Keeps On Mixing Year After Year

My parents have been married over 50 years and they still have their original Heavy Duty Kitchen Aid mixer. My mom is a heavy duty baker-- everything from scratch. The poor, deprived child I was, I didn't know what a Twinkie was until I could purchase it in high school.

Back in 1985, I became engaged and surprise of all surprises, the Kitchen Aid mixer was a gift from my Mom and sisters. During the first five years of marriage, the mixer basically collected dust. After years and years of making things from scratch, I didn't have any desire to dirty up a mixer for just the hubby and me.

Along came the kids and suddenly the Suzy Homemaker gal living inside of me started to blossom. I dusted off the mixer and it found a permanent place on top of my counter. This is not the kind of mixer you can take in and out of a cabinet with ease, unless you are an Olympic weightlifter.

The Kitchen Aid mixer comes with three tools: a dough hook, regular mixing tool and a whipping tool. No, no, not THAT kind of whipping tool, the kind that actually beats cold milk into beautiful peaks.

The mixing bowl is made of stainless steel and is deep enough so that the ingredients stay in the bowl when mixed. However, do not, I repeat, do not place flour in the bowl and turn the machine on the highest speed. This is guaranteed to evenly coat 1/3 of your kitchen counters with a fine dust. One of the accessories that can be purchased is a bowl cover that allows you to add ingredients while the mixer is mixing. My mother used to deal with flying flour by covering the mixer with a dish towel and adding the flour through the front. I've discovered that we can do just fine without the bowl cover as long as the dry ingredients are added slowly while the mixer is set to "stir."

Using the dough hook is a hit or miss deal. Sometimes I have great luck with it, other times it requires constant adjusting. Since the arrival of my bread machine, the dough hook has disappeared.

I have rarely used the mixer for whipping up whipping cream since I usually purchase Cool Whip. However, the stainless steel bowl can be placed into the freezer and it stays cold long enough to really whip a topping together.

This is an excellent mixer for cookies-- it's sturdy and strong enough to mix even the thickest dough. Unlike hand-held mixers which tend to chop the chips and nuts with it's narrow blades, the Kitchen Aid has a large mixing blade that allows the chips and nuts to flow through while mixing. The only con about mixing is that you may have to occasionally use a rubber scraper to push down the ingredients that have climbed up the side of the bowl.

If you enjoy making sausage from scratch (yes, I have memories of this), the Kitchen Aid has an attachment (purchased separately) that grinds beef and other foods. Far too much work for me, I'll take my beef wrapped in plastic, thankyouverymuch.

If you want the most excellent mashed potatoes without nary a lump, then this mixer is for you. I can set this on high speed after initially mixing the potatoes, milk and sour cream and five minutes later I have the creamiest mashed potatoes. It's well worth the look on hubby's face after he dives into dinner.

If there's one thing to be said about this mixer, it lasts and lasts and lasts. 11 years later, this mixer still looks brand new. Of course, you have to look past the lumps of flour embedded into the base-- it's not exactly the easiest appliance to keep clean. The bowl and mixing tools easily go into the dishwasher. The base can only be cleaned using a knife and a wet towel-- this is just one area I wish could be redesigned.

My only other beef with this appliance is that I have to hide it when my brother-in-laws come over. Heaven forbid that they get the idea that I can cook-- I'm still getting out of hosting family dinners, all because I burned my first meatloaf.