Posted: 11/28/2012 3:47:12 PM EDT
| I know very little about these, but my wife wants one for christmas. What options do I need, she wants to make bread, and bake and whatever else you can do with it I guess. What are the good ones, what options should I get and where should I get it from? TY in advance |
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I know very little about these, but my wife wants one for christmas. What options do I need, she wants to make bread, and bake and whatever else you can do with it I guess. What are the good ones, what options should I get and where should I get it from? TY in advance I get one for my wife and its her absolute favorite appliance. She has the Kitchenaid Professional 600. I don't know much about the smaller models, I just know that my girl loves hers. With regards to options/attachments. My wife is able to everything she needs to do such as kneading bread dough etc with just the attachments that came with it. |
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I know very little about these, but my wife wants one for christmas. What options do I need, she wants to make bread, and bake and whatever else you can do with it I guess. What are the good ones, what options should I get and where should I get it from? TY in advance I get one for my wife and its her absolute favorite appliance. She has the Kitchenaid Professional 600. I don't know much about the smaller models, I just know that my girl loves hers. With regards to options/attachments. My wife is able to everything she needs to do such as kneading bread dough etc with just the attachments that came with it. +1 on the Pro 600 I used to have the Artisanal which is a bit smaller and I grew out of it pretty quickly. I make a lot of bread and it will chew through the heaviest bread dough out there, and actually it made quick work of a few recipes that the Artisanal had trouble with. For sure buy it through Amazon as their prices on it beat just about anywhere. |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers
Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! That's what I was going to say. Discussion going on right now in the General > Cooking subforum I have the 600 Pro and love it. It has a few quirks that I don't like but I abuse it and it just keeps going. I've had it 3 years. A few months back I tore it all down, cleaned the inside, and relubed all the gears etc just as a precaution to prevent any damage to the gears. |
| My wife has the Pro 5 Plus with 450 watts of power . Kitchenaid doesn't offer the splatter shield for that model. I have tried to find one for years with no luck. My wife does not make bread but, does make cookies and other stuff with her's with no problems. All their mixers are made in the USA. If my wife's ever breaks I would get the bigger more powerful model. Some bread dough is very hard on mixers and can cause transmission failures. Like they say ,buy once, cry once. Get the best you can afford. |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! That's what I was going to say. Discussion going on right now in the General > Cooking subforum I have the 600 Pro and love it. It has a few quirks that I don't like but I abuse it and it just keeps going. I've had it 3 years. A few months back I tore it all down, cleaned the inside, and relubed all the gears etc just as a precaution to prevent any damage to the gears. What lube did you use and where did you get it? Thanks! |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! That's what I was going to say. Discussion going on right now in the General > Cooking subforum I have the 600 Pro and love it. It has a few quirks that I don't like but I abuse it and it just keeps going. I've had it 3 years. A few months back I tore it all down, cleaned the inside, and relubed all the gears etc just as a precaution to prevent any damage to the gears. What lube did you use and where did you get it? Thanks! I wiped up all the excess globs in the "empty spaces" of the gearbox and wiped it back on the gears again. I'm not really sure what lube I would use if I were adding lube to it. It almost seemed like some of the teflon greases I've seen in industry before so I would say as a swag that a moderately viscous white teflon grease would be an acceptable substitute. |
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I have been using the Epicurian model (no longer offered) with 6 quart lift bowl for the past ten years. In all that time I have had no problems whatsoever. I mostly use it for making bread, including challah and oatmeal bread. Both of which are pretty heavy doughs. Go with the largest size you can afford or even one size larger. David |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! I just bought 1 of these a week ago at Macy's and got a SMOKIN deal on it. $309 after sale price and rebate. 
I was wondering if the meat and grain grinders were worth the $. Anybody know? |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! I just bought 1 of these a week ago at Macy's and got a SMOKIN deal on it. $309 after sale price and rebate.
I was wondering if the meat and grain grinders were worth the $. Anybody know? I bought my Pro-600 on Amazon last year for $269 new. |
| Well thanks for the input. I ordered a pro 600 today for her christmas present. She has been asking for one for a while but I think she kinda gave up on me getting her one so she should be suprised. I think I am going to get the juicer as she likes the make the kids fress orange juice and such. Thanks again for all the input. |
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It you want a true heirloom appliance get this: http://www.hobartcorp.com/products/food-prep/mixers/n50-5-quart-mixer/
The 5qt bowl lift type bowls and Kitchenaid hub attachments are all interchangable with the N-50. The N-50 has a real geared transmission and induction type motor vs. the kitchenaid electronic speed control and brush type universal motor. The N-50 weighs something like 15# more than the Kitchenaid equivalent. Oh, and new it costs about the same as an upper end AR. I have one (I got it used) and I love it. |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! I just bought 1 of these a week ago at Macy's and got a SMOKIN deal on it. $309 after sale price and rebate.
