Modern Kitchenaid Mixers

[maytagbear]

Yes, Laundress--

Hobart had made a commercial mixer, and a few years down the road, they thought about a home size mixer. The first KitchenAid mixer appeared in 1919. The name came from one of the women who did the home-use testing. She said "It's the best kitchen aid I ever had."

The above is a brutally condensed version of the story in my (separate, not use-and-care) KitchenAid cook book.

I will be very interested in seeing what they come up with for the Centennial Edition in 2019.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[rp2813]

Rich, I ended up at "shopkitchenaid.com" for my mixer. It's still displaying on "frys.com" but there they advised to check for availability. So I called and the guy said he couldn't guarantee they'd have any in by Xmas. I noticed on Amazon it was the same situation and they simply advised that they couldn't say when they'd get more in. Somehow I ended up at "shopkitchenaid.com" and that's where I found the "metallic chrome" one. It's the only site that offered other colors besides plain white. I paid a little more than at Fry's but there was no sales tax and even with shipping it came out to $200 and small change, which seems like a good deal for 475 watts and chrome to boot. I did some online checking for feedback from others who had bought a factory refurbished machine and found many favorable comments. The warranty period on the refurbished ones is supposedly twice as long also. I liked seeing that the machine was assembled in the USA. Where the parts were made is another question, but at least a plant in the US is responsible for putting together the finished product.

 

[bajaespuma]

Ditto:

I agree (what a surprise) with Laundress--I'd go for any rebadgement of the Kenwood mixer, be it DeLonghi, Viking, Hamilton Beach (!) as long as it's a 7 quart model, you're good to go. The new KitchenAids have a bearing that used to be made out of steel and is now plastic. What happens is it melts when the mixer is overloaded and the repair is prohibitively expensive. I do like the new delayed-action starts on some of these newer mixers, but if you have to have a KitchenAid, I would go for a vintage Hobart-made K-5A. KitchenAid, like Maytag and the rest of America, has been murdered by corporate greed.

 

[rp2813]

Oh yeah, the one I bought has the "soft start" feature which will be interesting to see in action.

So steel gears but plastic bearings? That sounds like a bad combo. I hope we're not in for trouble.

 

[bajaespuma]

In my real life I'm a pastry chef and I've used a lot of these mixers, including the wonderful old Hobart "whipped cream mixer" which is/was a K-5 with 3 gears instead of a governor. The last KitchenAid mixer that was purchased at work was a nasty K-45 that's weak and pathetic. I have a 30 year old KitchenAid at home that is my daily driver and nothing compares to it. My Mother still has HER mother's K-C model from the mid '40's and although it coughs a little bit on start up, it still works after decades of chocolate cakes and grinding hard chick-peas for lenten dumplings.

I am outraged, as are most of you who are members of this group, by the CONSCIOUS CHOICE of American manufacturers to produce and market goods that are DESIGNED TO BE less durable, less capable, and less usable than items produced decades ago. As with petroleum prices, health insurance, and political decisions we all know that we are being cheated and misrepresented but nobody, including myself, does anything about it. I buy almost nothing new anymore that's manufactured in this country. F--k 'em.

 

[sudsmaster]

Plastic bearing?

Ken,

Could you please give more details on which bearing is plastic in the modern Kitchenaid mixers, and on which models?

I did a little Googling on the topic, and came up with a thread on the Kitchenaid forum that describes a plastic gearbox bearing cover. Not the bearing itself. In the thread, the Kitchenaid rep said that KA will fix any problems related to the plastic cover, and that new Pro 600 mixers will have metal gearbox bearing covers.

At some point I'll be taking apart the head on my Epicurean to see what the gearbox cover is made of. If it's plastic, I'll give KA a call and ask for a metal replacement.

I understand that KA does stand behind this product. And, as one who works in light manufacturing, I question the blanket assumption that anything made in the USA is shoddy.

 

[rp2813]

I agree with Rich. I'd rather buy something made in USA (well, maybe not my next car but even that is getting better) than anything made in China. The trouble is that it's become very difficult to accomplish this since everything you touch at pretty much any U.S. retailer is made in China anymore.

 

[sudsmaster]

Actually I don't begrudge Chinese made products. I believe some of them are quite well made - and it's obvious when the US manufacturer has made a solid product, or cut corners, no matter where the product is made. Some brands stand out as being consistently good, no matter where they are made. Some brands stick out as crap, no matter where they are made. This has mostly to do with the company's management, not the factory or its location.

 

[rp2813]

I would agree that not everything made in China is poor quality. My interest in avoiding buying that type of product is more about not wanting to feed the Chinese economy since this country is so alarmingly deep in debt to that nation already.

 

[sudsmaster]

What can I say? I often buy Chinese made tools - some are precision tools - to do my job to make things here. Often the price is 1/2 to 1/4 that of a US or European made tool, and usually it does the job just fine. Many of the lower priced machine tools (some quite massive) are Asian made, usually in Taiwan, Korea, or Japan, but I think it's just a matter of time before the Chinese step in with competitive machines. My rationale is that I'll use whatever tools I can afford to get the job done. Usually the stuff I make cannot economically or logistically be outsourced overseas. Either it's a small run or with enough back and forth with the engineers that trying to do that across the ocean in a different language just doesn't work. But there's no denying the workers over there produce for a fraction of the labor cost over here.

 

[rp2813]

Rich, I understand and don't get me wrong, I have purchased my fair share of Chinese products. I think it really hit me when I was installing an outdoor shower over the summer and every last fitting and piece of pipe I bought at my local ACE Hardware was made in China. I've never had a problem with outdoor plumbing leaking after installation but I did with this Chinese pipe and what should have been a quick job ended up involving a lot of undoing/reworking and having to use plenty of extra muscle with the pipe wrench. That's when I realized that escaping the "made in China" thing is nearly impossible anymore.

Meanwhile, I just received notification that the mixer shipped today so I'm looking forward to receiving it. I'll be on vacation when it arrives so no worries about it being left on the porch. Keep fingers crossed that my partner will like the chrome. I think it will look a lot more impressive than the white Ultra Power with red trim that it will be replacing. Everything in our kitchen these days is either black, stainless or chrome so the Ultra Power hasn't fit into the scheme of things for a few years now.