Artisan food mixers ...

[bramblebooks]

I am coveting one of these and am considering buying the cream one (although the candy apple one is also mighty pleasing to the eye but will probably be a passing fad?!). I have seen good prices via amazon, but John Lewis have an offer on where you get a free artisan bowl - is this something that will be used?

How do ken wood mixers rate in comparison?

Thank you muchly.

Bump

It's going to sit on your worktop so if it needs to combine good looks with a strong work ethic - then the Kitchen Aid is the baby. The Kenwood is also an amazing mixer - strong and will last a lifetime - but it fails on the looks department and it's too bloody heavy to shove in a cupboard or pull out - they both are.

If looks didn't matter to me - I'd go for a Kenwood - but I want beauty and function, so I'll choose the Kitchen Aid every time and I love it endlessly!

Nom nom. I have persuaded myself that since vat goes up soon then it is necessary to go to stroke them and strongly consider colours.

Does flour fly out of the top or does the size/ guard keep it in?

Ooh. VAT. How much is the VAT on one? I have been promised one for when we move back this summer but buying it now might be a plan!

And to get back to YOUR question rather than me getting all excited - the Kitchen Aid is an item of beauty. Get it. Even if you never use it (and you will) it is stunning.

I never use the guard - it's too much of a faff - and as I've already declared I'm a superficial gal and it doesn't look very nice - a bit too controlled - slightly OCD.

You just start off a mixture on a low mix and it should be OK - except when the DCs are let loose with the controls and we resemble a scene from Ice Age - but that's part of cooking with kids isn't it?

I've had mine for a few years now - I still stroke it - it's lurvely.

Another stroker here.

I also agree that the guard being more hassle than it's worth - I just throw a muslin (checks spelling) over it to limit the dandruff disposition.

I have a lovely matt graphite-y colour one which they don't seem to do anymore. The caviar one looks lush.

Do it, do IT, DO IT!

Could have done with a guard thing on my stick blender a while ago. Cream. Stick blender. Stick blender on too fast. Cream EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE.

Just done that with courgette and dolcelatte soup, budaful.

Now colours.

Cream - tasteful and shouldn't date, girly pink or sparkly red candy apple.

Or do I go the John lewis route, pay £20 more and get the free glass bowl thingy?

I still get caught out with the stick blender - I never bloody learn!

Note to self - accept messy disposition and wear an apron!

What are Amazon prices like?

£369
a local shop does them for the same price, so I'd have somewhere to go if it goes wrong(& I get to play with it immediate
Y!).

"It's going to sit on your worktop"

Mine doesn't as I don't have enough worktop space. I have owned a Kenwood food processor for about 25 years and it is still going strong.

i use the guard on mine. it isn't a faff... you just sit it round the top of the bowl!

it doesn't stop ALL flour from coming out, but it reduces it a lot. My mum used to just use a teatowel over her kenwood though (which, incidentally, is still going strong 33 years later!!!)

I have heard tell that the motors in the Kenwoods are superior to kitchenaid

however, like others on the thread, it's all about the looks with me! I have a baby pink one and it's beautiful! sits out on the side and is used regularly for bread :)

no idea if you'll use the bowl though... i did see it in our local kitchen shop today though and thought it looked nice.
and the new purple colour is stunning!

Bunbaker - did you mean Food processor or Food Mixer as the processor is pretty light in comparison and I would I have no qualms about shoving that in a cupboard what ever brand it was - even my beloved Magimix does not deserve to grace my worktops.

Bramblebooks take a trip to your local shop - you'll enjoy the experience more anyway - more time to stroke lovingly.

I have a Kenwood Gourmet food processor with various attachments - for chopping and grating, a Moulinex handheld mixer (for making cakes), and a Bamix stick blender with various attachments for grinding spices, making spice pastes and blending soups to make them smooth. They all get used and all are kept in a cupboard because I don't have enough work surface space and I loathe cluttered worktops.

ahhh but we are talking stand mixers which, to be fair, you really wouldn't want to be heaving in and out of a cupboard every time you wanted to use one

like this

I think Nigella has one like that. I still wouldn't have one on my worksurface. In my kitchen everything, except the microwave, kettle and radio, goes into the cupboard - even my breadmaker.

I agree the breadmaker has to go in the cupboard - they look hideous but a Kitchen Aid is so completely gorgeous is deserves more attention. You need something on your worktops to suggest that someone lives in the house - even for my minimalist taste - a kitchen needs dressing with beautiful, useful things.

ooh you are taunting me now with your planetary action.

I really don't have enough work surface space. I do a lot of cooking, 99% from scratch and often make fairly complicated recipes that use a lot of ingredients and kitchen equipment, so I only have on the worktop what I am using while cooking.

For example when I make a curry I get my spice trays out and they take up a lot of room. I then have various other ingredients, blender, chopping board, knives bowls etc. There just isn't room for a food mixer as well.

I can assure you that my kitchen does look lived in - the microwave, kettle, radio and TV take up room on the worktop and I often have herbs growing on the windowsill, but yes, I do prefer the spartan look on the whole.

Bramble - I have the candy apple red KitchenAid. It is my most precious possession. It is stroked and dusted dail. It looks fantastic in my black and white kitchen - eye catching as intended. I got the free artisan bowl with mine too - I use both bowls as I often make a few things at a time and need to do 2 lots of mixing and hate washing up

My kitchen is very lived in - especially when I am baking! I intend to remedy that a bit.

Blueberry, my poor head is spinning now - but not orbitally.

I guess we all have our priorites I would swap the TV for the Mixer - I'd stroke it instead!

TBH I don't need many gadgets - I'm a less is more kind of gal - give me a good cook's knife and a good set of pans and I don't need much else.

Any pedants on here to spot the spelling mistake on the KA website.

Oh and thanks to you lot I've started a thread about worksurfaces.

I have a Kenwood Chef that lives in the cupboard because it won't fit on the bench. I could make room for it but then I'd have to move something which I use more (coffee machine/fruitbowl/grinder/mini chopper).
It's was my Mum's and is 30yrs old so not particularly pretty.
I still love it though and use it often.