KitchenAid Stand Mixer - 5 or 6 Quart Professional?

It's GEAR, not gearS. One gear is nylon, and designed to be the failsafe in case the unit is severely overloaded. Without opening it, I couldn't tell you if it had A nylon gear or not, but I am inclined to think it does.

Also, it does not have a single speed motor with a transmission. The models with transmissions are pretty obvious. They have 3 speeds, and you have to stop the mixer to change gears. The variable speed motors, which is all the K4, K5 and newer machines have a slide that goes from 0 to 10 or something like that. The motor changes pitch as it speeds up or slows down.

All the Kitchen Aid models are designed to be easy to clean and use a fairly tough enamel, so they tend to keep looking good unless they are abused.

Mike

Regarding this, I think Viking is stretching the limits of reasonable english in their description of their fine mixer.

They describe it as having a "metal gear transmission" but the truth of the matter is that it has a 6 speed variable control on the side, and the manual certainly doesn't tell you to switch it off to shift gears.

Perhaps the transmission they speak of is the three separate accessory attachments which turn at different speeds? Or perhaps they mean only that power is transmitted through metal gears.

Kenwood (and by extension Delonghi) make similar claims about their stand mixers. fwiw they also fudge the maximum capacity ratings a bit by not specifying right up front (as Viking does) that you can mix a lot more pounds of thin batter than bread dough.

There's also the problem of reporting the power of the motor in watts, which makes no sense at all, but no less sense than grading automotive engines in horsepower. foot-pounds of torque is where it's all at.

I'm not saying that any of these mixers aren't going to work out for a home baker. As a geek i don't like the idea of a variable speed motor at all, but i have to admit that the two-speed motor in my aincent bosch is still kicking.

I'm still kinda tempted to find an old N-50 in need of service and a machine shop willing to overhaul it and powder coat the casing . . . It's not that i think i need one, I just like the idea.

manual certainly doesn't tell you to switch it off to shift gears.

power is transmitted through metal gears.

I suspect that the last is the case. Power is transmitted, so there is a transmission. Spoken, and even written, languages are imprecise. Perhaps I should have said the Hobart commercial mixers have a three speed gear shift transmission that allows the operator to select the appropriate gear ratio and speed for the task at hand, while the KitchenAid has a single speed transmission with a variable speed motor.

specifying right up front (as Viking does) that you can mix a lot more pounds of thin batter than bread dough.

That's common in the industry, and should be understood by bakers. Hobart's are rated by quarts. In the manual is a list of how many pounds of different types of products you can make. Lots of beaten egg whites. Less cake batter. Less light bread. Less heavier bread. And not much in the way of pizza dough or bagels. (If you do bagels commercially, you are well advised to get a bagel mixer - they are heavier duty machines.)

makes no sense at all, but no less sense than grading automotive engines in horsepower. foot-pounds of torque is where it's all at.

Heh, heh. In reality, build quality is more important than power. My

30 quart Hobart had a weaker motor than the 6 quart artisan mixers. My mixer was already over 30 years old (to be conservative), and it will still be in use 30 years from now if its new owner takes good care of it.

that i think i need one, I just like the idea.

I'd be torn between that and a 20 quart hobart or a Electrolux Assistent/Magic Mill.

Mike

Oh, I see. You can't buy this as a new item. It's an antique. And as such it has an antique price. I see one already at almost $50 and another at $68 US. I think that's a little exhorbitant. I'll stick to my Kenwood.

I rescued a similar device, an Acme ice cream maker, from my grandfather's workshop. Unfortunately, a few of the pieces got lost at my parents house somehow. Individually, only the dasher and lid are obviously from an ice cream maker - the rest of it looks like a bucket, another bucket with a hole in it, a funny screwdriver, and an unusual bracket. Some day i need to spend a few more hours digging around for the outer bucket, bracket, and drive shaft. Damn thing worked pretty well.

Looks like a reasonable design. There are a bunch on ebay, a persistent person could get one for under $40, but, yeah.

Isn't the Viking made on the old Kenwood factory in the UK? Graham

On Wed 27 Apr 2005 09:42:44a, FREECYCLE MOM wrote in rec.food.baking:

You can buy them new but they aren't any cheaper.

