Returned it, saved up a bit of cash and got the Ankasrum, much happier with it.
I consider kitchenaid mixers to be overpriced cake/cookie machines at this point. They can handle cold butter and thats about their only advantage over ankarsrum, and even then other (cheaper) mixers do that fine.
Wholeheartedly agree. I fix shit, and I’m apparently rough on kitchen shit
I have 2 kitchenaid stand mixers in my house rn. One is my personal one. I have rebuilt the transmission 8x. This is because the teeth on the gearing have sheared away. This happens because I am mixing somewhat small batches of dense dough: bread dough, pasta dough. Roughly 1-2lbs. Once because I was using the extruder attachment.
The second mixer in my house is from a family friend. They were doing something similar (bread dough) and it exhibited similar behavior (audibly spinning but hook not moving) so they dropped it off here.
It’s a simple fix thankfully albeit a bit costly. Take off the top, take off the transmission cover, remove the captive bolt (worst part), slide off old gears, remove old grease thoroughly to ensure you get all metal shavings (second worst part), put on new gears, regrease, reassemble. There are videos showing this process, it’s not hard. There’s a proper tool for the captive nut that I refuse to buy. I instead use needle nose pliers and struggle and curse every time instead of spending an extra $15 to make my life much easier for a tool I will never use outside of this task
You need replacement gears (check which one first, not always the same one breaks), gasket, and grease. It’s like $50
It is as you’ve said, they’re not built for serious kitchen use. I am furious I got this. I have the 7qt “professional” model. I make bread, pasta, tortilla, ramen, etc dough all the time. I have had this for years tbf but I have also rebuilt it eight fucking times. At $50 a pop I have doubled the cost of the mixer. I wish I spent a bit more and just got a Hobart. A lot of my kitchen is shit from restaurant auctions and I should’ve got the stand mixer there as well. But my partner wanted me to reign it in so our house wouldn’t look like inside of a food truck and I acquiesced, and now my baked goods are fucked
I would sell it the next time I refurbish it but I would feel guilty cursing someone with this
That’s the dream. A mixer that can break my fucking arm. A mixer that commands respect. However to be fair to the kitchenaid:
Brand new kitchenaid professional 7qt: $550
Brand new Hobart n50 5qt: $4,500, though pre owned is cheaper (like 12-1500 for a very old one which tbf works fine). Used kitchenaid is also cheaper though, like $300-400ish
Could you buy stronger gears from a different source? I guess you’d have to replace all of them to keep the new ones from eating the old ones if you tried that… Assuming it’s even an option.
I have outright stopped a kitchenaid lift bowl model with Bagel dough xD
Ive also got a bit of a penchant for semi-commercial kitchen gear. Got myself a LEM #8 meat grinder (i broke the plastic auger on a kitchenaid grinder attachment from overheat/overuse) and some other equipment from them. Helps that they’re in the same state as me and i can go in-person to their shop in Cincy!
Id love to find a great big commercial slicer someday to slice a whole slab of bacon (family smokes a slab or two infrequently, their tiny slicer is miserable to me having worked in a deli), but id need to not be in an apartment for that i think.
The Ankarsrum mixer is unique, i like it a great deal more. Its belt-driven, and the bowl itself is what spins; I’ve gotten much better bread out of it than a kitchenaid, it doesn’t overwork the dough or grind seeds/oats into dougb
If you stopped it that means you’ve started to wear the gear teeth. The metal used for the gears is weak (though apparently there was a period in the late 90s/early 2000s where they briefly used plastic gearing, stupid). If you one day hear a chunk and then the normal mixing noises but the hook is no longer moving then congrats, you’ve stripped the teeth. Bagel dough def makes sense
I would also LOVE a slicer. I don’t eat meat but I like to make fake lunch meat out of wheat gluten and pea protein sometimes. slicing it with a knife is never the same as I’d get with a slicer. But it’s just so much space! If I ever run across a deal at a restaurant or deli closing down though I’ll probably pull the trigger. I do love going to auctions whenever a place shuts down, it’s how I got my wok burner
Oh I sent it to goodwill after not using it for about a year after getting what I’ve got now (it was a costco model; the “professional” model was returned the same week i got it).
Slicer would be good for bread too with a serrated blade (if you can find one; a butcher shop would probably have both blade types rather than a deli with just the single edge). Totally jealous of the Wok burner, all i got is a crappy coil-top electric that cant even maintain a boil, “safety feature”…
Yeah my actual stove is a cheap induction but the wok burner is from a place that shut down. It’s converted to propane from natural gas and I have to use it outside. It’s pretty wild, it burns through a tank pretty fast and runs like 150,000 btu. I can fill a 16” wok with cool water and on full blast it’ll boil it in under a minute
I’ve been working on Chinese and Japanese cooking for the past year since. I still suck though. The technique is challenging but it’s fun and even when you’re bad the results are tasty. And it’s awesome to make vegan Chinese food that’s not just “general tsos tofu that’s sickeningly sweet and has 2” of breading or steamed bean curd in brown sauce with veg”
Kitchenaid is kinda crap now. I bought one of their more powerful model stand mixers (DC motor model) at one point and it… visibly struggled to mix dough. Researched it and found this: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/2593-the-best-stand-mixers
Returned it, saved up a bit of cash and got the Ankasrum, much happier with it.
