<p>Last year the big kiddo who really likes to bake asked Santa for one. Santa had quite a weightlifting session while carrying the box from Costco to the car and then into the house. :)</p>
<p>My Kitchen-aid is 30 and I mainly use it to mix up double batches of cookies that are too thick for me to mix. I also rarely use it for bread dough. I also have the meat grinder that I use to make ground ham from left over ham. It is great for ham salad. I really should use it more as it is a great machine. I have never found it a pain to clean as all the implements go in the dishwasher. I keep mine on the pantry floor as I have just decided to try and keep the clutter down on my counters. It is heavy but not so bad that I can’t lift it once in a while and not too bad that I am too lazy to do so!</p>
<p>I have had mine (cinnamon red artisan model) for right at 5 years so far. Love it! </p>
<p>I use it for baking everything, including dough for pizzas and calzones, cookies, all sorts of treats at Christmas, cakes, etc. I also find it easy to clean…not sure what that’s about (someone saying it was hard to keep clean). I just wipe it off with a damp cloth and wash the beaters in the dishwasher (except the whisk, which I wash by hand). </p>
<p>I think it’s kind of funny how much Kitchen Aid mixers show up in photos of designer kitchens and on decorating shows featuring kitchens. It’s portrayed as an essential, and in fact it has turned out to be just that for me! I love mine! When we did a big remodel on our kitchen 5 years ago, and I planned a space just for baking and my mixer sits nicely in its spot on the counter. I love the way it looks.</p>
<p>Don’t use mine much but I still love it. 30+ years. Great piece of equipment.
Wedding present. (It’s like having a classic car in the garage that doesn’t get out much but should).</p>
<p>Two years ago, my husband purchased one for me for Hanukah as my 20+ year old Sunbeam stand mixer was making “sounds of death!” I looked at the pretty thing in the box for several days before having him return it. I just couldn’t justify the high cost given how little I thought I would use.</p>
<p>Instead, I got a sturdy hand mixer, which I love. I don’t bake at all from scratch and so I am just mixing “mixes” generally or other recipes.</p>
<p>I think if you are a baker it is a great investment…</p>
<p>
^^ ditto - I have a red one w/ a stainless bowl and I use it primarily for baking (cookies, cakes, breads, and the like). I no longer use it for mashed potatoes …. I use a ricer instead (better texture). I would love to have the glass bowl, but I don’t think you can purchase it separately.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest – until 10 years ago I used a Braun stand mixer (purchased in the early ‘80s) and I liked it better - you can easily scrap the sides of the bowl while the machine is running. My only complaint about the KitchenAide mixer is having to stop the machine and tilt back the head in order to scrap down the sides of the bowl.</p>
<p>My old Oster was a royal pain. It was so loud everyone would leave the room while it was on. The Kitchenaid Artisan purrs like a kitten yet it does the same job in half the time! I hesitated to use the Oster when we had company because the kitchen faces the living room. There is no way I can make dumplings dough with a handheld mixer, so when I could not use the Oster the process was messy and long: make a pile of flour on the counter, make a small hole at the top of the pile, break an egg into the hole, add some salt and water, and keep mixing and kneading with both hands adding water and vegetable oil as needed. With the Kitchenaid, I just throw all liquids in the bowl and add flour as the dough hook spins the mix. The dough is ready in a few minutes, and the guests and family members do not even notice the sounds. </p>
<p>This year Santa felt guilty about not having any time to get me much for Christmas so he got me a present for the New Year: a Bamix immersion blender. Santa said it was the only one he could find at Williams Sonoma that was not made in China. I guess I should start a thread on what one can do with an immersion blender. :)</p>
<p>I’ve never had a stand mixer. I think if I did more baking I would want one. I do have a cuisinart dlc7 pro that is older than my son. I use it for lots of things including cookie doughs and breads…and chopping and slicing and pur</p>
