Malcolm,
I have the exact disposal in my kitchen now. In the shot below you'll see the General Electric "Pirahnna" that's in the kitchenette in the lower level of the house.
What's the KitchenAid (ISE) like? Virtues: very quiet, even quiter than my pre-ISE Viking (which actually has a loud motor hum) and quieter than the ISE/Sears Elite that I had.
Under no load, and with the water running, it's sometimes difficult to know if the unit is even on, it's so quiet. While it is grinding, it can be quiet. The problem is it gets out of balance very easily. Even moreso than the Annaheim units I've had, which were notorious for getting out of balance.
Insinkerator put two "rind flippers" near the center of the turntable. Yes, they do the job and you have less trouble of rinds getting on the turntable upside down and just going for a ride. However, things get caught on these.
Paper towels and napkins are the worst. Evertime (and I do mena everytime) I put one it it gets hung up on a rind flipper and throws the whole unit out of balance and it vibrates the unit as well as the sink. Sometimes banana peels will do this too.
If you continue to put other wastes in, they will usually knock it off and you are fine. If not, you have to turn the disposal off, then on again so it will reverse. This often (but not always) will cause the little bugger to fly off the flipper.
This has nothing to do with grinding ability. Once the towel is off the flipper it grinds them up more quickly than most of the disposers I have had (and I've had a lot of them!)
Other than that little out of balance quirk, it's a very fast grinder for most everything beside paper towels, too. No it can't compare with a series wound GE, but nothing can. But it is good and fast, and guiet, when in balance. Chicken bones go nearly instantly, as in the GE. Pork chop bones, fairly quickly, but the series wound GE is wicked (and unbeatable) for making pork chop bones disappear, so its unfair to compare. Nevertheless, the KitchenAid makes quick work of them without a lot of noise.
Corn cobs and watermelons rinds don't even raise a sweat and gets rid of these rapidly. I had some large potatoes, that had started to go bad and the rind flipper took care of these and put them in a position to grind right away. Sometimes, in other disposers, large whole items like potatoes or oranges will bounce for a while before they get into the proper orientation for grinding.
I like the large opening into the hopper. The GE's are small and you have to push food through the stiff splash guard with some effort. The Annaheims, with the quick mount collars,are even smaller.
The ISE/KitchenAid now has a removable splash guard. Even with this, the opening is still large enough and the guard pliable enough, that it takes little effort to push garbage through. This is my favorite feature.
So yes, Malcom, if you can put up with frequent imbalance, it's a very nice unit. Fast, quiet and (according to CU) finely sized grounds that won't stop up older plumbing. Go for it! You'll love it.
BTW, Before everyone jumps on me for grinding up paper towels and napkins. No, it will not stop up your plumbing and it is not hard on the disposer. If your plumbing stops up, you have defective plumbing. I also occasionally use the disposer as a shredder and grind up bank card statements, etc.
The thing I like about grinding up paper towels and napkins is that it makes a mass in the disposer that flings around the hopper and wipes the inside of it shiny clean and removes food wastes and odors. I don't like putting wet or greasy paper towels in the trash, nor other organic materials, and it can provide a breeding ground for odors, bacteria, maggots and flies in the trash.
I have heard more wives tales about disposers than any other appliance, even dishwashers.
You know what ISE uses to test their disposers for durability? Steer bones and wooden blocks. Originally it was steer bones and most recently they started using square cut, uniformly cut, blocks of hardwood. Some of you may have seen the "This Old House" episode where they visisted the ISE factory and they were doing product testing.
Very interesting.
Nice to see an American company that still makes a product from scratch here in the U.S. They even make their own motors. The Old House episode showed them making the armatures and winding the fields. from humongous coils of copper wire, right there in the ISE factory.
Very interesting