I was wondering if the meat and grain grinders were worth the $. Anybody know? I would highly recommend NOT. When you get yours, open it up. Take a look inside and ask yourself: "Self, will those cheap plastic gears hold up to hours of meat and grain grinding?" My bet is your self is gonna come close to saying: "No fawking way!" I put my money where my mouth is and bought a dedicated meat grinder (Cabela's) and dedicated grain mill (Nutrimill). Good luck! My .02. |
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! That's what I was going to say. Discussion going on right now in the General > Cooking subforum I have the 600 Pro and love it. It has a few quirks that I don't like but I abuse it and it just keeps going. I've had it 3 years. A few months back I tore it all down, cleaned the inside, and relubed all the gears etc just as a precaution to prevent any damage to the gears. What lube did you use and where did you get it? Thanks! I wiped up all the excess globs in the "empty spaces" of the gearbox and wiped it back on the gears again. I'm not really sure what lube I would use if I were adding lube to it. It almost seemed like some of the teflon greases I've seen in industry before so I would say as a swag that a moderately viscous white teflon grease would be an acceptable substitute. I believe it is a food grade silicone grease. |
| Wife loves her Pro 600. And yes, the meat grinder attachment works pretty well for small grinding jobs. If you're going to do extending grinding (making pound after pound of sausage, grinding up a whole deer/hog, etc), then you'll want a dedicated meat grinder. |
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It you want a true heirloom appliance get this: http://www.hobartcorp.com/products/food-prep/mixers/n50-5-quart-mixer/ The 5qt bowl lift type bowls and Kitchenaid hub attachments are all interchangable with the N-50. The N-50 has a real geared transmission and induction type motor vs. the kitchenaid electronic speed control and brush type universal motor. The N-50 weighs something like 15# more than the Kitchenaid equivalent. Oh, and new it costs about the same as an upper end AR. I have one (I got it used) and I love it. $2200  piss on the Grand Kids
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The meat grinder works pretty well, though have others have already said a dedicated unit is better if you're looking at much quantity. It's great, though, if you want to grind up a couple of steaks and some brisket for a custom burger blend now and then. Or to crank out a batch of coarse-ground beef or venison for a pot of chili.
The ice-cream freezer is fun. I've made ice cream in it that rivaled the best "premium" ice cream you can get in the store. The most useful attachment for us, by far, is the Fruit & Vegetable Strainer and Grinder (FVSFGA). This has taken about 60% of the work out of canning tomato sauce - no more boiling and peeling and chopping. We just chunk 'em up and toss 'em in, then boil down into sauce to can. This attachment has the meat grinder included. I personally wouldn't go with the grain mill, though I've never tried it so I can't really say. I imagine it's like the meat grinder - yeah, it works, but if you're going to grind much than a dedicated mill would be better. I just don't see much utility in being able to grind "a little bit" of grain. |
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It you want a true heirloom appliance get this: http://www.hobartcorp.com/products/food-prep/mixers/n50-5-quart-mixer/ The 5qt bowl lift type bowls and Kitchenaid hub attachments are all interchangable with the N-50. The N-50 has a real geared transmission and induction type motor vs. the kitchenaid electronic speed control and brush type universal motor. The N-50 weighs something like 15# more than the Kitchenaid equivalent. Oh, and new it costs about the same as an upper end AR. I have one (I got it used) and I love it. $2200 piss on the Grand Kids
Yes, but it will still be running strong when the great great great grand kids are using it... |
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I have the cabelas 1HP commercial meat grinder and the CG15 vacuum sealer as well. Haven't gotten a grain mill yet, but if they make an attachment for the meat grinder I may just use that.
