Customer Reviews

Electrolux White Assistent Stand Mixer 8 Qt.

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm prompted to write this after seeing another review that stated that this machine is only good for making bread but not for other mixing tasks. In fact, it will do everything any other stand mixer will do, and it will perform most tasks better than other stand mixers. I use it a couple of times a week to knead bread dough, at which it excels, but I've also made cakes, whipped egg whites, made cookies, and just about anything else you can imagine.

The thing is, as you can see from the picture of the machine, it is different from mixers most Americans are used to. There's a learning curve involved, so you must be prepared for that, or you'll be disappointed. I got the hang of it quickly, within a couple of weeks or so, but after a year I'm still refining my knowledge.

I should point out that Cook's Illustrated magazine, in their November 2005 issue, gave this machine a poor rating. I have to believe that they did not attempt to learn how to use it properly. I also have their top-rated mixer, the KitchenAid Professional 600, which I found very disappointing. It now sits in a basement closet after it stripped a gear.

If you make bread, especially if you make it frequently or in large quantities, chances are you'll grow to love this machine. For a single loaf of bread now and then, any good stand mixer will do, and you'll probably be happier.

If you don't make bread at all, a good sturdy hand mixer such as the Braun M880 Multimix would be something to consider. If you make bread, you can rest assured that the Electrolux will do that and anything else you need it to do.

I have owned this mixer for two years and am completely satisfied with it. However, I could not understand its operation from looking at pictures before I bought it, so I want to describe it to potential buyers.

The large stainless steel bowl has a 1/2" shaft protruding from the bottom with a slot cut in it. This shaft fits into the power unit and the slot engages a pin which allows the power unit to rotate the bowl. The only powered function is this turning of the bowl.

The large arm above the bowl is spring-loaded. The arm is permanently attached to a vertical pivot at the left rear of the power unit (see the "creaming butter and sugar" picture I have uploaded). There is a large pin on the right side of the arm which you can pull up several inches. You first seat the bowl on the power unit, then pull up on the pin and swing the arm forward so the right end is over the bowl. Then you put the fluted beater inside the bowl and let the large pin drop into the end of the beater. The beater can spin freely on this pin.

The top of the beater has a rubber u-shaped groove which rides against the top edge of the bowl. The spring is constantly pulling the beater against this groove. As the bowl rotates, it causes the beater to turn. The bowl edge is like a "big gear" turning the "little gear" of the beater. Thus the beater rotates much faster than the bowl.

As you see from the picture there is also a scraper that rides along the inside edge of the bowl. This scraper pivots freely but dough or batter pushes it against the side of the bowl. It can be lifted out of its support to take it out of the bowl.

The beauty of this arrangement is that if a large amount of dough or batter gets between the beater and the bowl, the beater is simply pushed away from the bowl edge temporarily and stops, as the rubber groove loses contact with the rotating bowl. This prevents the beater from jamming and stalling, and the motor from overloading. The spring immediately pulls it back after dough has passed behind it.

I use this machine mostly for cakes and cookies, and one downside is that it does not work well when creaming cold butter and sugar. The hard shortening pushes the beater away from the bowl and the mixing stops. You simply need to allow the shortening to come to room temperature.

Since the inside rim of the bowl drives the beater, you need to avoid scraping a spatula across the edge of the bowl while mixing, since grease in this area might cause the beater to slip. I also avoid cracking eggs on the edge of the bowl.

The only other caution I have is the weight of the stainless steel bowl. It is quite large and heavy, and there is no handle on the outside (unlike a KitchenAid). It can be awkward to hold this heavy bowl as you are pouring or spooning out batter.

Highly recommended.

The Electrolux Assistent Mixer excels in dough kneading but I use it many more work hours for flaking and grinding grain, grinding meat and processing fruits and vegetables.

Our diet consists of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and grass fed meat product. I make all of our cereal, bread, crackers and other baked goods. I have a small commercial stone grinder to grind grain but I use the Electrolux DLX grain grinder for smaller jobs. I process all of our cereal with the Electrolux flaker. I grind our fresh meat with the meat grinder attachment. I puree vegetables for soup bases and beans for hummus with the berry press and blender attachments.

