Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love my Kitchen Aid mixer. I make bread almost every Friday and use the flat paddle extensively. I also use the wire whisk a lot. The main problem I have with this mixer, and this is true for various other mixers, not only from kitchenaid, is the quality of the dough hook and paddle attachment that are included in the purchase. If you do a search on Amazon for these two items, you’ll discover that there are two varieties of these attachments. The cheaper ones, which are the ones included with this mixer, are shiny grey metal. They run less than $20. Then there are the white, coated attachments, which are about 3 times the cost of the grey ones. Why? Because if you put the grey ones in the dishwasher, or if you have washed them by hand many times, they become dull and coated with a dark grey powder. The powder comes off on everything it touches, including the dough or batter you would use it for. The User’s Manual explains that they shouldn’t go in the dishwasher. Unfortunately, it lists three types of beaters. Only the grey ones have this problem. But because there are no photographs illustrating the difference between the burnished aluminum and the stainless steel ones, it’s easy to be confused. Secondly, read the Users’ manual carefully! You cannot use the dough hook on settings higher than 2. And you cannot use it for more than 5 minutes. I asked a company representative about this. She recommended that one use the paddle attachment to mix the dough and switch to the dough hook for kneading. She told me that 5 minutes using the dough hook on a kitchen aid mixer is equal to 10 minutes kneading with another mixer. I haven’t myself performed any comparisons, but when I followed her instructions my dough came out beautifully. So, on the whole I am very pleased with my Kitchenaid 600 Professional. I never thought I needed one until my husband bought me one several years ago. Now I’d find it difficult to give up!