KitchenAid food mixer - which model?

[PretLea]

I’ve finally decided on a KitchenAid food mixer, but I feel incredibly confused by the different models on offer. Please can someone shed some light on what the actual differences are? Is it the same machine, but just the number of attachments you receive that are different? The 5KSM185PS, 5KSM175PS, 5KSM125…

At a quick glance it appears all those the medium sized mixer, but slightly items included.

5KSM185PS = mixer, large bowl, small bowl, dough hook, whisk, beater

5KSM175PS = mixer, large bowl, small bowl, dough hook, whisk, beater, flex edge beater

5KSM125 = mixer, large bowl, dough hook, whisk, beater

They're all basically the same, just different attachments and colours/finish. I have the 5KSM125 in the almond/cream colour. It came with the mixing paddle, whisk and dough hook and I've not needed anything else so far but I did invest in an additional bowl for handiness and was gifted the icecream making kit which I find a lot of faff and never use!

Right, thanks both. Wish it was just made a little more obvious on the KitchenAid website. I also noticed the bowl-lift heavy duty model, which has made me wonder whether it might not be better for things like making bread dough. Never worked with a bowl-lift before though…

The flex edge beater is useful.

Thanks @ItIsFiat definitely something to consider.

Please don’t buy this brand , they worship at the altar of Dylan ‘ day one of being a girl’.

other brands which still respect women are available

Do you mean the larger model? I’m sure it’s ideal if you frequently do very large quantities, but if you are mixing normal amounts then you might find the standard size one more effective for that. I have never found my standard sized kitchenaid too small for bread doughs I make which are quite typical recipes.

I also really like the flex beater attachment, very useful for batters.

I have two KitchenAid models. The tilt-head 5 qt. is great for cakes, frostings and small loaves of bread. I have the 7 qt. bowl lift Proline which is amazing for heavy bread loaves like rye breads or seeded loaves. However, I must admit that I burned out the engine of my first Proline by trying to mix 2 recipes of a very stiff rye bread (I knew better but I was a stubborn dummy). KitchenAid is great about replacements if under warranty.

Thanks @SummaLuvin I just noticed today they have a bowl-lift model with a 4.8L bowl capacity, so the same size as the tilt-head ones. It’s still classified on their website as a large food mixer, and I’m sure it might still be bulkier than the tilt-head ones. Just thought it sounded a good option - I just want something that won’t struggle with making heavier doughs.

@SpuytenDuyvil I definitely won’t need anything as large as the 6.9L. Do you think your tilt-head could cope with bread doughs you make in your larger machine? I guess I don’t want to make large quantities, but I want something strong.

@PretLea it might be worth you searching on YouTube - there will almost certainly be videos where people have tested the capability of the KitchenAid models across various doughs. The visuals might be helpful in terms of you seeing quantity of dough and the texture in comparison to your own.

@PretLea I do make a lot of breads in my tilt head mixer using the dough hook and it works like a charm--for example, I made pitas yesterday. Dry heavy doughs could be made in it, but when I make bagels or something like that, I default to the big one because of the motor strength. You could divide your dough into halves and mix it that way, then combine the halves by kneading them together on the bench.

Thanks @SpuytenDuyvil and @SummaLuvin !

I have a tilt head model, and the bowl lift model is more heavy duty than the tilt head if you want to knead lots of dough, so possibly a better choice. For me, the tilt head model with the smaller bowl included has more appeal, as it’s just two of us here and sometimes when scaling down recipes the large bowl on tilt head model is just too big for the kitchen aid to effectively mix in it, and as far as I can see there is no small bowl model on the bowl lift mixer. The tilt head does knead dough very well, and it’s probably what I use my kitchen aid for most frequently.

If you get one don't put the whisk attachment in the dishwasher - it isn't dishwasher safe and the coating is destroyed! There was one in our restaurant kitchen - the chefs hated it (mainly because they had to remind everyone to hand wash bits), it was noisy, parts were incredibly expensive and it wasn't as heavy duty as claimed. It was replaced with a kenwood which everyone loved.....

@SleepingisanArt this is taking me down the KitchenAid vs Kenwood path again 😱

I think the difficulty with Kenwood vs Kitchenaid is that both are well regarded, well made machines, and therefore most people only experience one. I have a Kitchenaid and I adore it and wouldn't;t even consider changing it, but I can't comment on how it compares to the equivalent Kenwood as I haven't used one.

is quite interesting and might be helpful?

Thanks @SummaLuvin will take a look