Despite hours of continuous use the Electrolux DLX never balks, never overheats and always has plenty of power to get through whatever task it is performing.

I saw the Cook's Illustrated November 2005 article which gave the Electrolux DLX a poor rating and the KitchenAid Professional 600 the top rating. I wondered at the time whether those reviewers might have an undisclosed bias because some of their reviews for other products also have been strange. Granted I wouldn't use the Electrolux DLX to make muffins or waffle batter but I wouldn't get out a large stand mixer to do those tasks either. When I do make do a large quantity of batter it performs superbly.

The KitchenAid Professional 600 I purchased bit the dust after kneading my whole grain dough for 3 minutes. It temporarily revived and then suffered a fatal incident 2 minutes later. I returned it and bought the Electrolux DLX and haven't looked back.

I was prompted to write this review because I received an email from a person who was interested in a followup review of the Electrolux DLX I purchased in 2004.

This mixer excells in dough kneading but I use it many more work hours for flaking and grinding grain, grinding meat and processing fruits and vegetables.

Our diet consists of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, grass fed dairy and meat products. I make all of our cereal, bread, crackers and other baked goods. I have a small commercial stone grinder to grind grain but I use the Electrolux DLX grain grinder for smaller jobs. I process all of our cereal with the Electrolux flaker. I grind all of our fresh meat with the meat grinder attachment. I puree vegetables for soup bases and beans for hummus with the berry press attachment.

Despite hours of continuous use the Electrolux DLX never balks, never overheats and always has plenty of power to get through whatever task it is performing.

I saw the Cook's Illustrated November 2005 article which gave the Electrolux DLX a poor rating and the KitchenAid Professional 600 the top rating. My thought at the time was that those reviewers were nutty. Granted I wouldn't use the Electrolux DLX to make muffins or waffle batter but I wouldn't get out a large stand mixer to do those tasks either.

The KitchenAid Professional 600 I purchased bit the dust after kneading my whole grain dough for 3 minutes. It temporarily revived and then suffered a fatal incident 2 minutes later. I returned it and bought the Electrolux DLX and haven't looked back.

October 2010 update:
My Electrolux DLX machine has been in heavy use for over six years - the machine continues to perform superbly for the wide variety of tasks described above. All attachments remain functional - nothing has broken - no repairs have been needed. This Electrolux DLX remains the workhorse of the kitchen. For smaller jobs I have purchased a Bamix immersion blender. It nicely complements the Electrolux DLX for mixing, pureeing, chopping jobs that don't warrant getting out the larger unit.

I bake a lot. Bread, cookies, cakes, muffins, etc. The bread I make is a family recipe that makes 6 loaves of whole grain bread that you can add an assortment of "what not" to it and it still tastes great. This mixer was an item of necessity I negoitated with my husband when we remodeled our kitchen 3 years ago. Just one of the appliances we had to have. And I'm so glad. And despite what other reviewers have said, it is also very good for making cookies, muffins, cakes, and a lot of other batter goods. The reason it works so well for me is that fact that it takes the load (dough 6 loaves of bread!)and when properly used, will mix other stuff as well. Pizza dough (a batch that makes 4 huge pizzas), large amounts of cookie dough (even peanutbutter cookies). The trick I found was to move the arm back and forth periodically during mixing. This grabs and incorporates batter/dough left in the middle and brings back into the rest of the action. Brilliant. And while I haven't actually used the wire whip yet, I'll bet it works just as well any other machine for whipping cream, egg whites, or what-have-you. The learning curve was maybe about a month until I had the "duh" moment when I realized I needed to move the arm now and then. And I love the bowl scraper. This machine is a good investment for someone who bakes often and in large quantities. Sure beats hand kneading 10-12 pounds of bread dough!

This is the most fantastic machine for mixing and kneading bread. You can make 3-5 large white or "artisan" loaves in a a single batch. The bowl and cover are convenient for letting yeast sponges grow and for allowing dough to rise without drying out. I've used mine two or three days every week for two years - its very hardy. The Assistent will not wobble or travel along the counter. Dough doesn't climb up onto a greasy hook assembly or get flung out into the kitchen!

