It was yuck at first sight when I first crossed paths with a Kitchenaid stand mixer in a cooking class. There's something about the aesthetics that really bug me about this machine and I bought a food processor and an immersion blender for a total of $220 to avoid the need for this type of machine. And if I was going to get this type of machine, I had decided I would get a non Kitchenaid with a glassbowl and less repulsive looking head or an Electrolux assistant if I became some kind of bread maker.
I bought this because
(1) my kitchenaid food processor would hop when mixing bread dough (one cup of flour!)
(2) $167.11 is a good price even though red, blue and black were the only colors - I knew that this machine would be useful to me
and the real reason
(3) the electic pasta extruder would help me make chinese dough recipes from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's cookbooks
My family is happy expecting better breads and other goodies but all I want are homemade dumpling wrappers and super flattened Northern Chinese breads. But this machine means I will now be able to make lump free (ew) cream cheese frosting for cupcakes and cream butter with sugar or eggs by machine rather than manually.
I would never have gotten this at its regular $300 price or even at $200 but the double promo discounts pushed the price close to a cheaper but poorly rated Sunbeam and I really wanted the pasta extruder. Sigh. If I end up loving this machine, I will have to amend this review. The red matches my knife block and my isi soda siphon and cream whipper and I cleared a space for it on my counter just as if I really wanted this machine all along and as if red not white or wasabi is the color for me. I don't have to see the side profile of the machine from where it is placed and I have the other red items grouped around it so it's one bunch of red that the mixer doesn't lock the eyes.
It's not as gigantic as the one I remember from the cooking school which was the original design. This bowl has a flat bottom so it can rest on the counter. I was scolded for not paying $400 for the Professional model but this one has planetary motion and I still don't believe that these machines are worth their suggested retail prices. The sale supposed to be through tomorrow but I see that only the Cobalt Blue is still available at this special price.
This not that big but somewhat heavy machine was delivered in its original box without an extra brown box to protect it. I found it in the rain; the box can't be kept and the machine did get wet. There's really nothing included in the box to reflect what a heavy decision this mixer purchase is to many people - no leather bound manual or ceremonious unpacking process. It came with the small hooks (everything was smaller than I expected), the whisk must be hand washed(!), there is the registration card and a brief trilingual manual and some recipes. I also got a complimentary packet of Splenda which I will discard unopened.
p.s. with the bowl removed, the machine in profile casts a shadow that looks exactly like H.R. Geiger's AlienGet more detail about
KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, Empire Red.