Regarding professional mixers of the smallest size that can handle multiple functions efficiently and can be used for home use Have a look at this models which are tried and tested in the European and Australian baking industry ( for R&D purposes and recipe development)

advantage is :It has a sturdy construction like a Hobart and it has a variable speedlike a Kitchen Aide but by magnitudes a lot better in performance.It can also sustain continuous mixing but better than the 5 quart N-50for dough mixing as the mixing blade is spiral shape providing betterdough development performance.To get information about your local distributor, please contact us via fax: +45 fax +45-43- 43 12 80 or e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@wodschow.dk.Roy

On Wed 27 Apr 2005 03:01:57p, Roy wrote in rec.food.baking:

That's an impressive looking machine! Still, I would imagine that it's well out of my budget at this time. I also haven't yet killed my KA.

I will definitely keep this for future reference.

Thanks!

I am certain that is cheaper than the Hobart in the same way with their larger models, Several years back I remember a bakery who purchased 3 large Bear Varimixer which made that establishment save lot of money as it cost about IIRC half the price for the same size model of the Hobart! Performance wise I had seen Bear mixers working along side with Hobart and they last as long! Unfortunately its not as well known as the Hobart in the US. but widely used in Europe and elsewhere where planterary mixers are the primary equipment.

seems to develope slightly faster.. Roy

On Thu 28 Apr 2005 01:01:21p, Roy wrote in rec.food.baking:

I'll certainly keep it in mind. Thanks!

Dee,

I am so sorry for the trouble you had on your latest KitchenAid mixer. Have you contacted KitchenAid Customer Service? They can help! As a representative of KitchenAid, I can assure you that the problem you are showing here is extremely rare.

I doubt about that... I have used a series of kitchen aide mixers overseas , and had experienced what DEE had(with those made in Korea model) and those machines( or preferably I call toys don't have the robustness for breadmaking. I have no problems with those' toys/ for cakes and cookies but for bread....I would settle for HOBART C-100 for small scale breadmaking..From my more than 30 years in baking I cannot remember that such institutional equipment ever put me down. But your toys?( the Kitchen aide mixers), better display it in Toys R Us.. Or just relabel it as good for household baking, specially for cakes and cookies.but ( as a consolation)remind them that it can be used also for occasional breadmaking done...... once in a blue moon I think its time that your company should ,re think ,re invent and drastically modify your machines knowing that homebakers are doing more bread than in previous years..Therefore if a housewife will buy a mixer now ,there is more likelihood that it will be used for breadmaking never for cakes and cookies as those cheap hand held mixer can do those things satisfactorily. If I am in the position of the hobbyist baker, and I don't have a good mixer for bread at home, I will not invest my money on your lousy toys but would use my hand for kneading my bread dough and would settle for cheaper mixers for my other baking purposes such as those batter based goods.

Roy

PS... Lousy machines I mean...

Hi Roy. If you write to the guy from Kitchen Aid in this uncourteous way he will hardly think about your proposal twice...

Joschi

Look Joschi, If that guy is only trying to know the opinions of users about their equipments, it its best that he should know the truth the hard way. Remember the sayimg. 'Truth is heavy .... only a few can carry it!'

Roy ...

The specs look really good, but how is this for the low end - kneading dough for a couple of loaves?

Irax.

Lately I had seen some interesting comments on the new kitchen aid mixers. The post of Cadiilac fan sound similarl to my experience

Thanks, I called them, after their email return which seemed to be a 'form' answer, saying to run it at speed 10 for 2 minutes to eliminate the oil and "generally the mixer may lose approximately 1/4 cup of oil before repair is necessary. "The oil used is FDA approved and is not harmful to food, should any get into the food that you are preparing." The person at the desk had no idea why they didn't use grease instead of oil; that that was an engineering decision. Of course, there is oil behind the slide shaft which I can't clean up, and I'm wondering if it can be cleaned up.

So, I paid $25 for a mailer to send it back to Greenville, Ohio for them to examine it. I don't have much confidence based on my last repair quote of $280 on my previous KA; the reason I bought this one 10-03.

I really hate throwing good money after bad, but the purchase of the new pasta attachment for rolling out pasta/lasagna ($100) has left me with no other choice to pursue this route of repair.

Thanks. Dee