Be aware however that this does not replace your stand-mixer. It doesn't do cookies or cakes or pancakes or cheesecakes or whipped cream. You'll still need the mixer - but after the first loaf of bread you will never attach the dough hook to your kitchen-Aid again!

I really wanted to love this mixer. It has a lot of things going for it with a powerful yet quiet motor, large bowl, solid construction, timer, attachments, and a three year warranty, but it doesn't knead dough!

Let me start from the begining. I love to make bread and am a perfectionist about it. I started out with 4.5 quart Kitchenaid model. It lasted three years and needed one $80 repair. I then bought the 5 qt model, the motor burnt out in two months. It was still under warranty, so a new one was sent to me. The next one lasted almost three months and the motor burned out. Another new one was sent and it lasted 9 months, then needed an $80 repair, three months later it needed a $30 repair. I wasn't abusing the machines, just using them for bread dough. By this point I decided to get away from Kitchenaid and find a better mixer.

The next logical choice is a Bosch. I read negative reviews about this and talked to people. It sounded like it works great, but with heavy use it won't last more than ten years. All the other home use machines that I came across seemed weak as well. I started looking into commercial mixers, which was very frustrating because there are of course no consumer reviews on them. I found a few on ebay and called about some. One sales rep told me to stay away from one I was looking at because it couldn't handle dough. I was a amazed that $1000+ dollar mixer could not handle dough. What is it good for? whipping cream? My $10 hand mixer can do that.

Then I came across the Electrolux Assistent or Magic Mill and I thought my problem was going to be solved. It got amazing reviews as a dough mixer, and people seemed to love it. I also read that it was hard to get used to, but I was sure I could figure it out. I tried, and tried, and tried, but could not get it to knead the dough properly. Most of the time it stayed in the middle while the bowl spun around it. I changed the lever position, tried the roller, tried without the scraper, but could not get it to work. After 12 minutes the dough wasn't properly kneaded, the temperature wrong, and the dough was a bit dried out. Needless to say, the loaves didn't have a proper rise, and ended up quite dense. After three weeks and I don't know how many failed loaves I returned it. I had a 30 day money back guarantee, thank goodness!

I should add that it did work well for really sticky doughs, like rolls or ciabatta, but for anything else, it was awful!

I went back to commercial mixer research and called a local chain bakery. I bought an 8 qt Globe which they have had sucess with. I hope this will be the end of the mixer trauma!

I got this mixer about a month ago and, frankly, was bitten by the learning curve. The biggest thing you MUST do is to put your wet ingredients in first and then gradually add your dry ingredients. Now that I've become used to the different style, I love the mixer! I love the large open bowl that allows you to easily add ingredients and to see your dough as it progresses. It makes it simple to judge the hydration level of your dough. I make a lot of bagels, notorious for destroying KA mixers. This machine doesn't sniff at doubling or tripling quantities. It's a powerful beast. Because the bowl is open, you can leave your dough in it to rise. It comes with a nifty, high quality cover so you don't have to use plastic wrap either. Another useful attachment is the dough scraper, perfectly designed to get at the curves of the bowl. There is also a plastic bowl and whip attachment for creaming butter or whipping cream. It will handle equally well small quantities (1 egg) as well as large ones.

Six years ago I researched mixers that would handle kneading and came up with the Electrolux Assistent. When I bought the mixer, I also got the blender attachment and the food processor attachment and blades. I will never have another brand mixer, and may never have to buy another one, period. It is a workhorse. It will handle large loads of heavy bread dough and whip meringue. It makes smoothies and chops veggies. The stainless steel bowl with the odd beater and scraper combo gets the job done, but so does the plastic bowl with the whipping attachment. I use the mixer at least once a week, and usually a lot more. The blender attachment will handle ice, making smoothies that are really smooth. If you want a quality item that will last, don't hesitate to buy this mixer.

This stand mixer is great for making breads. The motor does not mind working hard. It is quiet and powerful. The only draw back is the bowl is VERY heavy.