Kitchen aids….wtf?!

[ThePenIsBlue]

Have a glut of vouchers I’ve been saving to buy a kitchen aid. / stand mixer type thing. Went on kitchen aid website and became utterly overwhelmed at all the different models. what the heck?! I just assumed there was one kitchen aid. Various colours. Now it looks as though I could either spend nearly £800 or a mere £350.
please can someone in the know explain the difference? I am tearing my hair out.

We have a pale yellow artisan and it’s well worth the price. We bought on offer from Hearts of Stur.
My DH makes our bread so it’s used a couple of times a week plus more when we’re baking.

Love my Artisan but my old Kenwood was at least as good.
if you get an Artisan I would definitely agree with pp’s about buying the flex edge beater, much better.
I covet the glass bowl but can’t justify the price.
My DH bought me the bowl in which you mix, prove and bake bread. It’s fab but I don’t use it as much as I should.
I got the ice cream bowl free and have never used it as there’s never enough room in my freezer to chill it down.

I love my Kitchen Aid. By far the best thing I ever bought. Did the same as you and saved up vouchers looking for a better price. I got mine a few years ago when they were changing some of the colours in the range, bought one of the discontinued one and got a bargain.

Another top tip - keep your eyes peeled on places like Lakeland for accessories, I got a glass bowl from them on a black friday deal far cheaper than i've seen it elsewhere.

This I got a bright green one and love it

I have a pink one. It’s lovely.

I’ve got one in silk pink - it doesn’t get used that much but looks very pretty on the work surface!
The cheapest place I found it at the time was donaghybros.co.uk/brands/kitchenaid.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw-rOaBhA9EiwAUkLV4iR5O94msQQ0APCDXYQ1RmV-pJ58HUoFB1hAALo5VA0CC_OUKDSZPhoCMzsQAvD_BwE

@BarbaraofSeville

I had the same problem with mine. Complete pain and because it didn't reach the bottom the cake batter never mixed properly no matter which way I tried it. I only ever use it to make meringue now, about 3 times a year.

Total waste of money - although mine was a gift (that I didn't ask for, or want).

I have the artisan. In a gorgeous slightly metallic black (was worried I’d get bored of a colour after a decade)

I love it. Have had it approximately 5 years now. My previous stand mixer (Braun) gave up after nearly 40 years of loyal service (first 30 of those with mum) and DC are already plotting to kidnap the artisan once I am no more….

We have bought the ice cream maker attachment for it too and it is marvelous!

I've had an artisan for about 15 years. Use it constantly. Proper work horse. The splash guard doesn't really stop icing sugar escaping so I always put a clean tea towel over the whole thing when it's mixing which does the trick

I love the kitchenaid colours, but I would find it hard to part with it 15 year old kenwood chef. It’s been used loads and I have never been able to fault it. Would you consider one of those?

you could be waiting a while... I have a hand-me-down kenwood which I'm pretty sure is older than me (30s)

I'm interested in why people like the glass bowl so much? Is it just the aesthetics?

I make ice cream, Yorkshire pudding batter and knead bread in mine. Don't make many cakes but when I do it's an absolute breeze. And beautiful too. I ❤️ my Kitchenaid.

avoid the Kenwood K Mix, the best kenwoods are the big stand mixer not the kitchen aid lookalike. Mine broke 2 years in. It still works, but the lift mechanism is knackered. MIL has a 70s Kenwood that refuses to die.
They swapped from Kitchen Aid to Kmix on Bake Off one year. The following year they KA’s were back. I did wonder if they suffered reliability issues as well.

The Lidl/Aldi ones look great but I was under the impression they weren’t up to much other than basic cakes. Do you make bread with yours @LookItsMeAgain ? The cheaper ones tend to fail on the motors when kneading for any length of time.

I've had my kitchen aid artisan for over 20 years. It's great. I have the ice cream making attachment and would recommend that to go with it if you like making sorbet and ice cream.

I am the same age and I also have my Mum’s Kenwood. The 1960s one, still going strong.

I have the artisan in pink, my dh (now ex) bought it for me around ten years ago. It looks pretty but isn’t as practical as a Kenwood, it’s heavy which makes it hard to move to clean. It’s great for bread/dough but I find with cakes it doesn’t often mix to the bottom of the bowl though it’s not terrible.

I’ve had my artisan for 10 years - it’s great, a real workhorse. I also have. Magimix and I think the magimix is more versatile. The artisan puts more air in a cake mix though.

I don't know if I was doing it wrong but it didn't cream well unless you had loads of ingredients. A normal size cake amount just got jammed up in beater or stuck to the bowl

@BarbaraofSeville Yes, I found that too. The Kitchenaids look a very similar design so I'd imagine they have the same issue. I ended up buying an electric mixer for £9.99 from Sainsbury's and using that all the time.

Posh MN naughty step for you - thous shalt not blaspheme my expensive gorgeous retro Kitchen Aid.😁

This thread is peak Mumsnet.

“Which Kitchen Aid do I need?”

”Kitchen Aid, Kitchen Aid?! It’s a stick blender or a hairdryer you need, girl”.

Enjoying this thread as have also been weighing up the pros and cons of a Kitchen Aid! Of those recommending the Artisan, do you mean the 4.8L or the 3.3L Mini? I'm wondering if the larger one is for people who cook/bake in large quantities - but this seems to be the standard model? Thanks for any advice!

Just out of interest I googled Google images of "Kitchen Aid porn" and from the shocking photos, I saw it's an actual thing FFS. I need mind bleach now.

No minis, 4.8 if you are a baker - if you are a masterbaker then it's the 6.8 Professional.

If it gladdens your heart - then go for it. You won’t regret it. Even if you just look at it and sigh happily. Life is too short.

this thread has me thinking all nostalgically about my late DMs 1950s Sunbeam Mixer. Pale blue and cream, slight “spaceship” vibes about the design.
I almost wish I’d kept it…