I highly recommend both units, very good quality - just get some extra blades and a can of food grade spray silicone to keep the unit lubed and rust free. |
| We've got a Pro 600. It's great. Go to fatwallet.com and go to the hot deals forum and search linik. There's frequently a link on how to get a killer deal. I got mine a few years ago for $259 from amazon and it came with a $50 visa gift card for a $209 net price. Amazon only had that price on a few of the colors |
| Go with the 6 quart. We have the 5 qt Artisan, and we blew up the transmission kneading a double batch of dinner rolls a few years back. I rebuilt that one and have a spare tranny on the shelf (as well as a tub of the food safe grease) just in case it happens again. |
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I would highly recommend NOT. When you get yours, open it up. Take a look inside and ask yourself: "Self, will those cheap plastic gears hold up to hours of meat and grain grinding?" My bet is your self is gonna come close to saying: "No fawking way!" I put my money where my mouth is and bought a dedicated meat grinder (Cabela's) and dedicated grain mill (Nutrimill). Good luck! My .02. The 600 Pro DOES NOT have plastic gears, I have personally verified that when I tore mine apart. EVERY SINGLE GEAR inside the gear-box is metal, albeit, we don't know what quality of metal. That being said, I have never used those attachments but from what I read they are for limited use only. The mixer is not made to run for extended session such as grinder a big batch of flour or meat. The motor will get hot, and it won't be good if you keep going. If you plan to actually do some real grinding I recommend you get dedicated appliances for it. If you just want to grind up a fresh batch of XXX for dinner, that is a different story and you should be fine. |
Note the CONTinuous time rating on the N-50, mix heavy dough or grind meat or grain as long as you want. No plastic gears in this machine, nor any electronic speed controls. With a real geared transmission you get more torque when you shift to a lower gear, not less. |
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make sure you buy the Pro Model. spend the extra few bucks. worth it.. the do not seem to be as durable as the ones from 20 years ago, certainly not the same torque..I had to buy a new one, and did so last year.. old one is still running somewhere 
CHEF For what its worth, we have gone through two Professional 600 mixers in two years. Kitchen aid has been good to honor the warrantys but they should last longer than that with just a few batches of candy making every Holiday Season. They are noisy as hell too, if you work them or maybe it was just the two units my wife has had. Anyway, there isnt much of an alternative if you need one of these things. |
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make sure you buy the Pro Model. spend the extra few bucks. worth it.. the do not seem to be as durable as the ones from 20 years ago, certainly not the same torque..I had to buy a new one, and did so last year.. old one is still running somewhere
CHEF For what its worth, we have gone through two Professional 600 mixers in two years. Kitchen aid has been good to honor the warrantys but they should last longer than that with just a few batches of candy making every Holiday Season. They are noisy as hell too, if you work them or maybe it was just the two units my wife has had. Anyway, there isnt much of an alternative if you need one of these things. See $2,200 commercial grade alternative above that is fully compatible with all KA hub drive attachments  You can of course find them used at a more tollerable price, and if a used N-50 costs you say $900 with shipping and lasts several lifetimes vs. burning out a KA each year...
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Cooking forum thread on KA mixers Get the 600watt Pro if you want to make a lot of bread. Good luck! I just bought 1 of these a week ago at Macy's and got a SMOKIN deal on it. $309 after sale price and rebate.
I was wondering if the meat and grain grinders were worth the $. Anybody know? I grind twenty pounds or so, of meat a year. We also use the meat grinder as a food strainer when we make applesauce, this year we processed 400# of apples. We have not had a problem. I have heard the gears may wear out, but ours is plugging along nicely. |
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I would highly recommend NOT. When you get yours, open it up. Take a look inside and ask yourself: "Self, will those cheap plastic gears hold up to hours of meat and grain grinding?" My bet is your self is gonna come close to saying: "No fawking way!" I put my money where my mouth is and bought a dedicated meat grinder (Cabela's) and dedicated grain mill (Nutrimill). Good luck! My .02. The 600 Pro DOES NOT have plastic gears, I have personally verified that when I tore mine apart. EVERY SINGLE GEAR inside the gear-box is metal, albeit, we don't know what quality of metal. That being said, I have never used those attachments but from what I read they are for limited use only. The mixer is not made to run for extended session such as grinder a big batch of flour or meat. The motor will get hot, and it won't be good if you keep going. If you plan to actually do some real grinding I recommend you get dedicated appliances for it. If you just want to grind up a fresh batch of XXX for dinner, that is a different story and you should be fine. Well that's good to know. Maybe that's why my wife's second 600 has lasted so long vs her first one: which I know had plastic gears 'cause I took it apart to look at it. I still wouldn't use it for grinding meat or wheat except for very small quantities. Good luck. |