Help! Which KitchenAid model should I get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with the standard tilt-head model, we now have the bowl-lift. I still use a tilt-head at my mom's house (she got a new one about 5 years ago, so it's a relatively current model).

The bowl-lift has a more powerful motor, and is much sturdier. The tilt-head rattles around a bit when I'm mixing something stiff, like kneading bread dough. It handles it fine, I just need to keep a hand on it to keep the head from popping up or the whole mixer from moving around on the counter. Sometimes it sounds like the motor is straining a little on a really stiff dough, but it always powers through. The bowl-lift holds itself in place and the motor handles everything I've thrown in there with ease.

The flip side of that, of course, is the the bowl-lift is much heavier. Every time I haul it out of the cupboard for a simple batch of whipped cream I kind of wish for the smaller model. Something to keep in mind if you'll be moving it around a lot. My kids have a hard time maneuvering the bowl-lift mixer out of the pantry.

I don't do a lot of meat grinding, but I think the tilt head would be fine. Might just go a little slower than the bowl-lift model. Dough is fine in either, although obviously the bigger version will handle bigger batches.

So I want to make big batches of food for freezing, it sounds the bowl-lift is a better option--concerned about how heavy it is though.

[Anonymous]

The Artisan is very strong and reliable. Cookie and pizza doughs, cake batter, frosting, whipping cream, also use the meat grinder. What kind of big batch freezing are you doing? This is the time of year to get one. I primarily use it to crank out batches of holiday cookies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have the 6qt, bowl lift, professional model.

It only uses the one metal bowl that locks into place. If you want a variety of bowls, the 5qt tilt head has more options.

Don't get me wrong, I love my powerhouse. But if you like esthetics, the tilt head machines are the way to go.

Examples:
https://www.kitchenaid.com/countertop-appliances/stand-mixers/bowls.html?plp=%3Arelevance%3Acategory%3ACountertopAppliancesStandMixersBowls&plpView=list

I would avoid the mini stand mixer unless you have space issues.

I'm going to be keeping it in a cupboard so aesthetics isn't an issue. I just want the most affordable version that can handle grinding meat and making large batches of dough so I can freeze the kibbeh and meat/cheese pies.

Get the professional 6 quart one. Anything else can't handle the dough. I make large batches of dough for stollen and the smaller versions just haven't been able to handle it.

[Anonymous]

Right now the 5qt artisan is on sale for $350 but the 5.5qt lift model is on sale for only $250. Except for serious bread makers, more people seem to recommend the artisan over the lift model but is it worth $100 more? Are there cons to the lift model vs the artisan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right now the 5qt artisan is on sale for $350 but the 5.5qt lift model is on sale for only $250. Except for serious bread makers, more people seem to recommend the artisan over the lift model but is it worth $100 more? Are there cons to the lift model vs the artisan?

Artisan comes in more colors and lots of replacement bowl options. It’s the fun model.

Lift comes in a few colors, but no special bowls (just standard silver). It’s better for heavy duty bakers or for people who leave their mixer in one spot, so no need to move or haul it around.

[Anonymous]

Get a refurbished model. KA does an indepth inspection on them so the quality is still top notch but at a fraction of the cost. You can get the standard artisan 5qt for $210 right now, or a commercial grade 7qt for 280