Don't know if you've seen the TV spot, but the offer seems pretty good and I wanted to share it. There selling the high-end mixer for $299. Plus you get attachments & gadgets & cookbook. I ordered one and it came in 3 days. I don't know the 800 number to order, but there is a web site with the offer at buykitchenaid.com.
Sounds like a great deal, but be careful as KitchenAid mixers come in different power levels which equate to how much flour/dough they can handle. You want to select the one that best suits your individual needs. The website I qoute below lists the quantities of flour, etc the machine can comfortably handle. Click on for the model you are interested in to get the details. The one in the special has a 325 watt motor. The professional models come in 400, 450,and 575 watt motors, To compare the entire KitchenAId line, go to:
Dave
Many people, like Kitchenaid, make a big deal of the wattage of a motor. And that's misdirection if someone else is talking to you. How is it that you can knead 11 cups of flour into dough by hand, and you surely aren't capable of generating as much force as a 525 watt motor? Why is it my old 30 quart Hobart mixer had about a 300 watt motor and was very happy kneading as much as 45 pounds of dough at a time?
Some people point out that KitchenAid mixers aren't what they used to be. I just looked at a friend's high dollar artisan mixer, and I do not think it is as well made as my 1978 vintage KitchenAid mixer. It's... well... flimsy. It's probably adequate, however.
I was looking at my KitchenAid K45SS manual a while back and it cautions that you should only use so much flour, knead only so long, and do no more than 2 batches of bread in a row, and then let the mixer cool off for so long. I've been doing that all these years, and my mixer is still in good shape. I wonder how many people who have problems with a burned out KA motor or gears didn't read the manual.
But, beyond that... one key issue is build quality. I think current KA's may be lacking, but getting better again.
Still... there is a more important issue. KA recommends kneading dough on speeds 2 or 4. And that means the motor has to put out maximum force at a low speed. Variable speed electric motors don't like to do that. That's why they get so hot when they knead dough. It's an inherently bad design decision that generations of KA engineers have tried to make the best of, and with pretty good results overall.
So... why did my much older Hobart work so well, so long? It has a single speed motor and a transmission to change the speed of the beaters and kneader (or dough hook). So the motor is always running at it's optimum speed and the dough hook is also at its optimum speed. I'd mix around 8 batches of 40 pounds or so of bread back to back every day, plus another 3 batches of 20 pounds each of pizza dough, and often another 2 batches of 20 pounds of bagels. No problems. Because the Hobart commercial mixers, with their geared transmissions, are good designs.
The morals here? 1. Read the manual.
Mike
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