KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series

As you know, there are many stand mixers to choose from on the market. So what makes the KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series so great?

There's a number of things, actually!

Such as the 5 quart stainless steel bowl with a wide mouth opening to make adding ingredients easier. It also has a 450-Watt motor to power through all the ingredients to fit in such a large bowl. It can handle up to 12 cups all-purpose white flour at a time. You can see in the video below how it powers through whole grain flours in smaller quantities (due to their density).

The soft start feature eliminates that "flour puff" that used to coat the kitchen counter. And once one of the 10 speeds is selected, the electronic speed sensors keep that speed steady as ingredients are added.

The KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series are bowl-lift mixers. Since it is held onto 2 arms and fitted into a slot in the back, the bowl is very secure. A lever on the side then lifts the bowl into position for the attachments to do their work.

Clean-up is very simple with the KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus. The bowl, nylon-coated PowerKnead dough hook, and nylon-coated flat beater are dishwasher-safe. The stainless steel whip is hand-washed, and the stand mixer can be wiped clean with a damp cloth.

There is only one mixer larger in the KitchenAid line-up, the KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixers.

KitchenAid has been around for a long time (90 years!). And their mixers have gotten a reputation for quality. But what do owners of the Professional 5 Plus have to say?

I absolutely LOVE my new Kitchen Aid mixer! I have made cookies, puddings, cakes, meatloaf, bread, and meringue so far. Everything has turned out perfectly! It is so much easier to clean than the traditional hand mixers I have used for years. Things that I used to hand mix because I didn't want to clean the hand mixer parts, I throw right into the Kitchen Aid. Prep time on recipes is much faster because the mixer works as you gather ingredients. Initially, I wanted a tilt head model, but am so glad I got the bowl lift design. The bowl is easy to insert and remove from the base. I was worried about the noise level of so powerful an engine, but was pleasantly surprised. It is a heavy machine, so I proudly found a permanent spot on my counter for it. I would not want to frequently haul it from a cupboard. I did a lot of research before purchasing this model. The all-metal construction was the deciding factor.

In the past three years, I have mixed countless recipes in my mixer. I have made bread dough, pizza dough, countless batches of cookies, cake batter, frosting, pie crust, choux pastry, puddings and pie fillings, cheesecakes, and I know I am forgetting others. The Kitchen Aid mixer keeps up with even the heaviest bread and pizza dough. The dough hook takes all of the hard work out of kneading dough. The wire whip beats egg whites quickly and easily. The paddle attachment is great for bread and cake batters.

The Kitchen Aid Professional 5 Plus Series mixer has completely changed my baking habits. I always loved to bake, but I did not realize how much but mixing by hand or with the hand mixer limited my baking. I used to have to be in the mood for baking, because I knew that it would take a lot of time to set up, prep, and clean-up. Now I whip out a batch of cookies after dinner without a second thought. I can be a totally spontaneous baker with a well-stocked pantry and my Kitchen Aid.

It is still running strong after three years of regular use. It looks great, too. The bowl and other accessories clean up easily and still look like new. The housing just needs a quick wipe-down after each use. The bowl-lift feature runs the bowl up and down quite smoothly and it locks the bowl securely in place. The motor is powerful, and keeps the attachments running evenly through any type of dough or batter. My baking used to be pretty basic, but since I started using this Kitchen Aid mixer, my baking is at a whole new level. I love using the Kitchen Aid. It makes me feel like a professional baker working in a commercial kitchen somewhere.

My only regret is that I did not spend the extra money on the 6-quart version. The 5-quart is fine for single-batch mixing, but the bowl is just a little too small for doubling a lot of the recipes I use regularly. I know that eventually I'll upgrade to the 6-quart commercial version of the mixer. For now though, I am very satisfied with my mixer. I give it a 9 out of 10 rating.

I love the look of my new KitchenAid mixer. My first KitchenAid mixer of the last 26 years is now handed down to my daughter. The wider bowl is very nice for adding ingredients. I like the spiral dough hook. The whirl of the motor is a much higher pitch than my old one and may take some getting used to. I do like the feature that slowly takes the speed from stop to fast no matter how fast I turn it up. That is very nice.