Customer Reviews

Factory-Reconditioned KitchenAid RKG25H0XER Professional HD 5-Quart Stand Mixer, Empire Red

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Here's a review I wish I had read prior to buying my KitchenAid:

First, the not-so-good: I bought the stand mixer, model number RKG25HOXER. This type of mixer mimics in design what you see in professional bakeries inasmuch as it has a handle on the side of the mixer that you raise in order to bring the bowl to the beater level. This, in my opinion, is the drawback and I would never consider buying this model again. The level of inconvenience is tremendous and annoying. To be specific, it is very difficult to add ingredients with this design. Imagine you are mixing a batter and you must slowly and gradually add flour. You can't fit a 1/4 cup measuring cup within the bowl circumference (which is very small). To add ingredients, you must stop the machine; lower the bowl; add a the ingredient; raise the bowl; and begin the mixing process. You have to do this as many times as you need to add something to your batter. I couldn't imagine that someone had not thought of a solution for this problem, so I began my research. I found that in order to add ingredients, it is recommended that you purchase a special KitchenAid plastic apparatus that fits the lip of the bowl. This apparatus has a spout or chute in which to add things. I believe KitchenAid calls it a splash guard, but I could be wrong. So, add this $20 to the price of your mixer, because you will need to buy it. The apparatus is not the solution as your ingredients stick to the plastic spout/chute (imagine adding an egg, then having to add a bit more flour). The bottom line with this machine is that the design is NOT convenient.

Now, the good: It's a KitchenAid and you will never find a better motor or quality mixer. I adore the durability! What a less pricey brand would struggle to mix, a KitchenAid simply plows through. Doughs, any batter, kneading, you name it; the machine does it. The optional attachments are quality made (graters, grinders). A KitchenAid will do everything short of birthing your children. While I would never recommend the design I ended up with, I could never recommend anything BUT a KitchenAid. I suggest buying the model where the head of the mixer lifts, just like your Mom's did. If I was a rich woman, I would go out today and buy that model design, but alas, I am stuck with what I am stuck with.

Bottom line: Buy a KitchenAid, do not buy anything else. Buy the head-lift design and you will be happy for life. I wish I had known!

The mixer arrived in one peice and turned out to be the slightly larger HD 475 watt model. Machine has worked flawlessly the few times we have used it, no problems at all. It is pretty loud compared to our older 325 watt machine but I suppose that is to be expected as the motor is quite a bit larger. The color is striking and we really like it.

Came with all the basic beaters and things needed to dive right in to making baked goods and has a well written manual that covers pretty much anything you need to know about it.

Overall quite happy with it so far and hope it does as well as our older kitchenAid has.

Great powerful machine. It may take a while to adjust to the stationary head if you have not used this type of machine. I do not like the brushed chrome paddle as well as the white paddle my older kichenAid had. Bright red color is beautiful accent in my kitchen.

Hello everyone. I purchased this mixer just a few years ago, and I just had to do a COMPLETE tear down and rebuild. Yes, it has all metal gears and metal bearings inside. Unfortunately, it also had (repeat HAD) a plastic housing holding all of that metal gearing in place. Yikes. Bad. When I got a little aggressive with the grinder attachment, the 475 watt motor was strong enough to destroy three steel gears and the plastic gear housing that once held it all in place. Fortunately, the mixer is VERY easy to dissasemble and repair, although it took me four evenings of work to assess the damage, clean, and reassemble. I have replaced ALL the gears and bearings with newer versions that you can find online. All the parts I ordered were very reasonably priced ($3 - $18), labelled made in the USA, genuine Whirlpool, and many appear to be upgraded, ESPECIALLY the all metal gear housing complete with cooling fins. Awesome. Total price to replace all of the gears and bearings, including the whole planetary assembly was $110.00. That's much less than a new one, and I have all the latest improved parts. This time I know it is done right. I was VERY disappointed to find upon dissasembly that NO grease had been placed in the top bearing. It was running dry since the day it was new, and it was scored. Due to poor lubrication, all the other bearings had worn, and the gears were meshing loosely. The orbital planetary assembly also had no grease in its sleeve where the beater attaches, and the sleeve bearing and was worn. A lot of the grease in the plastic gear housing was hardened and not doing its job any more. Dissasembly was very disappointing. I say SHAME on KitchenAid for advertising it as all metal gearing and then not lubricating those bearings and then using a plastic housing to hold it all in place. The new parts and the overhauled mixer are very pleasing. I now own the best. Tips: Parts and diagrams are available online. Shop for low parts prices, which vary by 500%. You will need a special pin-spanning tool two remove two very strong "c" clips and I recommend a square-point drive screwdriver. Special grease that is USDA approved "H-1" for food preparation use is available online or locally. I bought Super Lube brand at my local hardware store for a few bucks. Be sure to remove ALL of the old grease. ALL of it. Lubricate every bearing twice during assembly to make sure it has grease completely coating the inside of the bearing. If you buy a new planetary assembly, (why not do it all at once so you never have to do it again) take the "c" clip off and grease the beater drive shaft. The bottom bearing for the main shaft is pressed into the mixer housing, but it can be pulled out gently with a large pair of pliers. The new bottom bearing should be very gently tapped into place with a hammer - I padded my hammer with about 10 layers of paper tape to protect the bearing - go slowly and gently. It went right in. The motor still is very loud, with a high pitched whine, but it always has been that way and it is 475 watts, so I expect some noise. Do yourself a favor - do a little research, find the new parts, get the "c" clip tool, and rebuild yours with all the new parts. Then and only then can I recommend this mixer.

