Opinions please! Left my beloved KA in Seattle. Looking for a good replacement. Greg
The new cheaper Cuisinart Mixer!
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Kenwoods are supposed to be on par with KA mixers. I don't trust anything from Cuisinart to hold up.
norgeway
Well-known member
I have several Kenwoods
From the 50s on up into the 80s,noisy but VERY powerful,
From the 50s on up into the 80s,noisy but VERY powerful,
Kenwood.
I second the vote for Kenwood, especially if you can get an older, British build model (that was pretty much up until the late 1990s they were built in UK IIRC). Rival sold them under their name for a while. Amusingly enough, Cuisinart did the same thing.
Kenwood was acquired by Delonghi, who built mixers in UK for a short while but now they are done...in China.
Kenwood do have a "Kenwood Cooking Chef" (available here: https://www.everythingkitchens.com/kenwood-cooking-chef-mixer-induction-cooker-km080at.html) which is quite expensive but it has an induction plate and can be used to cook stews, custards, steam veg, etc. There's a lot there. It is China made though.
My first Kenwood was bought from Appliances Online (now defunct as the domain was sold to someone else etc) and was a Rival branded one.
There are 2 British companies that do restore and restoration, though of course these will be 250v/50Hz boxes: http://www.kenmixengineering.co.uk/ and http://www.kenwoodchefrestore.co.uk/ . There were a lot of good older attachments for them - my most recent one is a 'cream maker' used for emulsifying fat (typically butter) into milk and I plan to try experimentation to make a dairy free cream.
I second the vote for Kenwood, especially if you can get an older, British build model (that was pretty much up until the late 1990s they were built in UK IIRC). Rival sold them under their name for a while. Amusingly enough, Cuisinart did the same thing.
Kenwood was acquired by Delonghi, who built mixers in UK for a short while but now they are done...in China.
Kenwood do have a "Kenwood Cooking Chef" (available here: https://www.everythingkitchens.com/kenwood-cooking-chef-mixer-induction-cooker-km080at.html) which is quite expensive but it has an induction plate and can be used to cook stews, custards, steam veg, etc. There's a lot there. It is China made though.
My first Kenwood was bought from Appliances Online (now defunct as the domain was sold to someone else etc) and was a Rival branded one.
There are 2 British companies that do restore and restoration, though of course these will be 250v/50Hz boxes: http://www.kenmixengineering.co.uk/ and http://www.kenwoodchefrestore.co.uk/ . There were a lot of good older attachments for them - my most recent one is a 'cream maker' used for emulsifying fat (typically butter) into milk and I plan to try experimentation to make a dairy free cream.
or you could say no to planetary action and go to the darkside by purchasing a Bosch Universal.
Why would you leave your KA behind when you moved-why not take it with you!Don't know what the current Cusinart mixer is-they used to have a model made by Kenwood.As stated by others these are very good-up there with KA.I have a "Kenwood" that is marked as Viking-1000W motor-this beast is a roto-tiller in a bowel!
I will second PeteK: if you prepare a lot of food at once, get a Bosch Universal Plus. If you prepare food in smaller quantities (particularly if you were satisfied with a tilt-head KA), you can get a Bosch Compact for even less.
Or you could get an Electrolux Assistent (currently known as Ankarsrum, I believe). This has a much steeper learning curve.
The thing to remember with the Euro kitchen machines (Bosch or Assistent) is that they are *much* more powerful than other stand mixers one might be used to. DO NOT use the more fragile beaters (whisk or cake batter) to mix anything that is very stiff (nuts, chocolate chips, cold or frozen butter) or the mixer will keep going and break the beaters into pieces. You need to use either the cookie paddles or the dough hook (Bosch) or the roller in the Assistent. Both manufacturers advise using room-temperature butter with the beaters.
On the other hand, if you are looking for sturdy and practical, either the Bosch or the Assistent are much nicer to use after a brief period of adjustment, particularly if you are into baking breads, for example.
