The meat grinder. 25/25/50 shortrib/brisket/chuck - start with that, and adjust to your preference.

Best burger you'll ever eat.

When it comes to essential kitchen equipment, the Kitchenaid ranks close to the high quality chef knife.

It's amazing for kneading dough. They're are several recipes I wouldn't do without it - king Arthur flour has a recipe for pillowy cinnamon rolls that would be a total pain by hand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta making, food processor, slow juicer, masticating juicer, citrus juicer, slicing and dicing attachments in addition make it amazing! I love my KA!

+10000

I love mine too! I became obsessed with baking pound cakes. So easy to make my weekly cake.

Anonymous wrote:I have a small kitchen with minimal counter space and I find it very worthwhile to keep my stand mixer out on the counter. I use it for pizza dough every weekend and for breads and other baked goods regularly.

If you can make a place for it on your counter, you’d find yourself using it much more frequently. You have a very thoughtful son who gave you such a nice gift!

Agree. We are adding on and getting a big new kitchen and I will be keeping my KA mixer and Cuisinarts (3!) on the counter. I use them all the time and can't stand this design trend to hide things. It's a workshop for culinary tools--see them and use them!

Anonymous wrote:Pasta making, food processor, slow juicer, masticating juicer, citrus juicer, slicing and dicing attachments in addition make it amazing! I love my KA!

+10000

Pasta making, food processor, slow juicer, masticating juicer, citrus juicer, slicing and dicing attachments in addition make it amazing! I love my KA!

I have a small kitchen with minimal counter space and I find it very worthwhile to keep my stand mixer out on the counter. I use it for pizza dough every weekend and for breads and other baked goods regularly.

If you can make a place for it on your counter, you’d find yourself using it much more frequently. You have a very thoughtful son who gave you such a nice gift!

Anonymous wrote:I hope it's a nice color. It's a kitchen accent that conveys wealth and seriousness of purpose.

It's only a few hundred dollars. Pretty much all serious cooks and bakers I know have a KA irregardless of income or wealth levels or poky urban apartment or sprawling suburban house. It's a fantastic tool if you bake a lot. If you don't, then the cheaper hand held is perfectly fine. I feel sorry for OP's son who spent money on something his mother didn't really need or want but we've all been there.

KA mixers are workhorses. They are not Viking stoves. Now that is an indulgence conveying wealth and conspicuous consumption.

I frequently make bread and pizza dough in mine. I couldn’t live without it. I have a hand mixer I can use for cakes and cookies but I prefer the KA for that too.

I hope it's a nice color. It's a kitchen accent that conveys wealth and seriousness of purpose.

I have one that's been on the shelf for probably 10 years. I did use the dough hooks for bread a couple of times, made a couple of cakes, but it discouraging me more than encouraged me. So heavy and unweildy.

I have a different brand but the thing I use my stand mixer for the most these days is shredding chicken breasts. Cook them (I cook them in the broth if I'm making soup) then thrown them in the mixing bowl and turn it on high. Way better than hand shredding and you don't have to wait for them to cool.

If you’re used to the hand mixer it’s different and takes some time to adjust to it but I love it much more. I think once you start you will get used to it. Anything that I would use a hand mixer for I use it for instead. The only reason I would use a hand mixer is if I needed to mix a small quantity since I think that hand mixers do that best.

I prefer that it’s hands free and I can add ingredients while it’s mixing. I can also put ingredients away while it’s mixing so it makes it easier for me.

I haven’t gotten all the different attachments but that could be another benefit.

I've had a hand held kitchenaid forever. I have a tiny kitchen and this works well for me.
So, my son bought me a kitchenaid stand mixer. My first thought was it should come with wheels and hydraulics because it's big and def heavy. I was able to make a place for it.
So last week he asked if I'd used it. Hadn't done any baking or anything else that would need it, but a couple of nights later I made cookies while cleaning the kitchen.

Since it could do the beating itself I could do other stuff, def a plus. No worries about it falling over and splattering if I parked it.
Hooking on the bowls wasn't all that easy, maybe with practice?
Hauling it out and all was not quite on par with changing a tire, but closer to that than whipping out my hand mixer.

I am thinking of trying it for bread (haven't made any for a few years)--but kneading dough is exercise, right? but no flour on the counter and I can once again clean the kitchen or something while it's doing its thing.

What are you preferences and if you use both, which do you prefer the stand mixer for?