Well ladies, i think the time is soon coming, my beloved kitchen aide and friend for over 27 years is soon to be retiring.

I have made many many cakes with her, she has been my constant, but today as i was using her i noticed my 6, 8 and 10 speeds are not changing. They are one speed, not a difference at all, im sad and not sure what i am going to do without her.

She has been so reliable and never complained, so now the question is? Are the new kitchen aides as good, do they last? Will i be able to depend on her as i did my last one? I have heard yes and no, so ladies please help me out here, what kind of mixers do you all have???

Thanks in advance...

Have you thought about having someone look at her. It could be that gear is not catching right. I have only had my kitchen aide about 3 yrs so I can't speak to the longevity of new ones but it will be a sad day when mine goes.

I agree, she might just need a tune up!

I'm glad to hear your mixer has lasted 27 years. I've only had mine for 9 months, and if it lasts half as long, I'll be pretty stoked!

I had to say goodbye to my KitchenAid on Thursday. It just couldn't keep up with the large batches of stuff that I was making. It started getting really hot and it started smelling. I went out and got the KitchenAid 6 quart professional one from Bed Bath and Beyond. I had the 20% off coupon and then once I went to the store they had a $50 mail in rebate as well. That ended up making the price $130 cheaper.

I love, love, love my new 7 qt Cuisinart! I got it for Mother's Day and can't say enough good things about it. Huge bowl. Super powerful. More versatile than my former Kitchen Aid (which was the Artisan model) because it has lots more speeds. Feels more sturdy on my countertop--less "R2 D2"-style rocking back and forth. It incorporates ingredients much better--so much less "unmixed" stuff at the bottom of the bowl. I almost never get a "puff" of powdered sugar or flour on my counter tops and floor any more.

And all of this for about the same price as a new 6qt KA. I know that most bakers are wedded to their KA's but in my experience my Cuisinart is a much better machine.

I have the opposite opinion of the cuisinart...I don't like the bowl shape, and the controls feel awkward to me. I have both the 6qt KAs and the 7qt Cuisinart, and I always end up using the KAs. I do use the cuisinart when I make marshmallows, because it seems like that won't kill the motor so quickly on the cuisinart.

You can see if there's a hobart repair shop near you, I just had the hobart place here fix two of my KA mixers. The older one that you have is sturdier than the new ones. The new ones (even the 6qt pros) strip their gears on a fairly regular basis. I use mine HARD, though, so I don't know how much you use yours. It might not be as quick to die as mine are!

Oh, costumeczar, too bad we don't live remotely close to each other or I'd offer to buy that Cuisinart and take it off your hands. Having a second one would be dreamy for me!

dear decoratingfool,
My heart goes out to you in your time of loss. I lost my dear oster kitchen center (1984 model) a few weeks ago. I feel your loss. I am having a hard time finding a new model. I bought a kitchenaid but it is not the same. I even went on ebay and bought another 1980'ish Oster but its not the same design. I will still look for another. Good luck in your search.

hi ladies,

I had not even thought about having it looked at since it is so old, but i figured i wouldn't want my family to put me down without trying to do something. So now im looking up places to have it looked at, Thank you for that advice..

Its fun to read the differences on what everyone likes, i LOVED my kitchen aide, still do. I have looked into a cuisinart and a viking? has anyone used one of those? it looks nice but spending 500 dollars without knowing anything about it makes me nervous.

I am still deciding what to do, but i am DEFINITLEY looking into getting it fixed..

Thank you all for your advice..