I consider kitchenaid mixers to be overpriced cake/cookie machines at this point. They can handle cold butter and thats about their only advantage over ankarsrum, and even then other (cheaper) mixers do that fine.
Wholeheartedly agree. I fix shit, and I’m apparently rough on kitchen shit
I have 2 kitchenaid stand mixers in my house rn. One is my personal one. I have rebuilt the transmission 8x. This is because the teeth on the gearing have sheared away. This happens because I am mixing somewhat small batches of dense dough: bread dough, pasta dough. Roughly 1-2lbs. Once because I was using the extruder attachment.
The second mixer in my house is from a family friend. They were doing something similar (bread dough) and it exhibited similar behavior (audibly spinning but hook not moving) so they dropped it off here.
It’s a simple fix thankfully albeit a bit costly. Take off the top, take off the transmission cover, remove the captive bolt (worst part), slide off old gears, remove old grease thoroughly to ensure you get all metal shavings (second worst part), put on new gears, regrease, reassemble. There are videos showing this process, it’s not hard. There’s a proper tool for the captive nut that I refuse to buy. I instead use needle nose pliers and struggle and curse every time instead of spending an extra $15 to make my life much easier for a tool I will never use outside of this task
You need replacement gears (check which one first, not always the same one breaks), gasket, and grease. It’s like $50
It is as you’ve said, they’re not built for serious kitchen use. I am furious I got this. I have the 7qt “professional” model. I make bread, pasta, tortilla, ramen, etc dough all the time. I have had this for years tbf but I have also rebuilt it eight fucking times. At $50 a pop I have doubled the cost of the mixer. I wish I spent a bit more and just got a Hobart. A lot of my kitchen is shit from restaurant auctions and I should’ve got the stand mixer there as well. But my partner wanted me to reign it in so our house wouldn’t look like inside of a food truck and I acquiesced, and now my baked goods are fucked
I would sell it the next time I refurbish it but I would feel guilty cursing someone with this
Get yourself a Hobart N50 my old son, you’ll be pleasantly pleased
That’s the dream. A mixer that can break my fucking arm. A mixer that commands respect. However to be fair to the kitchenaid:
Brand new kitchenaid professional 7qt: $550 Brand new Hobart n50 5qt: $4,500, though pre owned is cheaper (like 12-1500 for a very old one which tbf works fine). Used kitchenaid is also cheaper though, like $300-400ish
Could you buy stronger gears from a different source? I guess you’d have to replace all of them to keep the new ones from eating the old ones if you tried that… Assuming it’s even an option.
If you or anyone can direct me to an alternate source of kitchenaid that are stronger than I would kiss you on the mouth (assuming consent)
Whirlpool p/n 9703337, 9703338 (especially 338). If anything alt source parts are weaker than oem
I have outright stopped a kitchenaid lift bowl model with Bagel dough xD
Ive also got a bit of a penchant for semi-commercial kitchen gear. Got myself a LEM #8 meat grinder (i broke the plastic auger on a kitchenaid grinder attachment from overheat/overuse) and some other equipment from them. Helps that they’re in the same state as me and i can go in-person to their shop in Cincy!
Id love to find a great big commercial slicer someday to slice a whole slab of bacon (family smokes a slab or two infrequently, their tiny slicer is miserable to me having worked in a deli), but id need to not be in an apartment for that i think.
The Ankarsrum mixer is unique, i like it a great deal more. Its belt-driven, and the bowl itself is what spins; I’ve gotten much better bread out of it than a kitchenaid, it doesn’t overwork the dough or grind seeds/oats into dougb
If you stopped it that means you’ve started to wear the gear teeth. The metal used for the gears is weak (though apparently there was a period in the late 90s/early 2000s where they briefly used plastic gearing, stupid). If you one day hear a chunk and then the normal mixing noises but the hook is no longer moving then congrats, you’ve stripped the teeth. Bagel dough def makes sense
I would also LOVE a slicer. I don’t eat meat but I like to make fake lunch meat out of wheat gluten and pea protein sometimes. slicing it with a knife is never the same as I’d get with a slicer. But it’s just so much space! If I ever run across a deal at a restaurant or deli closing down though I’ll probably pull the trigger. I do love going to auctions whenever a place shuts down, it’s how I got my wok burner
Oh I sent it to goodwill after not using it for about a year after getting what I’ve got now (it was a costco model; the “professional” model was returned the same week i got it).
Slicer would be good for bread too with a serrated blade (if you can find one; a butcher shop would probably have both blade types rather than a deli with just the single edge). Totally jealous of the Wok burner, all i got is a crappy coil-top electric that cant even maintain a boil, “safety feature”…
Yeah my actual stove is a cheap induction but the wok burner is from a place that shut down. It’s converted to propane from natural gas and I have to use it outside. It’s pretty wild, it burns through a tank pretty fast and runs like 150,000 btu. I can fill a 16” wok with cool water and on full blast it’ll boil it in under a minute
I’ve been working on Chinese and Japanese cooking for the past year since. I still suck though. The technique is challenging but it’s fun and even when you’re bad the results are tasty. And it’s awesome to make vegan Chinese food that’s not just “general tsos tofu that’s sickeningly sweet and has 2” of breading or steamed bean curd in brown sauce with veg”