I bought this mixer as "refurbished," and saved some bucks. It comes with the burnished steel flat beater and dough hook, as opposed to the painted ones. I learned too late that only the painted attachments are dishwasher safe! Now the hook and beater are a dark mottled color. Still work fine, just needed to be well scrubbed to get the dark residue off. That'll teach me to read the manual first.
One reviewer expressed disappointment in some gears of the mixer being nylon, and getting stripped out. My dealer told me that a number of the parts inside are "sacrificial," that is, small inexpensive parts are designed to fail before large expensive parts do. This is a good thing! Think of it the same way as the crumple zones in your car's body. They get crushed, so you don't.
I've used the mixer to make bread, and it came out perfect. I made pancake batter this morning, and the flat beater mixed all the way down to the bottom of the bowl just as it is supposed to. If yours doesn't, use the adjuster screw. The splash guard is misnamed-- its main purpose is to give you a chute for adding material. Some splashing will still occur, but to be fair the manual says the splash guard "reduces" splashing, not eliminates it.
A note on refurbished models; I was assured that they are demos and trade show displays, not warranty returns. No mixer that has been sold to a consumer will show up later as refurbished. I don't know what they do with the warranty returns.
You'll have this mixer a long time, so get the model you really want and the color you can live with for 20+ years. I love mine, and my once-skeptical wife is now a believer too.Get more detail about KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, Empire Red.
