In many years of cooking and baking I’d never owned a stand mixer until last year when I asked for one for Christmas. My husband, the giver, wanted to get the Kitchen Aid but I suggested the less expensive Sunbeam, which I’d heard good things about. At first I thought my problems with it were caused by my inexperience with the stand mixer since I’d used a handmixer so long. But, no, it’s the mixer. One aggravation is that ingredients don’t get mixed in thoroughly without constantly stopping and mixing by hand. But the mixer’s worst fault–and the reason I know it’s a dud–is that at times the bowl just stops turning or the mixer itself stops. I have to turn the speed dial back and forth to make it start again and/or I have to spin the bowl by hand. Also, the tilt release button is in an awkward place and requires a serious push to make work. And once the beaters, though firmly seated, simply disengaged and fell into the bowl. Recently, I made meringue for pies with this mixer. It took twice as long as with a handmixer and the meringue was syrupy and did not have the volume I’m used to with a handmixer. And forget mixing bread with it. That was a complete disaster. I finished mixing and kneading the bread by hand.
I thought having a stand mixer would be so great, more efficient, convenient, freeing. But frankly, I hate this thing! I’m beyond disappointed. The shoddiness of this appliance, which was not cheap, is shameful. And from what I’ve read here, today’s Kitchen Aids, though very expensive, may not be much better. Whatever happened to quality products?
Wal-Mart? Help PLEASE!!!!!!!?
Hello. My birthday is tomorrow and I want to buy some groceries! And my question is: Do you honestly think Ill have enough money to buy EVERYTHING I want? I want to buy: - 1 set "Christmas Cookie Cutters"- 4 "frost decorating pipes"- 1 bag "whole wheat flour"- 2 bags "dark choco. chips- electric stand mixer 1 bag "semi-sweet choco. chip"- 1 bag "milk choco. chips"- 1 large bottle "Vanilla Extract"- 1 small jar "peppermint Extract"- 1 jar "Swiss Miss Choco. Cocoa Mix"- 1 jar "Red Frosting"- 1 jar "Green Frosting"- 2 jars "Christmas Sprinkles"- 1 jar "Karo Lite Corn Syrup"- 1 bag "lite brown sugar"- 1 bag "dark brown sugar"- 1 gallon "creme"- 3 packs "Pilsbury Sugar Cookie Dough"- 1 bottle "Raid Bug Spray"- 1 bottle "Pam Butter Spray"- 1 jar "peanuts" (large, 16 ounces)* Electric STAND mixer So, do you think I HONESTLY have enough money to buy EVERYTHING I want?!? :-}Im ONLY gonna get a stand mixer for $30 or LESS!!! :-}
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve had my mixer for 10 years. My husband calls it my cement mixer. It is heavy. I don’t keep it on my counter because it takes up too much space, so I move it every time I need it from cupboard to counter. I don’t mind because this mixer is consistent in the way it beats! I only make cakes, icings and cookies, but it performs beautifully today as the day I received it. I’ve never had any problems. What makes this mixer even better are the additional attachments. On days when I ran out of ground beef or ground pork, I didn’t have to make a trip to the grocery store. I only had to reach into my freezer and pull out some sirloin or pork shoulder butt and then grab my meat grinder and within in no time, I had ground meat! Same for the pasta attachments. When I ran out of spaghetti, I only had to pull out the mixer, make some pasta dough and push it through the spaghetti attachment. This mixer is versatile and will not let you down. I love my mixer!
This mixer a bit heavy, but that is a small price to pay for a well built work horse.
I have had two empire red Artisan mixers in the past five years. They are gorgeous BUT both have suffered from the same three serious problems: 1. the slow speed burned out in the first month on machine number 2 when I kneaded soft brioche dough and now the mixer has only two speeds: fast and faster. 2. the mixing bowl sticks to the metal plate so that dislodging it requires a healthy husband or a liberal amount of WD40 or both. 3. the pin holding the armature to the base slides out when the machine gyrates, which it does something fierce when kneading for more than three minutes. This is one of the worst engineered products I have ever owned, and Kitchen Aid’s service is not helpful. I’m going to buy a Breville next and abandon KA for good.
If the beater is not hitting the bottom of the bowl your mixer needs to be adjusted. On the K45 series there is a screw on the front of the joint when you tilt it back. Turn that screw clockwise (to the right)to tighten it and that will allow your blade to reach the bottom. If your blade starts hitting/rubbing the bowl, the screw should be turned back to the left until you find a happy medium. If the blade is hitting/rubbing you bowl it will damage your attatchments. Good luck. This is an older piece of equiptmant but built very well that should last a lifetime. My husband and I have a “hand me down” that has lasted 40 years!
This mixer will change the way that you bake! I absolutely love it. It whips up a cake in no time at all. It takes just a few minutes to cream 3 sticks of butter and 3 cups for sugar. This mixer is definitely a time-saver! I love my mixer!
