Purchasing a Stand Mixer...

[apwillard1986]

My wife and I are looking at purchasing a stand mixer. She bakes quite a bit and I like to make pasta and sausage etc. so we thought that a KitchenAid with its available attachments would be a handy investment.

I always do a fair bit of research before a purchase and have found mostly positive reviews but wanted to see if anyone here had advice or opinions. We have narrowed it down to the 7QT. Pro-Line or the 7QT Commercial so any first hand experience with those particular models would be especially helpful.

 

[edwardh1]

we bought one in 1970. probably china made now, search for reviews.
might look on ebay for a used one made in us or estate sales?

 

[volk06]

Kitchen aid mixers are still made in USA.

 

[scurvy]

Love our KitchedAid stand mixer. If I were buying one new, I'd get one that raises/lowers the bowl instead of the head nodding backwards. Ours nods and the joint between the stand and mixer head is pretty sloppy.

And as previously mentioned, they are still made in the USA.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Love our KitchedAid stand mixer. If I were buying one new, I'd get one that raises/lowers the bowl instead of the head nodding backwards. Ours nods and the joint between the stand and mixer head is pretty sloppy.

And as previously mentioned, they are still made in the USA.


I thought about doing the same until I realized you can't remove the bowl and some attachments without having the lift the stand all the way up which can be a pain on a counter top with cupboards. I don't think our pivot joint is sloppy, its nice and tight. Our mixer is awesome. We make a lot of frozen yogurt with the ice cream maker and it is amazing. My next purchase will be the meat grinder.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: volk06
I thought about doing the same until I realized you can't remove the bowl and some attachments without having the lift the stand all the way up which can be a pain on a counter top with cupboards.

The models with a lift bowl have a fixed head - it does not move up and down.

But it is true that some attachments require you to lower & remove the bowl to disengage them from the drive shaft. But on the nodding head mixers, you often have to disengage the attachment, tilt the head back and remove the attachment from the bowl.

Originally Posted By: volk06
I don't think our pivot joint is sloppy, its nice and tight.

Ours flops and clunks around like crazy when I use it to knead bread dough with the hook attachment. No issues when using the paddle attachment unless I'm cheating by trying to cream frozen butter chunks.

 

[Doog]

My wife has both the large and smaller Kitchenaid. Both are excellent but the big one is really heavy to life around.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Originally Posted By: volk06
I thought about doing the same until I realized you can't remove the bowl and some attachments without having the lift the stand all the way up which can be a pain on a counter top with cupboards.

The models with a lift bowl have a fixed head - it does not move up and down.

But it is true that some attachments require you to lower & remove the bowl to disengage them from the drive shaft. But on the nodding head mixers, you often have to disengage the attachment, tilt the head back and remove the attachment from the bowl.

Originally Posted By: volk06
I don't think our pivot joint is sloppy, its nice and tight.

Ours flops and clunks around like crazy when I use it to knead bread dough with the hook attachment. No issues when using the paddle attachment unless I'm cheating by trying to cream frozen butter chunks.


Exactly what I was saying. Instead of just pivoting the head for a quick change of an attachment or bowl, with the lift the bowl has to be all the way down and in some cases the bowl has to be removed.

 

[stephen9666]

Just to clarify one thing.

I believe most of the Kitchenaid stand mixers are "assembled in the USA," not "Made in the USA." Many people don't understand the distinction, but there is one. Many websites also say they're "USA made," but if you look at a box in person, I think you'll likely find it says "assembled in the USA."

For more info, visit this Federal Trade Commission website:
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard

So, it's not clear how much of the mixer is US made anymore. But, there clearly is significant assembly of the mixer going on in the US, so it's still a good choice to buy it if you want to support US jobs.

Here's just one example on the Sam's Club website, where it correctly notes that it's "assembled" in the US.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/kitchenaid-professional-hd-stand-mixer/prod500276.ip
Quote:
Designed, engineered and assembled in the USA.


Side note - It looks like Kitchenaid is once again building some of their hand mixers in the US, too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304363104577390470454369272.html#slide/1

 

[123Saab]

We have a Blender, hand Mixer and Standing Mixer by Kitchen Aid and they have been great for us for a long time now.

No problems at all. (Except the attachments For the standup mixer are somewhat expensive.)