Kitchen Aid Mixer   by MarcyG

Rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 5 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

My Kitchen Aid Mixer Dream List

Ever since I watched Julia Child use her iconic Cobalt Blue KitchenAid mixer, I have wanted one in my kitchen.

If you too are fascinated by this mixer, by the shear power of this machine, by its eye popping elegance and of course by the fantastic recipes you can create without even breaking a sweat, than this is the page for you.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did making it. If you want, at the bottom you can leave a comment such as which is your favorite mixer or what attachment you like the best.

KitchenAid Mixer History 

March 2007 marked the 70th anniversary of the redesign of the stand mixer by Egmont Arens.

The first mixer was released in 1919 but the 1937 model K really turned the heads of consumers. In 1955 KitchenAid starting giving customers color options. Today there are over 40 different colors and finishes to choose from.

The history of KitchenAid goes back to 1919 when the Hobart Manufacturing company was trying to come up with a better name for their Model H-5. The story goes that an executive took one home to his wife and asked her to test it and help come up with the name. She reportedly stated "I don't care what you call it, I know it's the best kitchen aid I have ever had" and the name was born.

Some Mixer Trivia 

There are lot of reasons why people all over the world choose KitchenAid mixers. Most people know that they have an incredible reputation. But maybe these are some things you didn't know about them.

In September 2005 in the survey of the members of the International Association of Culinary Pros, KitchenAid was the brand chosen the most for kitchen appliances.

The price of the original model was $189.50 which is the equivalent of $1,900 in 2007 dollars (isn't inflation wonderful).

The KitchenAid stand mixer is one of the few consumer products ever to receive a trademark for its silhouette.

The Smithsonian American History Museum features a cobalt blue stand mixer in the kitchen dedicated to Julia Child (when you enter the kitchen, it is above the dishwasher).

In the 1920's they could manufacturer as many as 5 mixers per day.

For the last 60 years the KitchenAid stand mixer has been proudly made in America by hand in a facility in Greenville, Ohio.

The 2 types of KitchenAid mixers available 

Even though there are many choices when it comes to owning a KitchenAid mixer, there really are only 2 different types.

The first is the head tilting models. With these models the head tilts back at around 45 degrees to provide easy access to the bowl and beater attachment. They are designed more for household mixing and the bowl securely attaches to the base.

The second kind of mixer uses a bowl lifting design. These are more of the commercial models and tend to have larger motors and mixing bowls for larger batch sizes. A lever raises and lowers the bowl into the mixing position (as you might guess).

No matter what your needs are, one of these two models will be a perfect fit. And the 'commercial' or 'household' designations are simply suggestions. I am sure there are restaurants who successfully use the tilting household models day in and day out, just as there are commercial models in households all across the country (Martha Stewart for example).

Quick summary of the KitchenAid mixer models available 

There are quite a few models of mixers to choose from. All of them share a couple of common traits. For instance, all models have a 10 speed motor. That means you really can control how your recipe develops. In addition, they all come with a one year warranty. And they all come with the same attachment hub. This is a special port where you can add attachments such as a pasta maker, sausage maker or juicer.

From smallest to largest, here are the model families.

Tilt Head Mixers
The smallest is the Classic Series. It is an 8 cup model in white. Next up is the Artisan® Series with its 9 cup bowl. Similar to that is the Custom Metallic® Series. They are essentially the same as the Artisan® line but they are not painted. Instead they are completely made from metal and look amazing (if you like that sort of thing). There is another special Artisan® model, the Cook for the Cure® Edition. It is a pink version where $50 of each sale goes to the fight to cure breast cancer.

Bowl lifting mixers
Onto the more professional mixers, there is the KitchenAid Commercial 5 Series. It has an 11 cup bowl and a special dough hook. The Professional 5%u2122 Plus Series is similar to the Commercial 5 Series except the bowl is larger and the beater and wire whip are different. Next is the Professional 600 Series, the largest model of KitchenAid available. The bowl is a whopping 14 cups and this model comes standard with a flour pouring shield.

In the next section we will begin to look more in detail at each of these different mixer models.