Good luck!
Or you could get an Electrolux Assistent (currently known as Ankarsrum, I believe). This has a much steeper learning curve.
The thing to remember with the Euro kitchen machines (Bosch or Assistent) is that they are *much* more powerful than other stand mixers one might be used to. DO NOT use the more fragile beaters (whisk or cake batter) to mix anything that is very stiff (nuts, chocolate chips, cold or frozen butter) or the mixer will keep going and break the beaters into pieces. You need to use either the cookie paddles or the dough hook (Bosch) or the roller in the Assistent. Both manufacturers advise using room-temperature butter with the beaters.
On the other hand, if you are looking for sturdy and practical, either the Bosch or the Assistent are much nicer to use after a brief period of adjustment, particularly if you are into baking breads, for example.
Good luck!
Bosch Univesal
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">Yup, Yup, it's a beast. I have the model that fits in a drawer which is really nice if you want it put away. I don't know if they still make this model or not but they are amazing. They are great for making bread and pizza crust which we do a lot of at my house.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">I learned the hard way that when the dough is mightier than the mixer, the mixer will win. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the beater is actually twisted around because the mixer didn't stop. Those tines are supposed to be straight and they are twisted after making those cookies. I have a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that makes about a million cookies and it's thick and tough. Shortly after this incident, I ordered their cookie paddles for about $20 and problem solved. They work beautifully. It's amazing what happens when you use the right tool for the job.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">Yup, Yup, it's a beast. I have the model that fits in a drawer which is really nice if you want it put away. I don't know if they still make this model or not but they are amazing. They are great for making bread and pizza crust which we do a lot of at my house.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">I learned the hard way that when the dough is mightier than the mixer, the mixer will win. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the beater is actually twisted around because the mixer didn't stop. Those tines are supposed to be straight and they are twisted after making those cookies. I have a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that makes about a million cookies and it's thick and tough. Shortly after this incident, I ordered their cookie paddles for about $20 and problem solved. They work beautifully. It's amazing what happens when you use the right tool for the job.</span>
Ralph (Chachp):
Wow!
Yeah, I've heard of the problem, thank God it never happened to me 'cuz I was lucky enough to be reading posts from people who had one.
You have a sweet machine! I've seen them at Lowe's about 15 years ago or so, was severely tempted, but at the time we were dealing with moving home here, so I figured, I'll just get one in a couple of months or so, and then they disappeared. I believe they may still be made/sold in Europe, but Bosch doesn't import them here anymore.
A few years ago (2008, I think?) they released the new Universal Plus here, and I got one. It's just wonderful, I love it, even if it doesn't go in a drawer. A little after that, I got a Bosch Compact for my parents, they love it, and I got to use it at their home too, very nice. I hear a few years ago they stopped importing the Bosch Compact, there was an uproar about it, then they started importing again -- the only cons I noticed with the Compact were the bowl was on the small side (4 quarts, I believe), which is no surprise, and the need to put the head in the "Park" position to lift it, but even then, I liked it better than the KA. The Universal, just like your machine, doesn't suffer from any of that.
I finally found a YouTube video that I wanted to post here a few days ago, some other company which also sells Bosch Universal showing a bunch of comparisons, some of them silly (most mixers can shred chicken breasts), but some more interesting, like the uniformity of the dyed dough. They also make a recipe for over 400 cookies -- the interesting part for me, is they start with the cookie paddles, but then, when the dough gets too heavy, they switched to the kneading dough hook. That's good to know, not that I've ever made that many cookies or intend to, but I'll keep that in mind in case I need to process heavy cookie doughs.
Cheers!
-- Paulo.
Wow!
Yeah, I've heard of the problem, thank God it never happened to me 'cuz I was lucky enough to be reading posts from people who had one.
You have a sweet machine! I've seen them at Lowe's about 15 years ago or so, was severely tempted, but at the time we were dealing with moving home here, so I figured, I'll just get one in a couple of months or so, and then they disappeared. I believe they may still be made/sold in Europe, but Bosch doesn't import them here anymore.
