Talk to me about kitchenaids.....

[louby78]

I have wanted one for so long but just no room in our little terrace house BUT...we are soon to be moving to a bigger house with a lush kitchen which just is crying out for a KA!! I love baking but want to know have I just been seduced by seeing all the celebrity chefs use them and is it just about the looks? I'm clearing out my house for the move and ebaying a load of stuff and plan to splash out on one with the proceeds. So tell me are they really worth it???????

If you go to amazon.co.uk, you will see that the KA gets very mixed reviews indeed. The Artisan is the only model available in Europe, and it's pretty weedy; it will make small batches of cake mix - i.e. not a wedding cake! - and do this well, but I burned out four motors trying to make bread in mine. The people like Nigella who say they are wwuuuunderful either have the older, more reliable models, or the imported KA Pro, which is far better but not available in Europe. I am thinking of buying one next time I'm int he US nonetheless, as I am fed up with the antics of the KA Artisan. but if you only bake the odd batch of cupcakes, the KA Artisan should be fine.

But you can get the more powerful ones in the UK - just not in soppy colours! Try nisbets (where my K5 came from) or other catering suppliers.

The catering ones are better built, and have much stronger motors. Mine also has an over-ride so that I know I can't kill it even by making it knead colour through huge batches of fondant icing

Ilove mine wanted one for ten years, I just love it always making cakes now.

I am with hour dh Mbear what a good idea.

Is the 300w motor strong enough? How do you find it to kneed bread etc?