Bosch compact has a stronger motor and smaller footprint than a KA. It makes dough for 3 loaves of bread at a time no problem. Unless you want the look of a KA, it’s a Much better product.

I’m team stand mixer. We don’t have counter or cabinet space so it lives in our basement storage closet. I use it mostly for bigger jobs like multiple batches of cookies or frosting that needs long mixing times.

One thing to know is that they vary widely in their power. When we were registering for one 8 years ago the one at Target looked identical to the one at Bed Bath and Beyond but the BBB one had more power (I forget what unit it measured in). My parents have a 30+ years old one that is only slightly larger but is commercial power. They can do a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, my BBB one can but it sounds like it’s struggling.

I like my kitchen aid stand mixer- I used to keep it in the corner of the counter, but now that I have an island I keep in under the island, and pull it out when I want to use it. Yes its heavy, but I find it pretty easy to lift up onto the island and put back away. I guess I might feel differently if I was lifting it up over my head or something.
I mostly use it for cookies/ cakes etc. and to make meringue.

Anonymous wrote:You definitely can’t make nearly any bread or cookie recipe without a stand mixer. If you can’t keep it on the counter I wouldn’t get one. They are too big and heavy to be moving around much

No idea about bread but I’ve been making cookies for 40 years and never touched a stand mixer

I love my KitchenAid stand mixer. We keep it in a cabinet so it isn’t taking up counter space. I’ll bake a lot of different breads and cookies. It has various attachments you can buy, such as one to grind meat. I tried that, but honestly the result wasn’t worth the effort.
I have used it to shred chicken, which is nice for some recipes that require chicken to be shredded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if there's any way at all you can squeeze some space for the stand mixer, I will say it's one of the most attractive kitchen appliances, that can look nice left out. You can choose from so many colors! Once you have it, you can use it... a lot.

OP here - what do you use it for? Is there a special attachment for stuff like mixing ground meats with spices for meatballs or the like? I have never owned one or known anyone who has (my family are not big cooks except for me) so I don't even know all the possibilities!

I Use it to make pizza dough and bread dough a lot. I also have the meat grinder attachment and the saucing attachment. Every fall I make more than 2 dozen quarts of applesauce, and the attachments make it so easy. I grind meat, too.
And of course I use it for baking all the time. It is rare a week goes by that I haven’t used it at least once.

I go through phases of using my mixer a lot but I have a tiny kitchen so keep it in an undercounter cabinet - except at Christmas/Thanksgiving time when I’ll use several days back to back. Yes - it heavy as I have the big one (bigger than the normal home one but not the truly massive professional one.) If you have cabinet space - I’d definitely suggest getting.

My 13 year old DD uses our KitchenAid mixer all the time. One thing I really like about it is that the stainless steel mixing bowl it came with is so easy to clean. Much easier than the glass and plastic mixing bowls we have. Also, we use it even for the most mundane baking a cake with store-bought cake mix because you just turn it on and walk away and the bowl is so easy to clean. Makes baking cupcakes for school or layer cake for parties so easy.

Anonymous wrote:You definitely can’t make nearly any bread or cookie recipe without a stand mixer. If you can’t keep it on the counter I wouldn’t get one. They are too big and heavy to be moving around much

I think this poster meant CAN. I use my stand mixer a lot but for baking, and I can keep it on the counter due to some pantry counter space with plugs. It’s honestly way too heavy if you have to lug it places you won’t use it very often. With your needs, I would just use your hand mixer! If you get really into baking at some point then I think you can consider it then. Sure it has a bunch of attachments you COULD use for random things but the vast majority of people don’t ever use those. It’s really best if you like to bake!