Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love my Heritage stand mixer! I used a sunbeam stand mixer for aprx. 25 years and it finally died on me. It was great except for the real heavy duty mixing (it had fewer watts than the Heritage model does). I replaced it with a KitchenAid stand mixer. I put up with it for 5 years and mostly hated it. It beat things too light... mashed potatoes, cookie dough... which changed the texture and taste of foods. Worst was how frustrating KitchenAid's are to use. The mixing bowl is deep and small in diameter. That means every time you need to mix a bit with your spatula, you have to turn off the mixer, unlock the head, lift up the head, then mix your ingredients, then put the head back down, then relock the head, then turn the mixer back on... every time you want to stir a bit. There just isn't room for reaching into the bowl it's so small in diameter. When you add in dry ingredients to your dough you can't get into the bowl enough with anything other than a stirring spoon. I just found that it wasn't worth the frustration. Compare that to the Sunbeam Heritage which I bought 5 months ago... powerful motor (in fact, more watts than the KitchenAid most people buy and more watts than my original Sunbeam)... large diameter bowl so you can add ingredients easily and mix when you want to. Only thing I would like on my Sunbeam Heritage that I don't have is a glass bowl. My original one had glass bowls and they were great for mashing potatoes in and then heating them up a bit in the microwave, without having to transfer them. (KitchenAid's bowls aren't glass either.)