Stand Mixer

[cakerookie]

Not sure. Had it about a year. My take on this mixer deal is this. Mixers are like say cars, you can get a lemon in all of them no matter what brand, make, or model. Some people prefer Chevy over Ford and vice versa. Too put it bluntly you are paying for the name and thats about it. With the rising costs in manufacturing of certian items sometimes quality suffers and it just so happens that the consumer pays for it in the end. Consider what you are going to use the mixer for and how often you will use it. Will the workload be heavy or light? Best idea research your product carefully, read reviews, see what other people have said about it. One bad review does not dictate the overall performance of any product or service.

Rgds Rook

[kokopuffs]

Again let me call your attention to the fact that I've seen and heard plenty of reviews where the KA mixer's electrics smoked upon initial startup with nothing in the bowl!

[tilion]

If you have one of the older mixers and it stops working, it's worth it to take it to a repair shop. Could be something simple. I found a KSM5 circa 1985 at a Goodwill for $25. When I plugged it in, it wouldn't come on. I told the manager it didn't work and he flagged someone down to throw it away. I said Wait, wait, wait. I still wanted it. So he let me have it for 12 bucks. I took it to an authorized repair shop and after a couple of weeks got it back. The problem? The motor bushings had finally worn out. The repair cost? 50 bucks. So for $62 I have a tank that's probably going to be good for another 20 years or so.

[MikeLM]

Re the reliability question-
I visit a lot of colokware and kitchen-supply stores and I have seen an awful lot of Factory Reconditioned KA mixers at these places, as well as online.

I can only conclude that they get quite a lot back.

Mike

[Culprit]

I have a Kitchenaid Artisan Series KSM150PSPK that I've used for about five years without any problems. I've come to believe that some culinary artists select the incorrect tool for the job and overload their machine (e.g. using the beater attachment instead of the dough hook, etc. - that's a bit of exageration of course but I wanted to make the point) causing it to suffer an early death. For the price, I'd expect the Artisan model I have to last about ten years. If I can get that much use out of it I figure I have my moneys worth.