Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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85 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Over rated, but still the best option, May 2, 2005
I got my kitchenaid 600 mixer from amazon. After it arrived, I prepared a sourdough recipe that called for 8 cups of flour, the mixer bogged down and quit. I have prepared the same recipe 4 more times, each time the mixer quits. I thought this behavior was abnormal, but after a bit of online snooping, it turns out that many people experience similar problems when working with thicker doughs.
Kitchenaid clains it can handle 14 cups of all purpose flour, it simply cannot, in fact, i would set the maximum at about 10 cups for a less dense dough, and at 7 or 8 for thicker breads.
Ultimately, this is the best mixer available to the home baker in this price range, as much sturdier commerial grade models in this size ( 6 quarts) begin at about $1500. However, don't expext to use it to make thick bread or pizza doughs in large quantities, it simply isn't up to the task. It will do most of the work, but some hand kneading is still required.
Despite it's all steel gears and automatic shutoff feature, it seems that the motor and drive mechanisms are underbuilt and prone to failure if overloaded. On the upside, if your mixer happens to malfunction within a year of purchase (mine did after 2 weeks), Kitchenaid has great customer support and will replace the unit.
In short, it is a great mixer, but doesn't live up to the manufacture's promises.
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43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New dough hook is great!, May 31, 2005
I make a lot of bread using my KitchenAid mixer, and for years I have tolerated my 4.5 quart Ultra Power KitchenAid mixer. Anytime a recipe called for 6 cups of flour, I knew I would have to finish the recipe by hand. The 4.5 quart bowl just couldn't handle that much dough. I just purchased the Pro 600 with the spiral dough hook, and all I can say is WOW! The new spiral hook works totally different than the older C-hook. No longer does the dough "slap" against the side of the bowl. Instead the sprial dough hook brings the dough to the middle of the bowl for mixing and kneading. You can see how much more effective this tool is. I have already ran 5 different bread recipes through this mixer, and I haven't had to finish any of the by hand yet. Just enough to shape the dough before proofing. The 6 quart bowl is a must have for bread makers! Now I just have to figure out how to give away all this bread!
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointed, August 4, 2007
I have owned this machine for a little over a year now. Well, actually I have gone through five of these machines in the last 16 months, as each one has broken while kneading wheat dough. I use approximately 6-7 cups of wheat flour per each batch of bread. This should not be too much for this powerful machine, especially since it is advertised to handle wheat dough. I have since also had to purchase a Bosch Universal for my bread making. I have also heard excellent reports about the Electolux mixer for kneading wheat bread.
My recipe calls for a 6 minute kneading time, but each Kitchenaid got too hot and shut off after only a couple of minutes of kneading.(This time fluctuated with each machine.) I would have to wait for it too cool down. I even tried blowing a fan on one of them while it kneaded to keep it cool. It was useless.
The first time I called Kitchenaid they told me I should only knead my bread for 2 minutes at a time. This bothered me since I bought it to make wheat bread and it was advertised as being able to handle the job. They also told me not to knead above speed 2, which I never did, as the instruction manual warned against it. They sent me a new machine and I kneaded for only 2 minutes. Then the machine really began to sound rough. I sent it back 2 more times, each time getting a new machine with no questions asked. Each machine failed in the same way. This was over a period of a year. I just decided to be quiet and use the 4th one thinking they were probably growing very weary at hearing from me, but it finally died completely. It wouldn't even turn on. When I called again, my one year warranty was up, but they kindly sent me a refurbished one to replace the dead one. I decided not to make any more bread in this machine because I wanted to save it for my everyday regular use, like cookies, cakes, pancake batter, etc. So I never once made any wheat bread in it. I have had it for a couple of months now and it is beginning to sound like the other one just before it completely died. I reluctantly called Kitchenaid again. I am not sure what exactly I wanted them to do, but as you can guess they were getting a little annoyed with me, though I remained calm. I was put on hold for sometime and then offered a complete refund. So though, I am completely disappointed with the quality of the mixer, I have to say their customer service is top notch to have sent me that many mixers and then offered me a complete refund after the one year warranty was up.
I am still very disappointed in the aggravation and time this has taken. After reading other reviews I have found that mine is not an isolated case. I was beginning to feel like a big pain in the rear to have to keep calling and complaining, and have new mixers sent to me. My UPS man was even wondering what was going on. But I feel as a customer, spending that much money, I should not feel bad about expecting a product to do what it is advertised to do. Especially one with such a good reputation.
I don't know where this leaves me exactly. I considered purchasing a smaller model thinking that maybe there was simply some engineering quirks with this particular model. I love the look and convenience of the Kitchenaid mixer for everyday use, but I have not found anything to replace it yet. The Bosch is just not something that seems convenient for my everyday use, nor is it stylish enough to leave on the counter.
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