ago is not the same quality made of today. There have been lots of complains about it. If you want a KA with quality, buy a used one.

If you plan to do alot of kneading, I'd recommend a Viking, DeLonghi or Cuisinart. They have stronger motors that can handle kneading better. They're a bit more expensive but will last you a longer time. If you shop around, you'd see that the Cuisinart is more affordable.

I've read many comments and reviews and was saving money for the Viking 7 qt. When I was ready for the purchase, I found out that DeLonghi recently made a stand mixer for Cuisinart with great reviews and at a more affordable price. It is a beauty and I don't mind having it sit on my counter.

Someone was giving one away on Freecycle last year...I was so excited...I really wanted it...but didn't get it...She was giving it away because it was navy blue and she had changed her decorating colors....Ahhhhhh isn't that just sad. lol

I still would like one...

KA's are heavy. I have room on the countertop but I don't keep it there because it's that dark blue color. But I sure wouldn't give it away just because of that--geez! It's a shame you didn't get it, Pattico.

I mainly use mine with the meat grinder attachment. Love that thing. It's out now because we're starting our cookie baking this afternoon.

This is a stock photo of the one I have, It's "Meyer Lemon" color; I love it.

Another white KA owner here. It's a 'Professional HD', whatever that means. The bowl holds I believe, 5 qts, 475 motor. Its soooo heavy, sometimes its hard to slide out of the cubby its in. When I need it, its nice to have. It's good for big batches of cookies! Otherwise I don't use it all that much. I use my hand mixer quite a bit.

I hope you fine the perfect mixer.

And yet another Kitchen Aid, bought in the mid 80's after I burned up the Oster Kitchen center. That only lasted about 6 months. I'm also on my second KA hand mixer(6 hand mixers in 32 years!). A truly good product!

My kitchen mixer is about 32 years old and I love it.

This was posted on the Appliance web site yesterday in answer to a question about what mixer to buy. Colin,the fellow who posted this is a professional Chef and fairly knowledgeable. Here's his comment on the new KA mixers.

Unfortunately, not an easy question to answer.
Older KitchenAid units are built like a tank. They were made by Hobart, the king of mixers in the pro world. Hobart sold it's home (KitchenAid) division to Whirlpool. For a while, things seemed OK, but then more reports of short life spans started to occur.

The lower-end KA's have a big 'plastic' (really nylon) worm gear in them. This gear is designed to shred itself if the mixer gets overloaded-like a mechanical fuse-to protect the transmission. Unfortunately, this seems to happen more frequently than most people expected. The good news is that fewer negative reports have been seen recently. Maybe they have toughened up the nylon?

The higher-end KA's (bowl-lift machines) are better-built machines, with all-metal gears. My personal favorite is the KM25G0X. Not as fancy as the other moels, it is more like the older Hobart-made units. Many pro kitchens use these for small production work. The bowl-lift KA mixers also won the recent test by Cooks Illustrated magazine.

Some prefer the head-tilt, as it is easier to use when scraping the side of the bowl, as an example. However, one advantage of bowl lift is that you can gradually lift the bowl into the running mixer blade, which is handy if you have a heavy or splashy product in the bowl. You cannot do this with the head-tilt machines.

Other machines to look at are the Viking (similar to the KA design) Cuisinart, and DeLonghi-these three are all good machines. There are some other units on the market, but they all suffer design limitations or lack power, in my opinion.

One last advantage to the KA machines is that a lot of accessories are available for it, more than any other machine. Some are excellent (Rotor Slicer and Shredder-best cheese shredder around), some very good (Pasta roller setup and ice cream maker), and some strange (can opener).

The link below takes you to a page where you can compare features and specs for different KA machines.

Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: KA Mixers

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RE: Stand mixers