KitchenAid Professional 600 KP26M1X 575 Watts Stand Mixer

I received my 600 as a gift, having struggled with a cheap hand mixer through graduate school. This KitchenAid model is great for baking! I've challenged it with doughs ranging from soft roll to tough bagel and it's done a stellar job. I don't use it for pastry crust such as pie dough, so I can't speak to its effectiveness there--doughs that don't require any kneading often do better in a food processor or cut by hand with a dough cutter. For kneading, mixing and whipping, however, the KitchenAid 600 has outperformed my expectations.

I have noticed that with some tough doughs, I have to monitor the mixer--that is, this is not a machine you should wander off and ignore (then again, that could be said of most any small kitchen appliance). I've yet to encounter a mixer of any quality that was truly 'set and forget', but this mixer leaves very little work in my hands. Just a quick scrape or two on some (not all) recipes and everything is whipped, mixed and kneaded just the way I want.

I've found that following the instructions provided has been beneficial, particularly those about speed limits on dough hooks and other attachments. The machine will strain if a lot of tough dough is kneaded at too high a speed--but the higher speed isn't necessary as the dough kneads fine at the prescribed setting.

So far I've acquired the grinding attachment, which is a decent light-duty meat and vegetable grinder. It is quick and effective enough to satisfy the needs of a small household, although if I was going to home grind and/or can a large quantity of food, I would invest in a dedicated, standalone grinder. If the most you're going to grind is the occasional few pounds of meat or vegetables, however, the grinder is good enough.

My only qualm with the KitchenAid is that its accessories can be rather expensive--some of them nearing or exceeding $100. Since the unit requires the use of a specific type of bowl, you can't just slap any old thing into it and mix away. Because of that drawback, I continue to yank out my old hand mixer occasionally--it will mix in any bowl and for large-scale cooking, sometimes you need that flexibility.