Customer Reviews

Kenwood KM800 Major Classic Stand Mixer

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My wife and I have been using the Kenwood Model KM 800 electric kitchen mixer for two years now. During the preceding eight year period,we owned and used the Kenwood 500. We have the three standard accessories (whisk, dough hook and K mixer)and we purchased additional accessories which have worked on both models. The latter include the juicer, blender, grain mill, and coffee grinder. This fantastic machine is the ever-dependable, sturdy workhorse in our kitchen and we have used it successfully without ever having a single problem with it. We grind our wheat and our corn to make flour using the grain mill; we make beautiful meringues and souffles using our whisk for the egg whites; we create the most tantalizing fruit smoothies during the hot summer months using our blender; we grind our fresh coffee beans and make our own flavor blend with the texture we desire using our coffee grinder; most of all we use it as a mixer for all of our baking. We bake fresh bread and breakfast cakes every single day. This is the best mixer that exists today on the market. We have compared it to the Kitchen Aid mixers and found the Kitchen Aid mixer to be of "toy" quality with a mixing bowl that is not nearly as strong and a motor that is not nearly as powerful. If one does not use a kitchen mixer very often or if one wishes to use such a machine for very simple tasks, perhaps the Kenwood investment is not warranted. But for people who love to cook and bake, and for those desirous of quality in their culinary creations, there is absolutely no comparison ... the Kenwood is superb. By the way, according to our friends who are the owners of our old Kenwood 500, the machine is still working great! We can't recommend it highly enough!

This mixer is powerful enough to make several cakes at one time as well as 12 dozen of yeast rolls. This mixer solves my catering buisness problem of having to make one cake at at time or two batches of yeast rolls. I am in love with the power of this mixer. The flexibility of the Eight Ball would set me free, this mixer makes me want to do a bake-a-thon by myself.

I agree with... on Sept 4th. I, too, was interested in buying this mixer but, at $499.00 the price point is too steep to justify the benefits over a $219.00 Kitchen-Aid.

If you go back to $399.50 you have a sale from me ( and probaly the man in Maine)

.... Phoenix, Arizona....

Having recently moved to the U.S. from England I was delighted to discover that I could replace my much loved Kenwood mixer here in the States. For the last 15 years I have used my Kenwood and feel it is superior to the popular U.S. equivalent both in design and ease of use. Unfortunately at nearly double the price of its competitor I am now forced to consider second best, I feel that5 the hefty price is the only thing preventing this fabulous machine from becoming the number one seller over here.......Please consider a special offer to jump start the Kenwoods popularity.

I am struck giddy with my new Kenwood 800 Chef Major.
If I recall correctly, a few years ago these little beggars were trading at around $600US - a bit rich for my taste - but since sales at that price seem to have failed to materialize in the numbers once hoped, vendors have had the good sense to put the prices down to a reasonable range. Williams-Sonoma is peddling these for $249US - a most agreeable sum by my estimation.

I have owned 2 KitchenAid KSM90's for the last 8 years and have been thrilled with most everything about them: both are still running fine, look great, are quiet and powerful - the only tribulation I have is that they are a bit small.

Post upgrade, I am happy to say that 650 watts & 7 quarts later, I am a very happy Chef. I made a large chocolate mousse torte the day I bought the 800 and the results were on par with the KitchenAids. Historically I have had to break the recipe between two machines - it was a dream to have it all together.

As one person remarked in a prior review, the batter is not as smooth as it is with a KitchenAid (in this case the batter was a cheesecake crème layered over the mousse).

I am going to experiment with techniques to alleviate that lone shortcoming, but overall the machine is quite impressive. And for $249, I can endorse the Kenwood whole-heartedly.

I have but other 2 quibbles:
1.I couldn't help but notice that the warranty was abysmally short at 1 year - any product competing in the Semi-Pro realm ought to sport at least a 5 year, and shipping should be comped both ways - not just Return.

2.It is blasted noisy - not at all helped by the uninsulated metal case (which is otherwise lovely), but no more so than a K5 or a Hobart.