KitchenAid Classic Series mixer 



    The Classic Series is an 8 cup mixer that comes in a white finish only. Here are some more details about it.
  • the model # is K45SS
  • the suggested retail price is $239.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $179.99 with free shipping
  • comes in an all white finish
  • tilt head style
  • the motor is 250 watts
  • the mixing bowl capacity is 8 cups
  • it comes with these standard accessories - flat beater, C style dough hook and wire whip
  • the bowl is made from brushed stainless steel and is dishwasher safe
  • this model weighs 22 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

KitchenAid Artisan® Series mixers 


    The Artisan® Series is a 9 cup mixer that comes in 26 amazing colors. Here are the details about this model.
  • the model # is KSM150PS
  • the suggested retail price is $349.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $199.99 with free shipping
  • it is available in 26 colors:
    Metallic Chrome, White, White-on-White, Almond Cream, Empire Green, Cobalt Blue, Onyx Black, Empire Red, Imperial Grey and Majestic Yellow, and Cook for the Cure Pink
  • tilt head style
  • the motor is 325 watts
  • the mixing bowl capacity is 9 cups
  • it comes with these standard accessories - flat beater, C style dough hook, wire whip, wide chute pouring shield
  • the bowl is made from polished stainless steel and is dishwasher safe
  • this model weighs 22.8 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

KitchenAid Custom Metallic® Series mixers 


    The Custom Metallic® Series is a 9 cup mixer that comes in 3 stunning finishes. Here are the details about this model.
  • the model # is KSM152PS
  • the suggested retail price is $499.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $349.00
  • it is available in 3 metallic finishes: chrome, brushed nickel and satin copper
  • tilt head style
  • the motor is 325 watts
  • the mixing bowl capacity is 9 cups
  • it comes with these standard accessories - flat beater, C style dough hook, wire whip, wide chute pouring shield
  • the bowl is made from polished stainless steel and is dishwasher safe
  • this model weighs 22.8 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

KitchenAid Commercial 5 Series mixer 



    The Commercial 5 Series is an 11 cup mixer that comes in white only. Below are some more details about it.
  • the model # is KM25G0X
  • the suggested retail price is $429.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $351.49
  • bowl lift style
  • the 11 cup mixing bowl is made from brushed stainless steel, is dishwasher safe and includes a handle
  • the motor is 450 watts
  • the standard accessories include a burnished flat beater, PowerKnead spiral dough hook, wire whip
  • this model weighs 25 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series mixers 



    The Professional 5 (tm) Plus Series is a 12 cup mixer that comes in 11 attractive colors. Below are some more details about it.
  • the model # is KV25G0X
  • the suggested retail price is $319.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $287.99
  • bowl lift style
  • the 12 cup mixing bowl is made from polished stainless steel, is dishwasher safe and includes a handle
  • the motor is 450 watts
  • the standard accessories include a flat beater, PowerKnead spiral dough hook, stainless steel wire whip
  • this model weighs 25 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

KitchenAid Professional 600 Series mixers 



    The Professional 600 Series is a whopping 14 cup mixer that comes in 15 colors. Below are some more details about it.
  • the model # is KP26M1X
  • the suggested retail price is $399.99
  • Amazon sells it for as low as $299.99
  • bowl lift style
  • the huge 14 cup mixing bowl is made from polished stainless steel, is dishwasher safe and includes a handle
  • the motor is 575 watts
  • the standard accessories include a professional wire whip, burnished flat beater, a wide chute pouring shield and the PowerKnead spiral dough hook
  • this model weighs 25 pounds
  • it comes with a 1 year warranty

A Word about Flour Power 

KitchenAid has a special ranking system to help you decide what model of stand mixer is best for your situation. The name that they give to this ranking system is the Flour Power ranking.

As you can see in the chart below, the ranking goes from 8 cup to 14 cup. Inside the table you can see how big a batch of bread, cookies and mashed potatoes that can be made using a given Flour Power rank. At the bottom are the model types that support this rank. For each of the models above, I give the cup size that the bowl supports. I feel that is the easiest thing to remember. But if you want to know the finer details of each bowl size, than this table has all the answers.

KitchenAid Mixer Accessories 

One of the very useful 'extras' about the KitchenAid mixer is the fact that each model has the exact same 'accessory hub'. This allows all of the accessories to work on every machine ever made.

So, here are some of the more popular mixer attachments.

Pasta Maker
Once you have tried fresh pasta, you may never go back to dried again. And with this special attachment you can literally make fresh pasta in 5 minutes or less. Heck, my pot of water will barely be boiling in 5 mins (ya my stove is old).

Now you can buy the pasta attachments separately but the best value is to buy them as a kit. Here are 2 such kits that I would start with.

Basic Kit - (pasta roller, fettuccine cutter, and linguine cutter). Can be also used to make lasagna pasta.


