Ok.... My dilemma is this.  My old stand mixer is dying.  Have to unplug it to turn it off and it doesn't have the power it had anymore.  So need to get a new mixer.  Had my eye on a kitchenaid for a long time.  But am very nervous about it.  The one I found a deal on is a 6qt pro bowl lift with a glass bowl - which has a bunch of iffy reviews on the bowl and the beater/bowl situation.  Thought about getting one from costco for about 50 bucks more - read reviews stating that its not a normal model that it was made just for costco and is sub par.  I can't really see spending 500 on mixer - since I am a hobby baker that also volunteers for icing smiles.  I've looked at other types and I'm just so confused.  I am thinking to do the one with the glass bowl and buy a stainless steel bowl for it and pray for the best.

Advice please?

Thanks,

Judi

I love my kitchenaid. I have an artisan 5 qt that I got on amazon. I got the cheapest color ( certain colors are priced higher) $216 NEW... NOT refurbished! I make my meatball and meatloaf mix in there. I use it for anything that requires mixing...gotta get my monies worth. it has already paid for itself. you will love it!

Look at other brands, I got a Cuisinart instead of a kitchen-aid, bigger bowl and stronger motor for cheaper.  Had it two years and never had an issue.  I love it.

I bought that Costco Kitchen Aid 6 quart, and while it's a workhorse, it's not a "real" 6 quart.  The bowl is really a 5.5 quart, and any attachments purchased separately do not fit (like the beater blade with the built in spatula? Nope nope nope...).  But that's really my only complaint about it, so FWIW, if you're not making 25 pounds of whatever in one go, it's not a bad deal...

I also just got the Costco kitchen aid 6 quart. I thought my old kitchenaid was six quart (it's definitely not a four quart) but the costco bowl is just as tall as my old one but it is wider. Anyways, I found that the whisk, paddle, whatever didn't reach the bottom of the bowl leaving unmixed batter. But that's an easy fix and it's shown in the instruction manual. You just turn a screw and the bowl lifts up. Simple! So now that's not a problem. The only fault I find given that I was running both of my kitchenaids at the same time( on different circuits to be safe ) and at the same speeds the new mixer seemed slower and even on high it wasn't as powerful as my old one. It seemed to do well regardless but time will tell on that one. But if you want special attachments other than the ones provided skip the Costco mixer. My old mixer is too old so the attachments are no longer sold anyways so that really isnt a problem for me. I've had my old mixer for around 15 years now and it's seems to be giving up but it still powers through long mixings. I got my new one as a backup tho. 

Had this one for years...would buy again tomorrow if needed without hesitation!

http://www.abt.com/product/94829/Kenwood-Titanium-Major-Kitchen-Machine-KMM021.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=sc&utm_campaign=KMM021

I'm also a hobby baker and I have a KitchenAid Artisan (with a 5-quart stainless steel bowl) which I love!! It's almost 5 years old and it's going strong. I believe there are only two times where I've really pushed it. The first one wasn't too bad, I just had way too much bread dough in the bowl and it kept creeping up the dough hook. The second time, and this one I was afraid I might actually damage it, was with a batch of extremely stiff cookie dough (it was my first time making that recipe, I had no idea how stiff the dough was going to be, and my poor husband had to help me roll it out). Other than that, this mixer has performed wonderfully. If I could change anything about it is that I wish it came with two bowls instead of one

I see what you're saying about the KitchenAid Pro and the glass bowl. You can always get a stainless steel one to go with it. I recently took a class and they had those mixers but with the stainless steel bowls. I hadn't used one of those before, it doesn't tilt so you have to lift the bowl up and down. When I had to scrape the bowl, in order to do it comfortably, I had to move the bowl down, take off the attachment, scrape, put the attachment back on and lift the bowl. I found this annoying (much easier to do with the Artisan). Granted, this could have been due to my lack of experience with this model. It also may have issues with the paddle/whisk reaching the bottom of the bowl, but this was easily addressed. You can lift the bowl as it's going and move it a bit to make sure the paddle/whisk reaches the bottom.