"Sheellah" > wrote in message
...
> I saw these in Williams Sonoma, and originally thought it was just the
Artisan
> in their own custom colors. It isn't, and it's a new 5 quart 400 watt
model.
> These come in a satin type finish with a hint of pearl, I'm not sure I
like.
> The colors seemed drab looking. KA said it used a new type of drop in
motor,
> that was assembled and made elsewhere and just dropped into their units by
> them. Do you think this might be a good or bad thing? It seems as though
that
> would make their units cost less, but I wouldn't count on that. Does
anyone
> have any info on this?

I assumed that they just assembled it from pieces made elsewhere. I live
about 90 minutes from The KitchenAid Experience. I really should go there
are take the factory tour of the shop where they make the stand mixers. My
guess would be that if they change designs or components, there will be a
high failure rate resulting in lots of recalls. Eventually they will make
some modifications to correct the problem. It's not a good idea to be the
first on to buy a new or redesigned product.