Hello,

I’ve been looking into Stand mixers for a while now since I really want one.
I’ve never had a stand mixer before and I’m tired of burning out my hand mixers when I make things like royal icing or a batch of cookies (72 cookies).

I was looking at Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart initially because those are the brands most people typically used.
But then when I was doing research there were quite a few of bad reviews about what it can handle, warranty, bad customer service etc.
I don’t like the fact that the gears or gear box (in the pro) series for Kitchen Aid is plastic.
So I turned to Cuisinart but it looks like their latest 7 qt machine isn’t living up to it’s name when people tried to make bread with it.

I usually bake all sorts of cakes, cookies and even sometimes bread.
So I would like to have 1 mixer that can handle everything without the motor overloading and dying on me.

There seemed to be lots of good reviews for Bosch for making bread but less for cakes.
I’ve only really seen 1 review for it for making cakes and there wasn’t much detail.

The DLX looks really weird but there seemed to have been great reviews for it as well.
Both Bosch and DLX seemed to be mixers that can last a lifetime.

I was wondering if people on this forum have used either mixers can help me decide on which one I should get.
I don’t mind spending a little extra for something that can last for years.
What I would really like to know is if the turn outs for cakes (chiffon, sponge cakes and genoise) and icings (butter cream, royal etc) is good with either of the mixers
And if any modifications are needed to Rose’s recipes when using these mixers because they’re different when making the cake? (ie beating time, speed etc)

Thanks!!!!!!!!

I have been struggling to determine what my upgraded next machine will be too.  I don’t want 2 or 3 different mixers as I don’t have the space.  I make bread, I make cakes, I make cookies, etc.  It must be able to do everything.  I’ve ruled out anything that doesn’t have a stainless steel bowl as I can’t do meringue…plain and simple.  So that means the Bosch is out, even though I know it’s fantastic for bread.  I am interested in what others have to say..Thanks Aggie for the post.

Hi Sherrie

Actually Bosch has a stainless steel bowl now too!!!

http://realfoodliving.com/product-reviews/bosch-universal-stainless-steel-bowl

I was also looking for that because royal icing and oil is a big no no.

So I would put Bosch back into the race

Cheers

Interesting….I’m going to have to investigate!  Thanks for the info…I may be a convert before long!

if you live in the USA, KitchenAid is the way to go.  they are the most common and they are very easy to repair (if ever needed).  all those negative things about KitchenAid are just a few cases because you need to take in account that so many people use the KitchenAid, so therefore, there will be a few bad experiences.  i love my 5 qt artisan, as well as my 6qt pro (which now comes will metal gear housing, the first ones were plastic).

if you make a lot of bread, the electrolux and the bosch are great.  i am testing a bosch right now, but primarily, i plan to use the bosch to whip egg whites and to use the food processor attachment.

I have a 5-qt. tilt head Kitchen Aid and it has needed no repair for 10 years. I use it all the time and I love it. I never use it for bread, as I have a bread machine.

Hi Aggie,

After reading the article it states that whips can’t be used in it…wouldn’t that be the point…to do egg whites/etc?  Hector, do you use your 6 qt. for bread?  From what I understand the Artisan is better for bread - although, I’d love a larger capacity to do more batches at once.

i use both the artisan and the 6 qt for breads.  why would the artisan be better than the other for bread?

I supsect it has something to do with the plastic gear box, but many people have commented that bread killed their machine and also several bread baking reviewers hated the dough hook—didn’t really “knead” the dough.  Can’t say from experience as I’m just investigating for the future.

The ka 6 qt had plastic gear box but since 2002 or so now are with metal gear box!  Ka will fix your mixer is you have a gear box problem even past the 1 year warranty period.

Rose wrote a Bread Bible, with very many recipes, which all work with both ka 5 and 6 qt.

but since i don’t live in the states, getting things fixed by KA is a pain
Many people have had really bad customer service experience with KA when they’re outside of the states :(

Hum…I don’t remember reading that you couldn’t use whip attachment with the steel bowl
I’ll have to relook it.

There’s multiple whip attachments, makes me wonder what each of them do.

I’ve been looking at videos of the DLX and I still don’t understand how the roller works >_<
looks complicated

i’m very curious to see if anyone had to adjust recipes when using the DLX or the brosh since they look slightly different then the traditional mixers

If you are going to make a lot of bread, the electrolux or the bosch is the way to go; you might even want to check out the King Arthur site forum for more input since many of those forum users are also serious (and I do mean serious!) bread bakers that really put a mixer through it’s paces.  It’s possible your baking habtis will change over the years and you may spend some amount of time making bread or go through a cookie phase .... and having a good quality mixer makes the job that much easier.

Over the years, I have had 3 KA 6 qts, 1 KA 5 qt, 1 Viking 7 qt, 1 Thunderbird 10 qt and my Hobart 20 qt.

I’ve burned out two of the KA 6s, the KA5 is still going strong (it’s 24 years old), the Viking is a terrible machine that I am sorry I ever bought (nothing mixes properly at the bottom), the Tbird stopped working after a year and the Hobart is a commercial machine.

You may even decide to get the Electrolux now, and a refurbished or older KA in a few years at a reduced price.  I bought my first Cuisinart as a refurbished machine 30 years ago and it still works great.  (I have two others now because I wanted a bigger bowl.  I use the “old” one for carrots in my carrot cake since I don’t care how orange the bowl gets

Thank you so much Jeanne.
Cakes and Cookies are always things that i make
I made a batch (suppose to be 72 cookies) of cookies before i left on vacation for my brothers and bf…and i could smell the hand mixer giving out :(
i ended up hand stirring it…

so I know i’m really in need of a stand mixer b/c the hand mixer almost gave out while making royal icing as well….

I was looking into Electrolux and was getting really interested but then I found out there is no Canadian dealer :(
And it seems like the actual company doesn’t like to provide support for that machine for their Canadian customer because it’s not officially supported here

Sherrie, I looked more into the DLX and found out that to use the whisk attachment, you also need to use a plastic bowl!!! :(
so both of these machines need a plastic bowl for their whisk attachment
Slightly disappointed.

I found this blogger who is just starting to use the DLX and is blogging about her experience
http://blogquat.blogspot.com/2009/11/electrolux-magic-mill-dlx-2000say-what.html

She is using the machine for everything including cakes

I think I’ll need more research to compare these 2 just to see what would be better based on my location

Sherrie, I emailed someone who is a Bosch dealer and she’s been a great help
It turns out that the bowl from the article I posted previously is old and discontinued.
Their new ones has a centre shaft and so you can use the whisk and cookie paddle attachment!!!
YAY
https://www.rwglobal.com/~healthykitchens/aos_online_store.html?details=4439&pcount=4439&ca_id=1176
https://www.rwglobal.com/~healthykitchens/aos_online_store.html?details=4444&pcount=4444&ca_id=1176

I sent an email back asking what is the real difference between the 2 bowls…besides the price. Not entirely sure what lock in means for the more expensive one.
But $200 seems a little ridiculous to me….unless it’s coming with all the attachments.

For me, best of all is the dealer is in Canada and provides awesome support for this product
flat rate $14 shipping verses the $65 USD i would have to pay for the DLX coming from Pleasant Grains (no idea what custom tax would do to my package either)

Thanks for the update—it’s interesting.  My sister in law just received one for her wedding and I’ll have to let her know about the other options.  She’s not a cake baker (yet) but this would be of interest to a few people I know.  I really love bread baking first and foremost, but I do lots of other stuff so this is an interesting option. Although, the whole matter of adapting recipes and mixing speeds is another consideration.