Stand Mixers Reviews

I learned to make pasta on dedicated pasta rolling machines in an Italian restaurant. We went through a couple of table-top motorized units before the owner of the restuarant purchased a very robust floor model capable of cranking out large batches daily without wearing out. I find this KitchenAid attachment to be quite respectable in comparison to these other machines with which I have worked in the past.

After owning a hand-cranked model for a while myself, I decided that I wanted to go electric. I was disappointed with KitchenAid's other pasta maker, an extruder type device that I found near-impossible to use. So I finally coughed up the money to purchase the roller attachment and I've been very pleased with it. What you get are three rollers: a flat roller for making sheets of dough that you can either use to make lasagna, and two other rollers which make fettuccini and "linguini fini," commonly known as angel air.

The units are of solid construction, as well they should be for the price. Because of their elevated position at the end of the nose of the KitchenAid mixer, the rollers are at a convenient height that allows you to use both hands to handle to dough, which in turn speeds up the work. This is the main advantage of a motor-operated unit in the first place, as the cranking action to run the dough through a hand-operated machine requires little force and could be easily performed by a small child (unlike operating an old-fashioned ice-cream maker).

I use the mixing bowl with the paddle attachment to mix up the eggs and flour, and then the roller attachment to crank out the dough. I can make a large batch suitable for a dinner party and be all cleaned up in about one hour. My only complaint is I would prefer a roller to make proper linguini rather than angel air pasta. In all this attachment is a good investment if you already own the KitchenAid mixer. Even if the motor in my mixer wears out someday, I will be able to continue to use the rollers with its replacement.

Mashed potatoes, gravy, pie crust, cheesecake, cookies, brownies, artichoke dip, homemade baby food, meatballs, lasagne and omelettes. Oh, what I couldn't do with this thing! And it looks so nice on the counter to boot!

this smaller bowel does not come with mixer and is very useful.

I seldom write reviews, but I really feel like I should warn people who might be considering this. I wish I had saved my $45.00 dollars and put it toward a Kitchenaid.

I can't even mash potatoes with this mixer! There are so many potato chunks that don't get mixed in because the beaters don't reach down into the bowl far enough. Same with cake batter. I can't even imagine trying to do bread dough with this.

Please save your money and buy a better mixer! I wish I had researched these machines better. I just saw it for a good price and picked it up.

I am returning this mixer after using it once. It takes quite a bit of scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula to get everything mixed in, and the stand is so lightweight, it moves across the counter as you're scraping. Moving the shifting lever does the same thing. The mixer lockdown button is inconveniently placed and awkward to push. Right out of the box, I could not get the mixer to stay on the stand and had to manually push the spring loaded button from the underside of the stand. You can not see the beater release button with the mixer in the up position without turning the mixer around to the side. On any setting other than the lowest, there is a painful to the ears high pitched whine from the motor. For my limited needs, I will probably go back to a Kitchen Aid hand mixer.

I bought the mixer as a Christmas gift and I was very disappointed in the quality of the mixer. It is so light weight and flimsy that it does not do a good job with something as simple as a cake mix. The beaters do not touch the bottom of the bowl and you have to keep using a spoon to get it to mix good. Might work ok as a hand mixer but not on the stand. I read all the other reviews and still bought it against my better judgement.

I've read a lot of kitchenaid mixer reviews complaining about the gears being made of plastic and getting messed up pretty easily. I've noticed recently that all of the tags on these in the store make a very visable point that the gears are steel. Has anyone had any gear problems with the all steel model?

After using an Artisan model that finally died after more than twenty years of service, we only considered KitchenAid for our next mixer and "stepped up" to the Professional series. The initial problems we encountered when first using the new mixer were all because I failed to fully read the instructions. The customer service person on the toll free number was very kind, despite the fact that the answers to the questions I asked were in the manual. The gear issues mentioned by others have not created any problems after a year of use. Here's to hoping we get another twenty years out of a KitchenAid.

I was given this mixer for Christmas after yearning for one (apparently rather loudly) for many months. I pulled the beautiful machine out of the box (good workout) and looked at it reverently, then set about mixing up a loaf of bread. Normally I'm the sort of person who reads directions, etc. I did read and follow the directions on mixing bread dough, but for some unknown reason the bowl rocked and bumped and banged on its hinges, and I thought, "what a ridiculous design! This can't be right!" I was getting ready to call up the company when I thought to read through a few of these reviews and got to one MANY reviews down that sighed over the fact that people blame the machine for loud noises coming from the bowl when in fact they simply have not read the directions properly. Ding! The bowl does fit down over two knobs on the sides, but this does not hold it stable. There is a simple locking mechanism at the back, in the middle of the bowl. After reading the review, I ran into the kitchen, snapped the thing into place, and now it's as solid as you please. Needless to say, I'm feeling quite silly, but I am generally a relatively intelligent person, so thought perhaps others could use a tip on this point. Sigh.