In all, a grand kitchen machine which, unlike Cuisinart and KitchenAid, continues to be made in its purported country of origin - Britain. For those considering it at the $399US price point, consider the new offering from KitchenAid as well, but I can honestly say of the Kenwood: Buy with enthusiasm.

I looked up this mixer on 8/27/00 and the price was 399.20. I talked to my wife and decided to buy today but the price is now $499. I'm having a hard time believing that the price went up $100. in a week. I would buy at the low price. Please let me know.

I LOVED my Kenwood mixer, a 600 watt chef model carrying the "Rival" label. But after 5 years of very light use it appeared to simply "die" in the middle of a batch of cookies. The reset button didn't restore anything. When I inquired with a local servicer, I was told that NO PARTS can be obtained in the states, and that this difficulty worsened after DeLonghi's purchase of the manufacturer. I had terrible difficulty myself trying to get through to DeLonghi for servicing information. Fortunately, wiggling a loose wire resurrected the machine and made my husband a hero... until the mixer truly dies. This is a WONDERFUL machine, but FAR, FAR too expensive to market without the prospect of feasible servicing or at least a much longer warranty period!

I use my Kenwood mixer primarily for kneading yeast bread dough. My wife uses it for cookie dough and for mixing quick bread batter. It performs very well and can produce a great deal with its 7 quart bowl. The kneading is thorough with the dough hook and I have had great success with the end products. The cookie dough, even with large batches, seems to mix effortlessly with the 'K' beater.
This mixer perfms well in small batches as well as large ones. I also own a 'Magic Mill DLX2000 Assistent' which has an 8 qt bowl. Though it obviosly can overproduce the quantiy of the Kenwood, I'm sad to say that it is rather inneficient in small batch production.
As an avid home baker I would put the Kenwood mixer at the top of the list. It is an all purpose piece of equipment any home baker would be happy with. The price is high in general, but if someone has the opportunity to purchase it for as little as [price], as I did, it would be an excellent household investment that I expect would last a long time.

This is without doubt the absolute, best, strongest piece of equipment of its kind. In the last thirty years we have destroyed everything else except the kitchen-aide and that one is on its last legs. The difference between a 350 & 650 watt motor is 20 years vs a life time. It is indestructable, won't burn out, and does everything better. The bowl is larger, making adding of ingregients while your are mixing easy. It mixes the thickest, heaviest stuff with ease. It is Everything the editorial reviewer said, THE BEST, regardless of price

The KENWOOD mixer is a design icon that is found in kitchens world wide ,its long history can be seen in the quaint nature many of the 25 sperate accessories possess.As a professional chef I have used various brands and models of mixers for the last 20 years.In that time I have used more then a few mixers in the KENWOOD range , the KENWOOD mixer is not perfect it does have faults,It is very noisey at top speed,it doesnt quite mix all the ingredients at the very bottom of the mixing bowl.And if anything the motor is too powerful for the rest of the mechine it does tend to wobble the chasis of the mixer as it mixes bread doughs .However unlike the KICHEN AID machines you won't have to worry about DENTING THE MIXING BOWL,OR BLOWING UP THE MOTOR ,OR STIPPING THE GEARS .The KENWOOD mixer is execelent when used for lighter ,smaller jobs that don't require the grunt or capacity of the larger HOBART mixers,The KENWOOD mixer is however like ALL mixers and requires some servicing and maintenance,ALL MACHINES WEAR OUT,but if the KENWOOD is used within its capacity there is no reason why it con't last 5 to 10 years or more .When used above its capacity ,shall we say thrashed, used all day and every day on heavy mixtures, then it will probably fail within its 12 month warrantee period ,(probably the very reason it only has a 12 month warrantee).The KENWOOD mixer is not great at beating cement or cement like cheesecake mix,no brand of these smaller types of mixers is designed to mix anything you con't mixed by hand ,what they are supposed to do is mix,beat,kneed, faster and better then you can by hand.So if your making cheesecake filling, soften the cheese first either by hand or with warmth or at low speed in your mixing bowl for longer, before increasing speeds and adding other ingredints to the mix.IF THE CAPACITY OF THESE MIXERS IS NOT ENOUGH SPEND A LOT MORE MONEY AND GET A HOBART .