I bought this back in September and it has been the best mixer I've ever owned. I made several batches of cookies, pie crusts, bread with ease and can't wait to make more. I highly recommend this machine.

I highly recommend this refurbished mixer, It really looked just like new and works just as good as a new one. I bought it for my mother and she was very pleased.

My best Friend my wife, has been a great cook for many years and until recently did it the ole fashion way.
Well over the last yr or so she has had Rotator cuff surgery twice and needless to say it hampered her cooking skills.
Wala! the magic of modern age, she loves this machine, she wished she had it yrs ago. Its plows thru it all and the results are scrumptious! Thanks Kitchen Aid top notch product with top notch results!

Well first, the narrow bowl is annoying, as mentioned in previous reviews. Also, you pretty much have to remove the attachment (whisk, paddle, etc..) when you remove the bowl from the unit.

Other than that, it is FABULOUS!!! I found mine at Sam's club in the Empire Red color for $249!!! you can't beat that!

My silver Professional HD KitchenAid Mixer has delivered years of service to me so far. I frequently use it to bake artisan french bread, and I would recommend it to anyone with a couple of caveats. First, it is possible for the stationary head of this mixer to loosen if you are mixing heavy bread dough or a full load of sausage. This mixer does have the power to mix a 6 cup bread recipe, but sometimes it will start to overheat, and it will shut itself off.

As I mentioned, the head can also loosen if you are mixing a large amount of tough materials, such as ground sausage. I eventually fixed this head loosening problem by taking the mixer apart, and replacing the philips cross head screws with allen head hex screws and lock washers and bolting it town more securely.

I have also performed lash adjustments on the motor positioning after a year of use to make the motor less grindy sounding. This worked well, and I found that this mixer does have a strong metal gear set in it to which I applied fresh lithium grease.

I'm not giving this mixer a 5 star review because it isn't a Hobart mixer, but for the price this mixer is awesome, strong, and repairable. There are no weak parts inside it, so it is possible to adjust and repair this mixer. The strength of this mixer is in its construction, and as I said, I was able to repair it myself when it needed help. This is a telling quality. None of the parts have ever broken, and the over heating protection has prevented the mixer from destroying itself when I've set it on a task too difficult.

The issues with the head and gear set that I've mentioned are not detractors in my opinion, because I drive my mixer beyond normal use patterns, and I wouldn't expect a mixer which is less than $300.00 to perform in the role of an industrial strength product. I am very pleased that this mixer can perform at that level, even if it does need minor tweaking at times.

I do have the sausage making attachment, and I'm very pleased with it. It paid for itself the first time out of the box when I made 40lb's of sausage in an afternoon using chicken, beef, and pork.

I bought this mixer about 6 weeks ago and have used it consistantly since day one. I haven't had one problem. I've made 3 loaves of bread at one time, mixed marshmallows for 15 minutes on high speed, and made double batches of cookies. I was nervous about it only having a six month warranty, but so far, so good. I'll continue to use the heck out of it in this first six months to make sure it isn't going to fail, but it seems extremely reliable and I couldn't be any happier with it. Plus, it's gorgeous! And I love how it looks on my counter!