I have a regular 4.5 quart KA stand mixer that is proving to be too small for my cake making! I would really love a larger one--maybe a 7-10 quart mixer. I plan to ask "Santa" for one this year! Or maybe after Christmas when things are marked down.

My question is, there are so many different brands and types out there. Does anyone have one (residentially, not in a business setting) they can tell me about? Pros/cons?

There are many things I do not like about my KA, so I think I'm ready for a change in brand. There are also the ones that spin the bowl, as opposed to the attachments (DLX/Electrolux).

I have been jonesing for one as well and my cursory research showed that Cooks Illustrated changed form KA being their fav at home miser to the new Cuisenart one. I am just waiting for the big sale to go get mine.

The 7 qt cuisinart is nice and affordable. The 7qt Viking is also affordable, but more than the cuisinart. If you are looking to get into a commercial 10 qt, you are looking at a $1200 and up investment new. Used you can get a better deal.

How many cakes are you making? I think a 7 qt would do most low volume businesses good. I would only use a 10 qt for icing since I have no need to make 10 qts of the same batter for cake. I use my 5 qt (soon to be 6 qt) for batters since they whip up nicely in that size and I only have oven space for "normal" amounts of batter anyway.

Jeanne--I do not make many cakes, but that's only because I am not actively marketing. When I do, yes, it is mostly for all the icing! It is such a pain to have to make it in 3 or 4 batches. It would be nice to make one large batch, or even 2-3 and freeze it.

I saw the Cuisinart one. $1200. . . hmmmmm, maybe not until I make the consciouse choice to go active! Right now, it's sort of word-of-mouth request only!

It doesn't sounds like you want or need a *commercial* mixer. Just a larger volume home mixer. Cuisinart or Viking are both excellent choices.

A commercial mixer would be a Hobart, Viking, Univex, etc.

The cuisinart one retails for $400-ish from what I can see online. The commercial mixers are the ones that will break the bank. I feel your pain though on the icing. I wish I had a 10qt for icing. I've been eyeing a Univex at my local restaurant supply store, but at $1100.00... not in the stars right now, so I will continue to make multiple batches. *sigh*

Just for your consideration.......my experience with the 7 qt. Viking was not a good one. My wife surprised me with one for Christmas the year that I retired because I love baking bread and she thought the 7 qt. would be great for big batches of dough and icing for the occasional cake that I make. I generally bake bread once a week.

It quit working about a year after I got it....just past warrenty, of course, and I have yet been able to have it fixed properly. No dealers in the citys near us and the shipping for sending it back and forth is just outrageous.

So, while I enjoyed it while I had it, it has proven to be a big waste of money.

I reverted to the 6 qt. Professional that I've used for years and years. If I were to consider a new machine and was unhappy with the KA, it would be the Cuisinart .

I have tried several mixers, but I wouldn't trade my KA for anything. It does everything from icing, mixes, MMF, bread dough, and homemade noodles.

LUV my KA...I have the smaller one. I like that the head tilts back on that model.

I have two actually

Jen

I just got the 7 qt. Cuisinart two weeks ago, and I love it! It has everything I wanted - a tilt head, great splatter shield (no more flying powdered sugar!), and the capacity to hold three batches of the cake mix extender recipe. I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond and used one of those 20% off coupons, so it ended up being about 320.00.

Thank you all for your input! I have not made a decision yet (and I still don't have "Santa's" blessing ), so keep the comments coming, please.

WOOHOO!!!! SANTA SAYS YES to the Cuisinart!! I'm getting the 7qt. SM-70 in black! I'll provide my own input here once I've had some use with it.