A few years ago (2008, I think?) they released the new Universal Plus here, and I got one. It's just wonderful, I love it, even if it doesn't go in a drawer. A little after that, I got a Bosch Compact for my parents, they love it, and I got to use it at their home too, very nice. I hear a few years ago they stopped importing the Bosch Compact, there was an uproar about it, then they started importing again -- the only cons I noticed with the Compact were the bowl was on the small side (4 quarts, I believe), which is no surprise, and the need to put the head in the "Park" position to lift it, but even then, I liked it better than the KA. The Universal, just like your machine, doesn't suffer from any of that.
I finally found a YouTube video that I wanted to post here a few days ago, some other company which also sells Bosch Universal showing a bunch of comparisons, some of them silly (most mixers can shred chicken breasts), but some more interesting, like the uniformity of the dyed dough. They also make a recipe for over 400 cookies -- the interesting part for me, is they start with the cookie paddles, but then, when the dough gets too heavy, they switched to the kneading dough hook. That's good to know, not that I've ever made that many cookies or intend to, but I'll keep that in mind in case I need to process heavy cookie doughs.
Cheers!
-- Paulo.
I've had Kitchen Aid tilt head and bowl lift models as well as the Cuisinart. I got rid of them all and bought the Bosch Universal Plus. It is a great machine. It can do small batches or large batches of anything...cookie dough, bread dough, egg whites, etc. It is quiet, powerful, fast and easy to clean.
Gary
Gary
Chocolate Chip Cookies
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This is the recipe that brought down the wire beaters. I should have known better and maybe started with these and switched to the Kneading blade before adding the flours. I had a friend here who wanted to learn how I made them and I just wasn't thinking. She and I were both so surprised. I used to make these in my Bowl Lift KA mixer but towards the end I had to finish them by hand. That thing would just grown. The newer, larger more powerful KA mixers might handle this recipe a little better but I don't know if the bowl would be big enough. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This is a great recipe. I use a scoop to make golf ball sized balls. I put them on a cookie sheet to freeze them and then put them in a bag. I bake a dozen at a time and they come beautifully. My husband likes to have a little something sweet in the morning and one of these does it. It makes a nice sized cookie. I don't add the extra water myself but that's a personal preference. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">I have also made Ice Cream sandwiches out of these with a good vanilla ice cream. OMG. To die for. I put a scoop of ice cream between two cookies and froze them. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This machine makes bread making almost effortless. Some of the old school Italians look down at your for using machines to do anything. They think if you're not breaking your back making it your not as good a cook. Well, guess what? I'm not one of them! If I can do it with a machine that's what I'm going to do. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This is the recipe that brought down the wire beaters. I should have known better and maybe started with these and switched to the Kneading blade before adding the flours. I had a friend here who wanted to learn how I made them and I just wasn't thinking. She and I were both so surprised. I used to make these in my Bowl Lift KA mixer but towards the end I had to finish them by hand. That thing would just grown. The newer, larger more powerful KA mixers might handle this recipe a little better but I don't know if the bowl would be big enough. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This is a great recipe. I use a scoop to make golf ball sized balls. I put them on a cookie sheet to freeze them and then put them in a bag. I bake a dozen at a time and they come beautifully. My husband likes to have a little something sweet in the morning and one of these does it. It makes a nice sized cookie. I don't add the extra water myself but that's a personal preference. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">I have also made Ice Cream sandwiches out of these with a good vanilla ice cream. OMG. To die for. I put a scoop of ice cream between two cookies and froze them. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">This machine makes bread making almost effortless. Some of the old school Italians look down at your for using machines to do anything. They think if you're not breaking your back making it your not as good a cook. Well, guess what? I'm not one of them! If I can do it with a machine that's what I'm going to do. </span>
I love that Bosch Concept 7000 series. Unfortunately Bosch discontinued it not only in the USA but also in Europe.
