KitchenAid Stand Mixers Help

If you're a heavy user go as big as you can afford.

I've had mine for almost 20 years and have only added the bowl with a handle on it.

My mom has all kids of attachments for hers. The ICE CREAM MAKER is fantastic.

My BIL uses the sausage maker attachment a lot.

I feel if you're going to use it it's worth the money. If you go too cheap and have to replace it all the time it's money wasted.

I LOVE my mixer. Makes baking soooooo much more enjoyable!

I have all pros no cons. I have had mine for over 10 years and not one issue with it. My mom and I just baked tons of Christmas cookies, one batch after another and it performs wonderfully every time. Great investment you will not be sorry. I think I have the 5, I don't think they had the six when I purchased mine.

Definately worth the $$. Go with the Kitchenaid brand - they're built to last forever. Some people are still using the Kitchenaid mixers that they bought in the 1950s.... that says a lot about the quality of the product to me.

I have the 5 quart - wish I had the bigger bowl sometimes, but the 5 quart does the job most of the time. Don't bother with the small one. I've seen it in stores, and I've always thought it looked "apartment" sized.

I actually had a problem with one of the attachment things that went on the front (the nut grinder got bent) and I called Kitchenaid customer service, they sent me a new part no problem, no charge.

The only thing I wish I had bought when I got the mixer was the bowl shield, so I could add flour when it was running without risking taking a flour shower.

As far as shopping for one -- I bought mine at Kohls. Sometimes you get lucky with sales - and also with coupons you can save a lot of $$ that way too.

Kitchenaide is the one, my husband says. We have had ours for 20 years and have loved it. He says to tell you that the attachments add to the expense, but they will make your life so much easier. For the holidays we volunteered to make bread and borrowed our parents' unit, which had plenty of power, but the design was so inferior (Sunbeam) compared with our 4 1/2 quart Kitchenaide, that he wished he had carried it down with us. Also, our dough hook is phenomenally better than the other brands.

My husband, being a guy (LOL), is usually a great fan of having more power, but feels that he just doesn't need it by having a Kitchenaide.

Hope this helps!

Dawn

I didn't know there were different bowl sizes! I have my late MIL's stand mixer, which my FIL gave me even before DH and I were engaged because he knew I loved to bake. It's probably almost 30 years old and is just perfect for us. It's a 4.5 qt bowl and that's just enough for me to do all the baking I want to do, which is a lot. I can easily make 3 balls of pizza dough or two full batches of cookies in this thing. I did check the model number on the website and it does list a 5 qt bowl as an optional accessory, so it appears that you can buy different bowls for different bases, but you might want to do a search for a model that you're considering buying on the kitchenaid website just to make sure.

I have the smaller size of KitchenAid mixer, but I wish I had the larger sized bowl, because it's a little tricky to pour ingredients into the bowl while it's mixing. For instance, the other day when I was making marshmallows and needed to pour the boiling ingredients into the mixer while it was on at full speed... trying not to a) douse the side of the mixer with boiling hot syrup, or b) pour it on the countertop... it was a little tricky. Having an extra few inches in bowl width would be really nice. Also, on the really big mixers, they come with arms that stabilize the bowl, which is a nice feature. The smaller size of mixer will still mix big, heavy things like bread dough, but for a large batch, that larger sized bowl would be great.

Since you'd use it all the time, I would go with the largest size, I really would. My mom is a professional chef and she has the large one for her own home use - loves it. I'm an occasional home cook, so the smaller one is really okay for me. Works really well, but the larger one would be "nice to have" if I were any kind of more serious chef.

Are you going to use it for mixing bread dough? If yes, I would go with the most heavy duty one you can get. We bought one for my MIL for her b-day two years ago, she used it regularly for mixing homemade bread dough. The bearings are completely worn out and it no longer spins (motor does work tho). We also have one and make a lot of homemade bread too, ours is still ok, but it does tend to almost 'walk' off the counter top before we catch it and push it back.

I have the 6 quart pro. The bowl rests differently and the mixer part does not flip up as some models do. I love mine, it's a beast. I often double pizza dough recipies as the tiny amount of dough looks funny in such a big bowl. I've had it for over 5 years but I don't use it weekly.

My KitchenAid increased my quality of life. So reliable and works well for everything from delicate cakes to rustic breads. I have the smaller bowl and if I ever wear this one out I will replace it with at least the next size up. Granted, I often double or triple recipes and while cookie batter usually stays in the bowl and mixes through, breads and doughs are not so easily contained. I still do it, but a bigger bowl would be nice.

First off, congratuations! It really is life changing! ;) I'm not sure what size my bowl is...I think it's a 5 qt, but I tried to look on the bottom and it didn't say! I use mine quite a bit, mostly for cookie dough, whipped cream, pie fillings, etc. I haven't made bread it in but I'm thinking about it. I've had mine for about 8 years (actually I think 8 years exactly...got it on Christmas too) and it is hands down the best thing I own in my kitchen. We have a pretty big family so basically everything I make, I make it double. It makes a double batch of cookie dough, but it's not pretty! I'm constantly pushing it back in then usually I have to do some hand mixing to make sure it's evenly distributed at the end. I've been considering getting a bigger bowl and in fact just looked in the stores recently and couldn't find any so I'm wondering if I have to go on line? Anyway, if you are planning on using it at least once a week I'd get at least a 5 qt and probably just go ahead and get a 6 if you think you'll be making large quantities of stuff. Or you might even consider getting two sizes of bowls, I know it's expensive, but there have been MANY times where I wish I had another bowl and I have to dump what is in there into a different bowl just so I can use it again for something else right away. Whichever you get, you'll love it I'm sure! And yes, I'm pretty sure you can interchange the bowls as long as they have the screw bottom. If they don't then you can only use them on the bigger mixers. Oh and finally, I have the ice cream maker attachment also and it's kind of awesome. I wish it wasn't so large as I have a small freezer, but other than that, it's pretty terrific!

I just got mine for Christmas! LOVE it!! I made the most amazing cake with it. I got the Artisan one and it has a 5 qt bowl...love it!

We had a KitchenAid with the 4 1/2 quart size for many years, and it really wasn't quite big enough. Finally, about 18 months ago we upgaded to the 5 quart, and have been very pleased. We do a lot of bread dough in it and it holds up well. We are so glad that we finally got the 5quart because we can do so much more with it.

My mom grew up with a Sunbeam, and I used a Sunbeam at my grandparent's house, and it never held a candle to the KitchenAid. Not enough motor power to do the things we wanted to....mostly bread.

Do you have a Macy's near you? We got our 5 quart there on sale and saved about $100 on it. Macy's has sales periodically, so you might want to check every few months.

Good luck, I don't think you can go wrong with the 5 quart.