<p>We use it mostly for breakfast. got it last year and I love it. I couldnt believe the difference in mixing as compared to a hand mixer or by hand. I wish I had gotten one sooner. I have really been trying to make things from scratch as I want to know what in the foods I ingest… I have a stainless one.</p>
<p>My KitchenAid is more than 25 years old. It’s starting to make some grinding noises but still works great. When the kids were all at home I made bread twice a week, pizza dough weekly, cookies, etc. Now we use it probably two or three times a month, more during the holidays. D2 asked for one for her 21st birthday. Son wants one as soon as he has a kitchen larger than a sardine can.<br>
If you do get one, my vote is for the tilt head model. Mom has the bowl-lift larger one and it’s a pain. You have to remove the beater to remove the bowl.</p>
<p>Mine has made hundreds of cakes, cookies, and frostings over the years and not much else. It’s very handy for big batches and I like having my hands free when mixing but probably wouldn’t replace it. It lives on an upper shelf in the pantry because it’s a pain to haul out of lower cupboards.</p>
<p>I have a $15 hand mixer. Our problem is lack of counter space, or counter space that isn’t already used for stacks of papers and we don’t have any good corners. Since I really don’t bake a whole lot, I couldn’t justify one more thing in our kitchen. My DH makes mashed potatoes with an old-fashion potato masher.</p>
<p>Day in and day out, mine gets the most use juicing lemons and limes with the juicer attachment. I have also successful used the meat grinder attachment.</p>
<p>Also good for pizza dough.</p>
<p>
I think you can buy the glass bowl seperately and get the flex blade, it scrapes the bowl as it mixes. Its great. Makes it so much easier!</p>
<p>I have to add that the attachments are really easy to swap in and out. The mixer is easy to clean, IMO, as well. I just wipe it with a damp cloth and wash the beaters etc. with soap and water. The stainless bowl survives the dishwasher just fine. My only complaint is that the attachments are so darn expensive! I guess I really lucked out at Macy’s when I got my meatgrinder as a freebie in addition to the discount on the mixer!</p>
<p>I keep mine in a roll out under the counter, and yes, it is heavy! I use it for kneading dough quite a bit - homemade pizza dough, cinnamon buns, also cakes and cookies. I have the pasta extruder, so I occasionally use it for spaghetti or ziti. I find that a lightweight hand mixer easier for whipped cream and egg whites. </p>
<p>My next kitchen will def. have an appliance garage. I’ll also look for that flex blade.</p>
<p>Just another testament–I got mine as a wedding gift 25 years ago and it’s still going strong. Not many other consumer goods you can make that statement about. I consider the lifting up and down when I take it out my exercise for the day. :)</p>
<p>Okay - you guys are making me want one. My mom has one and swears by it but I’ve never been able to justify getting one. It’s not the price but rather the storage of the thing that concerns me. I don’t like a lot of appliances on my counter. Although I do cook a lot, I rarely bake and my hand-mixer seems more than adequate for things like mashed potatoes. Plus it’s easy to store. How often do people use theirs? A couple times a week? Once every couple weeks?</p>
<p>The amount of time I use mine depends. I could use it a few times a day for something, then not again for a few weeks if I am too busy to cook. </p>
<p>Don’t get rid of your hand mixer, you may find that you still like to use it for mashed potatos. Or as a second mixer if the KA is busy with long mixing project.</p>
<p>My Kitchenaid is about ten years old now. I used to have two, one the 5-qt and one the 6-qt, but I gave my son the 5-qt (which is now about twenty years old). We are fortunate in Portland to have a shop that will completely recondition the Kitchenaid, including a new motor. The 5-qt is better than new now.</p>
<p>What do I make? Breads, whipped peanut butter (I buy the kind that separates and use the mixer to whip it until it’s homogeneous), whipped cream, meringues, cookies, cakes, fudge, all kinds of candies… </p>
<p>I used to use it to make butter (from heavy cream) but my Blendtec does that better than the Kitchenaid. I found that out the first time I tried to use the Blendtec to make whipped cream 
(and got butter instead).</p>