I was thrilled that I was able to purchase a superior machine at the same cost that I could have paid for name brand machine of much inferior quality. i have not had a chance to try it yet but I know that I will enjoy it.
It came packaged very well and was shipped promptly. Thanks.
This may be the “Bottom of the Line” for a Kitchen Aid mixer but the wattage was bumped to 275 and I find it to be more than capable for any job I have for it. It will change the way you cook. My Grandmother has owned and used a similar model for over 30 years, used almost on a daily basis, and it performs as good today as it did when it was new in 1977. Three generations have loved what was lovingly made with her Kitchen Aid. These machines are solid as stone.
This review is for a Sunbeam 2350 mixer. I used this mixer to knead bread dough, and it failed in less than five minutes. The gears are stripped, and the mixer no longer works for anything. This happened with a single loaf recipe and normal dough consistency, which leaves me wondering why the manufacturer included dough hooks with the mixer. In my opinion, for what this mixer does (or did, when it was working), a $20 hand held mixer would be easier to use, and would take one-fourth the storage room.
I bought this mixure primarily for Dough recipes but it just simply won’t handle that… If I put the mixer on high # 3 knead it shuts off after about 15 minutes of use. Additionally, the knob in the back has completely come loose so as the mixer is “mixing” the speed varies up and down so you have to tape it or keep re-adjusting. I just bought a Kitchen Aid Pro 6 series can’t wait to get it!!! P.S. it has the most messed up dough hook out of all the mixers I’ve seen. Plus it is too light the the mixer moves around A LOT!
I bought this mixer as my first Amazon purchase in 2006. (I am not going back to review my items, ha)
I still use this mixer to this day. I make pizza dough almost weekly in here for pizza’s and garlic knots.
This mixer has not given my one ounce of problems. Cakes, whipped cream, batter, you name it, I have mixed it in here.
I even had a hand problem a year or so back where I was in a cast for a few weeks, and I used this thing to mix my home made meatballs.
I am starting to outgrow this mixer though, I am growing in my cooking, and want to start making my own pasta and sausages. Without the attachment on the front, I am starting to lok toward Kitchen Aid.
This is a great alternative to a Kitchen Aid if you don’t want to spend the money. Motor is just as strong, and the mixer spins the same. It gets the sides pretty well.
4 stars are for a great product, but I am starting to miss the attachment option.
I loved my old Sunbeam mixer but after 40 years it gave out. The new Halmilton Beach Eclectrics Stand Mixer is sturdy and quiet. I’ve only had it a short while, but it appears to have plenty of power for my recipes. I like the slow mixing action that rotates the paddle around the bowl. It has a nice style for my kitchen and it seems sturdy.
Good value for the money(we had shopped on-line and in stores for a couple weeks).
The two things I don’t like about it are that it’s impossible to scrape the side of the bowl without removing it from the base (my old Sunbeam could do this) and it takes two hands to flip up the mixer head from the bowl.
The plastic thing that is supposed to make it easier to add product is highly overrated. Also the splatter guard gets in the way when you are trying to scrape the sides of the bowl. Throw them away and you have a great mixer.
I really enjoy using this mixer. It has enough power and is not loud at all. Easy to use. Love it!!
We also bought the Sunbeam Mixmaster based on previous experience. It is unfortunate that the new products have sacrificed quality for cost. The drive gears for the beaters are now plastic and do not hold up to moderate load (Marshmallow Creme frosting??!??). I found that it stripped the teeth right off the head of the beater drive sleeve when I investigated. Of course I cannot find the parts to repair.
The wife and I are now going to go for quality instead of this low-cost alternative.
I have now stripped the gears on two of these Heritage Mixmasters. I know, I know…I should have learned my leason on the first one. But I didn’t.
Do not purchase this mixer!! While the price seems like a bargain, I guess the adage “you get what you pay for” is very true. This mixer will not hold up under heavier doughs! On this last mixer, I was mixing up a batch of stiff buttercream for a wedding cake. The motor was starting to get hot (which wasn’t unusual, because the motor on this mixer runs hot all the time, even under light loads) and all of a sudden it gave a horrible grinding noise and the beaters seazed up and refused to turn anymore. …the same exact thing that had happened on my first Mixmaster also.
I can’t imagine that 350 watts isn’t sufficiant to mix buttercream. I can only think that the plastic parts inside became heated and finally cracked and broke under the strain. Lousy craftsmanship! Doesn’t anyone do all metal gears anymore?
This time, I’m going to invest a little money and possible buy a Kitchenaid. Maybe it will last longer than a year.
I’m glad I got this because once I started researching baking, I was no longer interested in retail baked goods (except for Dunkin Donuts’ Old Fashioned Donut). I plan on baking American classics with my kids just as a part of their childhood even though I plan on serving them an authentic Chinese menu otherwise. American desserts are just fun but there are too many bakeries that take liberties with using too much sugar and butter and sometimes artificial fillings to make children loyal customers. I’d rather bake at home than buy anything that tastes like they didn’t clean the sheet pans between bakings.
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