Don't know if you've seen the TV spot, but the offer seems pretty good
and I wanted to share it. There selling the high-end mixer for $299.
Plus you get attachments & gadgets & cookbook. I ordered one and it
came in 3 days. I don't know the 800 number to order, but there is a
web site with the offer at buykitchenaid.com.

On 7 Sep 2005 23:57:04 -0700, "nancy a" > wrote:

>Don't know if you've seen the TV spot, but the offer seems pretty good
>and I wanted to share it. There selling the high-end mixer for $299.
>Plus you get attachments & gadgets & cookbook. I ordered one and it
>came in 3 days. I don't know the 800 number to order, but there is a
>web site with the offer at www.buykitchenaid.com.

Sounds like a great deal, but be careful as KitchenAid mixers come in
different power levels which equate to how much flour/dough they can
handle. You want to select the one that best suits your individual
needs. The website I qoute below lists the quantities of flour, etc
the machine can comfortably handle. Click on <VIEW> for the model you
are interested in to get the details.
The one in the special has a 325 watt motor. The professional models
come in 400, 450,and 575 watt motors,
To compare the entire KitchenAId line, go to:
http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/ca...categoryId=310

ZZ wrote:

> Sounds like a great deal, but be careful as KitchenAid mixers come in
> different power levels which equate to how much flour/dough they can
> handle. You want to select the one that best suits your individual
> needs. The website I qoute below lists the quantities of flour, etc
> the machine can comfortably handle. Click on <VIEW> for the model you
> are interested in to get the details.
> The one in the special has a 325 watt motor. The professional models
> come in 400, 450,and 575 watt motors,
> To compare the entire KitchenAId line, go to:
> http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/ca...categoryId=310

Useful site - thanks!
After not locating my several year old, bowl-lift, "Heavy Duty", ("for
household use only") model, I checked the nameplate: 325 Watts...

Dave

Dave Bell wrote:

>After not locating my several year old, bowl-lift, "Heavy Duty", ("for
>household use only") model, I checked the nameplate: 325 Watts...
>
>

Many people, like Kitchenaid, make a big deal of the wattage of a
motor. And that's misdirection if someone else is talking to you. How
is it that you can knead 11 cups of flour into dough by hand, and you
surely aren't capable of generating as much force as a 525 watt motor?
Why is it my old 30 quart Hobart mixer had about a 300 watt motor and
was very happy kneading as much as 45 pounds of dough at a time?

Some people point out that KitchenAid mixers aren't what they used to
be. I just looked at a friend's high dollar artisan mixer, and I do not
think it is as well made as my 1978 vintage KitchenAid mixer. It's...
well... flimsy. It's probably adequate, however.

I was looking at my KitchenAid K45SS manual a while back and it cautions
that you should only use so much flour, knead only so long, and do no
more than 2 batches of bread in a row, and then let the mixer cool off
for so long. I've been doing that all these years, and my mixer is
still in good shape. I wonder how many people who have problems with a
burned out KA motor or gears didn't read the manual.

But, beyond that... one key issue is build quality. I think current
KA's may be lacking, but getting better again.

Still... there is a more important issue. KA recommends kneading dough
on speeds 2 or 4. And that means the motor has to put out maximum force
at a low speed. Variable speed electric motors don't like to do that.
That's why they get so hot when they knead dough. It's an inherently
bad design decision that generations of KA engineers have tried to make
the best of, and with pretty good results overall.

So... why did my much older Hobart work so well, so long? It has a
single speed motor and a transmission to change the speed of the beaters
and kneader (or dough hook). So the motor is always running at it's
optimum speed and the dough hook is also at its optimum speed. I'd mix
around 8 batches of 40 pounds or so of bread back to back every day,
plus another 3 batches of 20 pounds each of pizza dough, and often
another 2 batches of 20 pounds of bagels. No problems. Because the
Hobart commercial mixers, with their geared transmissions, are good designs.

The morals here? 1. Read the manual.
2. If you need to go past the limits of the design, go to another
design. Electrolux is supposed to make a nice mixer, as are Viking and
a few other companies.
3.If you really need a commercial grade mixer, then buy a commercial
grade mixer - you can get used Hobart 10 and 20 quart machines on eBay
for a reasonable price, or even a new Thunderbird, Global, or Berkel
mixer at a reasonable price from many sources. (Sadly, new Hobart's
aren't reasonably priced, at least, not in my budget.)

Mike

--
....The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating
system and Linus Torvaldis claims to be trying to take over the world...

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