Too Much Coffee

The missus would like a food mixer (Kenwood Chef thingy not a processor) for baking cakes etc. Hopefully we'll get a deal in the sales but does anyone have any recommendations or advice on brands, models?

It'll probably be used a 1-2 times each week for several cake batches. Max price would be about £350 (hopefully a lot less!)

Cheers, Paul.

For cake making the Kitchen Aid machines are fine and much more esthetically appealing than the Kenwood machines, which are very loud and singularly ugly in my subjective opinion. If you're going to be making bread dough with it I've been told it's better to go with the Kenwood KM010 at about €500.

I've been wanting to replace my 20 year-old Bosch MUM 4600 for years, but the thing won't die, so I guess I should just recommend that. They run from €150-200. They're very unexciting, but seem to do the job well, again for cake dough, not for bread.

P.B wrote:The missus would like a food mixer (Kenwood Chef thingy not a processor) for baking cakes etc. Hopefully we'll get a deal in the sales but does anyone have any recommendations or advice on brands, models?

It'll probably be used a 1-2 times each week for several cake batches. Max price would be about £350 (hopefully a lot less!)

Cheers, Paul.

Beg to differ with Bruce my wife loves her Kenwood which is very reliable I often use a mincing attachment which works a treat the question is form or function?
Gaz

Babygazzer wrote:Cheers, Paul.

Beg to differ with Bruce my wife loves her Kenwood which is very reliable I often use a mincing attachment which works a treat the question is form or function?
Gaz[/quote]

No, you're absolutely right. People speak generally very highly of the Kenwood machines. I've never owned one, just dislike their appearance and the ones I've used have been irritatingly loud (metal/metal gears).

bruceb wrote:For cake making the Kitchen Aid machines are fine and much more esthetically appealing than the Kenwood machines, which are very loud and singularly ugly in my subjective opinion. If you're going to be making bread dough with it I've been told it's better to go with the Kenwood KM010 at about €500.

I've been wanting to replace my 20 year-old Bosch MUM 4600 for years, but the thing won't die, so I guess I should just recommend that. They run from €150-200. They're very unexciting, but seem to do the job well, again for cake dough, not for bread.

I have a Kitchen Aid mixer and do use it for Bread-making. I'm not really too happy with my results though, so why is it not so good for bread? It does have a Bread-mixing paddle thingy and the machine does seem to be a copy of a commercial machine but on a smaller scale.

Kitchen aid models are certainly less durable than the kenwoods, I have an old classic and a km336. I find the "socket" on the paddles of the K.Aid much easier to connect but the Kenwoods are much easier to keep clean, having a big baffle thingy. Agree with George the dough hook on the Kenwood is better. Some of the attachments for the 336 are pretty useful(coffee grinder excepted!)

Not sure if the current K.Aids have that plastic guard thing that has to be on to run, if they do, they suck.

I vouch for the 336 at £150 odd.

I have a hatred of all Kitchenaid products. They are copies of commercial machines usually and have awful customer service levels and seem to fall to pieces quickly. they are much prettier than kenwood (on the whole). I have had a range of Kenwood machines including fully restored 1950'smodels which really are attractive, but, not upto the modern standard when it comes to eating what you have baked!
I use a Kenwood Kmix now for a variety of things and it copes well....even 20 minutes on high to make custard for ice cream mixes. That said, last week the single screw which holds the planetary head on fell into the batter in the bowl closely followed by the whole assembly, but, with a 3 year warranty and a Kenwood repais centre a few miles away, I was soon up and runn ing again. I guess you could say that any modern machine which is rekiable will be a good buy. The only reason you see all the TV chefs with Kitcheaid is product placement

Just to add- seems the more you spend on a new Kenwood the less you get! Course they come in nice colours though.

daveyb wrote:I have a hatred of all Kitchenaid products. They are copies of commercial machines usually and have awful customer service levels and seem to fall to pieces quickly. they are much prettier than kenwood (on the whole). I have had a range of Kenwood machines including fully restored 1950'smodels which really are attractive, but, not upto the modern standard when it comes to eating what you have baked!
I use a Kenwood Kmix now for a variety of things and it copes well....even 20 minutes on high to make custard for ice cream mixes. That said, last week the single screw which holds the planetary head on fell into the batter in the bowl closely followed by the whole assembly, but, with a 3 year warranty and a Kenwood repais centre a few miles away, I was soon up and runn ing again. I guess you could say that any modern machine which is rekiable will be a good buy. The only reason you see all the TV chefs with Kitcheaid is product placement

Now you tell me.

Thanks for the advice chaps.

We got a kenwood KMC510 for £175. Aesthetically not a match on the Kitchen Aid but MUCH cheaper and impressively solid and not too noisy. And if it lives up to it's reputation it should prove very reliable.

Paul

I have an old KitchenAid pro model and it makes great bread, I find that making the mix a little wetter (only just) than reccomended and kneading until it becomes stretchy the results are very good.

Almost all of my cooking buddies have KitchenAid machines, some of them 30 years old and they are all happy with them and would buy them again. Most have the Professional model and many occasionally make bread dough with them.