My husband and I are looking into buying a new mixer and are wondering what to buy. I know a lot of people prefer Kitchen Aid, but I'm just looking for input - positive, negative or suggestions of what to look for. I do a lot of buttercream and MMF decorating.

I just replaced my KA with a Cuisinart. I love it and I'll never go back to KA!!!

I love love love my KA! I was excited to get a 4 1/2 qt for Christmas about 5 years ago, but quickly realized it was too small to do the quantity of BC I needed to make on a regular basis. Last December, I got a referbished 6 Qt at an outlet mall. It came with a 6 month warranty and I haven't had any problems with it at all. I keep them both side by side on my counter (I call them "the twins") and use them both constantly all week long.

I've never used another brand of stand mixer, so I can't really compare, but I hope my input is helpful. I know this has been discussed before, so try a search for more info.

I had a 5qt KA for 18 years before it started skipping the low speed. Well actually I guess I had the brushes replaced when it was 8 years old. I loved it. Last winter I bought a new 6qt KA. I HATED it!! It was very loud and whiny. The bowl was hard to handle and it was difficult to put the bowl up and down. I gave it to my brother. I bought a Cuisinart 7qt mixer and like the previous poster, I won't go back to a KA. I love it!!! I can mix 4 cake mixes at once and make a double batch of buttercream icing (4lbs of Powdered sugar). I bought it at Kohl.com and had a 30% off coupon. So it wasn't too bad. It is much quieter than the 6qt KA I had. I know alot of people like the KA and I loved my first one but not the 6qt. Just my opinion!

~ihavaweet2th~

I have the 41/2 the 5 and the 6 quart professional KA. Love them all. Amazon had the 6 quart last week for 299.00 with free shipping. Check to see if it's still on sale if you decide to go with that. It's regular 499.00


I think it's www.amazon.com then do a search for KA mixers.

Oh, I just had to reply based on your location!! Here's what I did: I bought a plasma for my husband at the Bay and with the triple HBC points that we got, I used them towards the KA Artisan (5 quarts) so I ended up paying $100 for it! My husband and I are both happy!! I love it for buttercream and bread dough but my Wilton instructor told me I'd kill it if I tried making MMF, so I just make that by hand. Or, Costco just had the 6 quart KA Pro on sale for 299.99.

I have the KA 5 qt that I bought for 125 at Lowes at Xmas in the brushed nickel and the KA6 pro that I use all the time. Haven't taken the 5 qt out of the box yet...don't have room right now. My daughter has my grandmothers original KA mixer at her house. Now that still works but smells some but then it is over 60yrs old or more.

Hi - I'm relatively new to this and have only gotten one mixer, but after a lot of research, I got the Cuisinart 7 qurt. I like it very much, and I think the design and features are much better than KA.
I've found that I very rarely have to stop it to stir around the bowl, as it mixes very thoroughly all the way to the bottom. It's very easy to add ingredients while running, and it handles both small and large batches of cake and frosting well. Hope this helps. Happy hunting!