Advanced Kit
- (you can make fresh lasagna, spaghetti, fettucini, thick egg noodles, angel hair pasta and even ravioli)


Ice Cream Maker
Who doesn't like fresh home made ice Cream or sorbet. With this large 2 quart bowl attachment you can make ice cream, sorbet and hundreds of other frozen desserts. They say it takes 15 to 20 mins to make ice cream with this attachment. I don't have one to confirm that ... but I wish I did.


Grinder, Slicer and Shredder
This accessory pack has been called 'the Swiss Army knife'. You can use is to grind meat, nuts and coffee; you can slice veggies, fruits and cheeses; and you can shred cabbage and potatoes and more cheese. If that wasn't enough, you can also make flavored butter and even apple butter with this tool.


KitchenAid Grain Mill
Now how is this for the ultimate in fresh baking. Your very own grain mill. This can be used to turn any kind of non-oily grain or seed into flour. Buy your own organic grain, grind it and make the freshest bread you could imagine. Have a problem with wheat gluten and don't want to spend a fortune on specialty breads? Grind your own non-wheat flour and save. This unit can do up to 10 cups of flour (depending on the size of the bowl).


There are of course a lot more accessories for the KitchenAid mixers. The above was just a list of the most popular ones (and the ones I wish I had). If you would like, here is a list of more accessories.

What do you think of my KitchenAid Mixer wish list 

Do you have a comment about my page? Did you like it or hate it? Do you have a question? Do you have a favorite mixer model?

LensbyLisa

I clicked save before I was finished typing...sorry!
Just wanted to let you know I added you to my lensroll! Really nice lens! 5*'s

Posted June 23, 2008

LensbyLisa

Love the kitchenaid mixers! I am saving up for a commercial one, because it's so much easier when you can make a large batch of icing at one time! Thanks for the great lens!

Posted June 23, 2008

tdove

Thanks for joining G Rated Lense Factory!

Posted February 26, 2008

webnh

a wonderful resource about Kitchen Aid. Thanks for the putting in the time to build the lens.

Posted February 25, 2008

cleong

Hello! Thanks for checking out my blog and I got here to check out. What a load of great concise information! I will look out for the attachments. Oh how about some information on the retro mixers? I had been having a hard time looking for those. From what I've read here, you mean Kitchenaid is Hobart's baby initially? What made them sell that division off? At the side of my old mixer, it says "Hobart - kitchenaid div." and it was made in Troy, Ohio.

Posted February 23, 2008

Mobiiart

Great lens! Good equipment is where you start.

Posted February 22, 2008

kittycatlane

Hey Marcy! You came by and left a comment for me on my blog. Sooo, I'm dropping by to answer you.
I use my Kitchenaid for both recipes that I posted, the rolls and the frosting. It's perfect for both, no worries about over mixing. I hope you enjoy them both, and it's nice to meet another Kitchenaid fan. I'm saving to get me the "Big Boy" (the biggest, most powerful one they make). BIG HUGS, Steph
http://kittyscattitude.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!503F8804E657B9E0!4947.entry

Posted February 21, 2008

Thanks for stopping by my Kitchen Aid mixer page 

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Hobart KitchenAid K4-B Mixer, part 1 

Hobart KitchenAid K4-B Mixer

Recently scored Hobart KitchenAid K4-B, made from 1944-62 according to the KitchenAid website. Not sure the year of this one, but I would guess mid-50's. Looks identical to the '05 Classic sitting next to it, but it's definitely better made, and a lot heavier :) Here it tackles the ingredients for a vanilla layer cake. I have another video showing the machine doing a great job on the buttercream frosting for the same cake... I have to say these Hobart KitchenAids are and have always been my favorites; though I never had one until a couple of years ago. Sure, the Mixmasters are beautiful, but these have a retro-utilitarian look to them that you wouldn't want to describe as "beautiful", but plain COOL. I thought my 3-C was great, but that was until I used this one, what an awesome mixer. Notice the mechanically governed speed control, versus the later solid state, and the cool loop handle (looks like a big steel horn doesn't it) attached to the head. Unfortunately this one is missing the tail fin for some reason.

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Hobart KitchenAid K4-B Mixer, part 2 

Hobart KitchenAid K4-B, Part 2

Did a fantastic job whipping up this homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. I noticed it's best blending everything together slowly (I added the vanilla, butter, & cream first, and the remaining powdered sugar last), then rev it up for the fluffiest, lightest, most delicious frosting ever. I haven't had results like this with any other mixer...nothing like a classic KA!

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MarcyG

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