KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer K45SS, Onyx Black

Clearly the best for the price, and more than adequate even for heavy dough. KitchenAid has three main models of stand mixer: the 4.5 quart Classic tilt-head ($188, or $226 for the slightly more powerful “Plus”), the 5 quart Artisan tilt-head ($298), and the 6 quart fixed-head Professional ($359). The prices are Amazon prices; MSRP is considerably more, and B&M retailers have trouble matching Amazon even with Black Friday sales.I’m sure the bigger mixers are, in some ways, better, but don’t underestimate what an enormous step up even the lowly Classic model is from a hand mixer or plastic food processor. This is a very solid product. And most of us, while we value the convenience of a big stand mixer when baking things, don’t exactly use these things every day. Even if you think that at some point in the future, you have reason to get a bigger one, remember that the bigger ones take up a lot more space, and these things actually have decent resale value, so if you want to upgrade later, your previous investment isn’t necessarily lost altogether.I bought this because I’d been baking Dutch-style appeltaart a number of times, and people really like it, but it was a lot of work to make. At some point, I looked into how to make it faster, and I ended up getting a $20 peeler/corer/slicer for the apples, as well as this mixer. Appeltaart involves a heavy shortbread pasty crust (what the Germans call “Mürbeteig”), which is a challenge for a lot of kitchen equipment and traditionally has to be kneaded by hand, so if I was going to get a device to make it for me, it would have to be a pretty heavy-duty one.The dough has a 3:2:1 flour/butter/sugar ratio (by weight) and just a little bit of egg. Usually, I’d cut the butter into small pieces to make it easier, but to put this mixer to the test, I just dumped in the ingredients and pulled the delightfully solid-feeling lever to the slowest speed. It wasn’t a small amount of dough either; the bowl was filled pretty much to capacity and a little bit of flour spilled out initially. At first, it looked like the dough was never going to come together, but I just left it running for a few minutes and before long I had a perfect dough. I had worried that maybe the dough would be too crumbly because the mixer can’t do the typical squeezing motion that you do by hand to really make the dough cohesive, but it turns out that once everything is thoroughly mixed, it only takes 10 seconds of hand-kneading to make the dough really come together. The hard work is really in the mixing and the mixer does it extremely well.It’s clear that these things have been on the market for a long time and a lot of minor issues have been worked out over the years. The shape of the attachments and the shape of the bowl, for instance, are well matched to each other so the thing will beat even a single egg or a small amount of whipping cream just fine, and doughs don’t stick to the bowl when using the paddle attachment. The bayonet type bowl attachment really locks the bowl in place without making it hard to remove, things don’t splatter into spots that are hard to clean, etc.Two nit-picks:1. The mixer works if you don’t lock it in the down position. I can’t imagine this is good for the internal gearing, though then again the head is heavy enough that it might not matter very much. Still, it would be good to have some sort of interlock so that it didn’t operate when you don’t lock it down. Meanwhile, just remember to double-check that you have it locked down before turning it on.2. The whisk attachment oxidizes a lot when you put it in a dishwasher, especially if you use a copious amount of strong detergent (e.g. Cascade brand). This leaves a black powdery residue that rubs off easily. I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous if it were to end up in your food in small quantities, but it has a metallic smell and taste and it’s unsightly. I’m sure it says somewhere in the manual that the whisk attachment shouldn’t go in the dishwasher, but it would be nice if the manufacturer could either make it so this doesn’t happen in the first place, or alternatively attached a label to the thing with a warning so you can’t miss it.

So much easier for my life. Love this unit!!!! I have it in a permanent spot, pull it out from under the cabinet when I need it so I can lift the unit without banging the cabinet. The way it comes, it was extremely hard for me to move, so I tipped it over and put cushion pads on the bottom and it slides easily, but not so easy to be a hazard. I love the speeds, mixer blades, ease of use, ease of cleaning & ability to attach other devices. Will be ordering other attachments for different pasta molds! The unit is very heavy for an older person to carry, lift, move. That is why I chose a permanent spot, put the pads on the bottom and now am totally happy with the mixer. Very well worth the money, wish I had bought it sooner. My mixer that doesn’t accommodate attachments will be sold!

Nice. Daughter loved it to make bread!

Great mixer. I’m a huge fan of KitchenAid products. This is my first electric mixer I’ve ever had and it works so well. It is a bit pricey but if it’s something you think you would use relatively often I highly recommend it. The only thing is I wish the ball had a handle on it, I know some of the larger models come with that but it would be nice for the smaller one too. Thank you!

Nice small Kitchen Aid. Nice smaller stand Kitchen Aid mixer. It works well, but if I were to do it over again, I would have sized up. That was my error and in no way reflects how well this appliance works!