KitchenAid attachment must haves

[cheesenpickles]

So, dh is getting me a KitchenAid for Christmas. My mum had one (I think it was about 30 years old) that got pinched during a move and I've longed to have one since we got our own house.

I'm tempted by getting the shredder one (and getting rid of our old clunky food processor), spiraliser, ice cream and pasta attachment. Obviously they are expensive so I can't get them all at once. But wondered Enoch attachments do you find you use all the time? Yeah

I have to admit that although I use my kitchenaid all the time, I haven’t actually used any of the attachments I’ve bought

What I would like and think I would use is a spare bowl to save washing up in between jobs.

I have the flex edge beater attachment. Would like a glass bowl for heating in microwave.
Had a look at the attachments - I have many of the items separately- So given how much use I get out of these items
Pasta machine would be a no,
Spiraliser - no - I have a couple of these - novelty value is all.
Ice-cream makers - I want one with an inbuilt fridge - the bowl is massive getting that in your freezer will be a pain so a definite no
Shredder - I use a mandolin and an Oxo box grater 99% of the time - it's very rare I'd pull out my food processor to grate.

I definitely think a second bowl is the way to go. I'm leaning towards the shredder just because I can never be bothered to get out my food processor. I think the ice cream one would work ok for us as we have a huge chest freezer.

All the ceramic and glass bowls are microwave and dishwasher proof aren't they?

I've got a glass bowl. No way that bad boy can fit in my microwave. It's great having two bowls though. I love the beater with the spatula edge the most. I've got the ice cream maker but a tiny freezer, so it's a bit useless for me, but it's good. I also use the pasta set sometimes.

We love the pasta making set. Fresh pasta is so much nicer than dried. I’ve just got a ravioli tin so looking forward to trying that this week.

We use the pasta making set a lot too

Ice cream maker if you have a big freezer.
Pasta extruder is quite fun
Fruit and veg strainer is good if you make a lot of sauces, jams etc...

a lot of them you can buy something that does the job better for cheaper than the attachment

I'll have a look when I get home, but doesn't the glass bowl have metal at the base?

When I bought mine there was a special offer for all the attachments for free. I used them when the children were little but haven't used them for 5+ years. Having said that, I keep mine in a cupboard so when I need to chop etc I get the food processor out instead.
I bought my glass bowl from eBay. And my ice cream attachment. The ice cream bowl is great, but is large.

@cheesenpickles Lakeland have got a fabulous offer on Kitchenaid attachments at the moment. Lots at half price including the ice cream attachment. I've ordered it (and the glass bowl and paddle) as my Christmas present from DH. ( at least I'll get something I want.). I got a further 20% off having a "mylakeland" voucher.

@ProperVexed there's loads sat in my basket for there at the moment. Can't afford them all and trying to decide what to get

Ah! Well, as I said I've ordered the ice cream bit. I already have the pasta attachment and the meat mincer. Both used once and sitting in the cupboard waiting for an outing!

I was tempted by the mincer and you can get a sausage makings tube as well can't you? I was thinking the shredder because where the KitchenAid is on my counter and my food processor is tucked away in the depths I may be more inclined to shred things. I made pasta today and tried to shape it by hand. It didn't go well and my husband said it was "extra rustic orecchiette"

Sorry for adding this so late - I don't think the sausage attachment is great. I used to live somewhere very remote, and a bunch of us used to get together to make sausages. If you're really going to use this on a regular basis, you're better of buying a stand-alone sausage stuffer, they are far better.

This is a thick question, but can I grate carrot with the shredder and get the same effect as if I just used a cheese grater?

@starlingsintheslipstream yep and I think there are different blades so you can adjust the size etc

Thank you - really helpful. Just poised to add it to my Lakeland basket.

I bought the ice cream maker, rubber paddle and glass bowl. Ice cream maker is in the freezer and I'm going to trial it tomorrow.

The shredder and the flex edge blade are both worth having.

What's the flex edge blade good for in particular? Is it better than the ordinary mixing blade?

I can see I'm late to the party here, but just in case the OP (or anyone else who might find it useful) is still around, I definitely do NOT recommend the ice cream maker.

We got it free as part of a package deal when we bought our Kitchen Aid. I think I used it twice, before it split and leaked blue 'freeze fluid' all over my freezer. I appreciate I might just have been unlucky, but still, it was nasty to deal with.

nibdedibble the flex edge blade has a rubber strip down the side that scrapes whatever you're mixing off the side of the bowl so you don't have to keep stopping the machine to do it manually. My mum has just acquired one, and I'm waiting for a review from her before investing.

Thanks!! Seems obvious now

I think you were unlucky with the ice cream bowl. I love mine.
I'm going to invest in the rubber-edged paddle, it's like a giant spatula!

Eeek @QuantumWeatherButterfly not ideal! I'm eyeing up the rubber edge spatula at the moment. The spiraliser I loveeeeee but we eat a lot of courgetti in this house so it was a sound investment. Going to try and make some curly fries soon as well.