Kitchenaid mixer

[OakLeaf]

I have a hand eggbeater, a whisk, a potato masher, and a variety of wooden spoons. Not even an electric hand mixer! So far, I bake all sorts of stuff without one. Cakes, breads, pasta, mashed potatoes, even lemon meringue pie (I have a special copper eggwhitewhipping bowl and a whisk for that). But I bet if I had one of those KA's, it would become difficult to give up. That's why I don't even think about getting one! I do fine without it now, but if it were there, I'd be lost without it. Strange how that works.

Don't you love it how, when you're whisking egg whites or whipping cream, and you start saying to yourself, "This is BS, I'm using an electrical appliance next time," about 30 seconds later is when it starts to firm up?

I wish I could do it with both hands though, so I could rest my right arm. I'm just incapable of making circular motions with my left hand. No reason, no injury, no lack of fine motor dexterity in my left hand, just can't make circles with a spoon or whisk.

[beccaB]

The kind that tips backwards instead of the kind that you have to raise up fits better under cabinets, and takes up less space in a small kitchen. I love mine!

[tulip]

Well, the eggwhitewhipping bowl probably cost as much as a KA standup mixer, but it was a wedding gift that I got to keep. When my arms get tired but I have to keep going, I just figure I'm getting a workout to counteract the pie-in-construction. It also works very well for whipped cream. It's quite satisfying, doing it by hand, actually.

[GLC1968]

Ok, I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. I have a Kitchenaid. I don't know which one it is, but it was one of the top of the line, non-commercial ones out there back in 2003 when we got married. It spends a vast majority of it's life in it's box.

I pull it out during the holidays when I'm baking larger quantities for guests and gifts. The rest of the year, I just can't justify dirtying up that thing for the small batch baking/cooking that I normally do. And I can't spare the counter space to leave it out all the time. For bread, I either do the no-knead version or I use my bread machine to knead. I have a hand crank food mill that works great and is easy to clean up as well.

It's just faster overall for me to use hand tools. Faster to set up, faster to clean up...

But I soooo want an egg white whipping bowl!

[divingbiker]

And I can't spare the counter space to leave it out all the time.

I wouldn't use mine either if I had to drag it out every time; it's way too heavy. I gladly sacrifice counter space for the KitchenAid, but I keep most of my other (lighter weight) appliances tucked away.

[OakLeaf]

Mine lives on top of the fridge. It's not a big deal to get it down and put it back up there.

[OakLeaf]

I have a hand crank food mill that works great and is easy to clean up as well.

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.

[jp4995]

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.

[Pax]

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.

[GLC1968]

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.

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

[MomOnBike]

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.