Is it a counter-mounted type? What kind?
I have a Foley Food Mill, but it doesn't strain out tomato seeds well, doesn't get tomatoes near as dry as the KA does, and it would just wear me out to do large amounts of applesauce through it.
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I have the KitchenAid Professional (6 quart bowl)- the one that has the crank where you crank the bowl up and down. Love, love, love it. We've had it for over 5 years and that thing is a powerhouse. It'll do double bread or cookie dough recipes without any issues.
I have a set of attachments for it (gifted from a relative) but I have not had a chance to use them yet.
We don't bake and have a tiny kitchen so we make do with manual kitchen tools. However, a friend of mine has a KA and swears by it. She has kids and bakes a lot so I know she gives it a workout.
I love my kitchenaid mixer! I have the one with the top that tilts, the artisan I think? I use it at least once a week. Best gift my mom ever got me! And now every Christmas she buys me a neat attachment for it!
The one I have has a vice type attachment that I attach to one of my pull out cutting boards. It's by 'Back to Basics' and I think that I got it here:
http://www.canningpantry.com/d220.html
I've got multiple screens (berry, apple/tomato, pumpkin & salsa) that you switch out depending on what you are milling. All the parts that take the brunt of the force of cranking are metal, so it seems like it should last well. I've used it with apples (massive quantities!), pears, tomatoes, blackberries, plums, and grapes. I've had it two seasons now and it still works like new. In fact, my H is going to use it to make salsa this weekend for the first time.
There is a picture of it in action in this post:
http://simplemetamorphosis.blogspot....e-success.html
I love my Kitchen Aide. It comes out whenever I bake, or make anything that needs large amounts of grating (cheese) or grinding (oranges for marmalade, meats, walnuts for potica) or slicing (bread & butter pickles) or, well, anything.
I don't use it to knead bread - either my own two hands do that or the bread machine. In any case, I've had mine since, um, the late 70's or early 80's and it is still going strong. It's one of the best investments we made in running a kitchen.
I love mine too! I use it once a year for gingerbread houses!:rolleyes:;):cool:
:p:pSilver doesn't know where it's even stored:p:p
I love mine. It is tucked away in a corner of our kitchen so it doesn't use otherwise readily accessible space. We just pull it to the front when we need it. DD uses it a lot for cookie experiments.
I broke down and bought one last Christmas. I don't bake much, but I do make a ton of cookies and fruitcake (don't laugh - people love to get my fruitcake!).
Oh my God! What a difference! For 30 years I made heavy batter with the hand held mixer I bought in college. I can't believe I resisted this for so long, thinking I only need it at Christmastime.
Well the machine is expensive, big, and extremely heavy, all of which are good reasons to go without.
But it is a dream to operate.
I have no counterspace, and it is a real chore to set up for baking. I installed an wire rack drawer with a plexiglass insert for the floor of the drawer so I could store the machine in a lower cabinet. It works, and does make it easier to get it in and out, but someday I'm going to drop the thing on the tile floor and I don't think it's gonna be pretty.
And I just saw that they offer a pasta attachment. Must hide the credit card. That would be fun to play with but I don't know if I could make enough space to have long strands of pasta anywhere.
I'm glad I have my KA. 6 qt size. I wish I had the commercial grade one not the pro series.
The difference is that the commercial grade is NSF rated while the pro series is not. ???
Have attachement for meat grinder, and pasta maker. I make ground pork for Chinese dish, pasta maker for lasgna, raviloi... to noodles for soup. I'm very happy with it.
Oh I do have a dough hook and use it often. only takes two minutes to knead. And
ballon whisk to make whipped cream.
I've gotten lazy. I consider it one of my better purchases for the kitchen.
Mine goes here... very handy!
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/IMG_3186.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/IMG_3187.jpg
I like the design of the Kitchen Aid more, but hey, my Kenwood is the best gift i'm given so far.... :D
Those Europeans always have the sleekest and most compact designs!:cool::cool:
Why am I the only one who keeps mine on top of the fridge? Am I risking damaging something I don't know about? :confused: