It took me a while to locate the correct product topic for my KitchenAid standing mixer here at epinions, because the picture for this topic does not match the mixer I own. However, I matched the model number of my mixer (KSM50PR) with the one in the name of this topic, so I should be on safe ground here. But anyone who wants the exact model shown in the picture above might not find this review of much use.

I've owned my KitchenAid Professional standing mixer for about ten years now and it still runs fine. I can't say that it gets very heavy use, but for the occasions when it's necessary in the kitchen, I value it highly enough that when we moved to Europe a few years ago I insisted that we purchase a transformer large enough to allow the 350 watt, 120 volt appliance to work with DC electricity. Over the time I've owned this mixer, I've found that there are certain kitchen jobs I just wouldn't want to tackle without it. Although this standing mixer is a large and cumbersome appliance, I decided to get rid of my hand-held electric mixer about a year after receiving the KitchenAid as a gift. There didn't seem to be any point to keeping the hand-held mixer when the standing mixer could do everything the hand-held could and a lot more to boot.

The basic set-up for this mixer is a stainless steel bowl that fits into a mechanical arm. Once locked into place, an attachment can be fitted onto the crank shaft of the mixer and the arm lifted with a hand-crank. The three basic attachments are all made of no-nonsense steel; they go on easily and stay securely in place until removed. Cranking the arm up is very easy to do unless you've got a bowl full of very thick dough already in the bowl. In fact, changing attachments with anything thick in the bowl can be challenging, because this is not one of the KitchenAid mixers that has a "head" that tilts up. I find it's easiest to remove the entire bowl, change attachments and replace the bowl carefully if I absolutely must change up in the middle of a recipe. The mixer is well designed enough that there is no wobble when the motor is running. The weight of the machine seems sufficient to keep it from traveling over the work surface. There's also a little round metal plate with the KitchenAid logo on it which faces out from the front of the mixer. This little plate conceals a second attachment area where other tools can be fitted in, and held in place by a knob.

The metal bowl that comes with this mixer has a five-quart capacity. That's fairly standard across KitchenAid's line of mixers for home use. Five quarts is sufficient for just about any home cooking needs that come up in a normal household. The closest I come to using the full capacity of the bowl is when I make enough peach pound cake to fill a large tube pan. I've never felt that I needed anything larger. In fact sometimes I don't bother pulling out this mixer because the bowl is too large. For smaller projects, such as a single batch of clafouti, it's easier to whisk the ingredients by hand. The whip attachment for this mixer doesn't quite reach the very bottom of the bowl, which means that it's hard to work with very small quantities, especially wet ingredients. The dough hook and paddle attachments are real godsends when working with very stiff doughs, such as the one for "thousand dollar chocolate chip cookies." This dough has so many ingredients that it's not possible to use a hand-held mixer to incorporate them. And since I have problems with my wrists, using a wooden spoon won't really work for me either. The dough hook handles the heavy cookie dough just fine though, and is great when making large quantities of any recipe that produces a dough. I've only occasionally used the bread hook for yeasted bread dough, but it does do a fine job of kneading the dough in the bowl. I do not use the bread hook for pasta dough however as it requires careful monitoring so as not to become over-worked.

There are ten speeds on this mixer and I find that I've used the full range of those speeds at one time or another. The higher speeds are useful for whipping cream or egg whites. The slower speeds are good when gradually incorporating ingredients, and the slowest speed is useful when using any of the non-mixing attachments. (More on that in a bit.) Although the lower speeds can give a false impression, there's a lot of power behind this mixer. This is not the kind of fact you want to absorb through painful lessons. I've had long-handled spatulas torn out of my hands when I tried scraping down the sides of the bowl while the mixer was running. Parents should monitor kids carefully around this machine, because I have no doubt at all that the paddle attachment and quite possibly the dough hook could break any fingers foolishly stuck in the bowl while the motor was running.

My mixer came with a plastic spill-guard collar with a channel that can be used to add more dry ingredients while the mixer is running. I've found that this is only marginally useful to me. Because the sides of the bowl need to be scraped down while preparing many different recipes, I usually just lower the arm and the bowl to add more flour or sugar and use the opportunity to scrape. Because the mixer is fairly tall, and the channel is angled sharply upward, it seems that the user would have to be either very tall, or working on very low countertops to use it easily. I'm a little taller than the average woman, so I don't think this impression is down to my height. It also came with a plastic lid that fits the mixing bowl. It doesn't fit as tightly as a tupperware container lid, so I don't rely on it to keep things from drying out if I want to keep something I've mixed in the refrigerator. But it does keep the bowl from getting dusty between uses, and it can fit on top with the dough hook, whip and paddle attachments all inside the bowl if carefully arranged. That's handy for me because I don't pull this mixer out every week. I dust off the other surfaces of the mixer before using it, but I don't have to clean out the bowl or the attachments.

As for the non-mixing attachments, KitchenAid sells an entire line of tools that can be attached to the mixer for other purposes. We own the pasta roller attachment, the food grinder and another for stuffing sausages. I've used the pasta roller several times without any problems, although there was a bit of a learning curve. After rolling out fresh pasta by hand for a few years, the roller attachment is a delight. I'm tempted to look for the one that cuts the sheets into uniform noodles. The food grinder has been used a few times to grind fresh meats. And the sausage stuffer was another one of my husband's flights of fancy that's never been put to use.

As for cleaning, I put everything I can through the dishwasher. Unless the whip is caked with beaten eggs, it all comes out of the dishwasher clean. The soft plastic lid doesn't melt, nor does the collar and the attachments don't rust. The mixer itself has to be wiped down by hand. There are some curved surfaces and some tricky areas, but splatters and spills aren't too arduous to clean up if taken care of immediately after the food preparation is done.

My mixer is standard white, but they come in a variety of bold and pastel colors to suit most tastes. I would not hesitate to recommend this standing mixer to anyone who is a serious home cook and especially home bakers. Bakers will get the most use out of the standard attachments sold with the mixer, but serious amateur chefs can extend the use of the mixer in several directions with the purchase of additional tools. This is not a cheaply made mixer. I still have all the original attachments and tools that came with the mixer, more than ten years after I got it. Evidently KitchenAid made this model to last. I don't know what this product retails for these days, but whatever the price, it should be viewed as a long-term investment.


Some of my other favorite kitchen tools:

• Swing Away Can Opener - the one I kept after trying all the others
• Taylor Instant Read Pocket Thermometer - the most necessary tool for cooking roasts of any kind
• Endurance Precision Pierced Colander - drains like a dream, and made of stainless steel
• KitchenAid Santoku knife - a nice intersection of a chef's knife and a utility knife
• Cuisinart Mini-Mate Food Processor - grind those spices or make pesto in a trice
• Oxo Good Grips Kitchen Tongs - sturdy and safe to use with non-stick pans
• Oxo Good Grips Offset Bread Knife - does its job well and safely
• Black & Decker Rice & Vegetable Steamer - takes a licking, keeps on ticking
• Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven - ideal for stews, and no-knead bread
• Bron Mandoline Slicer - the Cadillac of the kitchen
• Magnabar Knife Holder - extra storage space for my best kitchen tools


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift