Stand Mixers....whaddya think of them?

[notwonamesalike]

I have one - almost brand new - used once by DH.

I'm thinking about trying to sell it, but I want to know if you think it's a great kitchen gadget to have.

I'm just wondering if I haven't gotten around to discovering it's many uses?

It's a Hamilton Beach Model. Retails for about $200

[mamallama]

I *love* my stand mixer, but it seems like I know lot of people who never use theirs.

I use mine once or twice a week--usually for bread or pizza dough. I'm sure I wouldn't make homemade dough nearly as often if I had to knead it by hand.

[mirlee]

I've used my Kitchenaid four times this week already. I find stand mixers essential kitchen tools.

[Sk8ermaiden]

If you cook/bake a lot, (IMO) it is an essential tool. I heart mine and would get rid of every other electric appliance before I'd let anyone take mine away.

Kitchenaid

[Red Sonja]

DH finally bought a KitchenAid a few months ago, he's wanted one forever. We use it a couple times a week for either pizza or bread, and I am doing a lot more baking now that we have it.

[timneh_mom]

I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I've started making our own bread and it has a dough hook and does a pretty good job of kneading. You can get a lot of attachments and I have the shredder/grater for big jobs. I also use it for cookie dough, cake batter, pretty much anything that needs to be whipped or mixed well. I still use a spoon and bowl for things like brownies and biscuits, and pancake batter. But I use the mixer for pretty much all my other baking. I love mine!

[cristeen]

I have a Viking and I love it, but... I don't find it nearly as useful as I had hoped.

If you don't do a lot of baking, there's very little that a stand mixer can be used for. Since we are grain free, and my baking is mostly limited to cheesecakes (which the stand mixer does not do well with), I don't use it that often anymore. When i do use it, i love it, though.

[notwonamesalike]

The thing is, my husband likes to knead and bake bread by hand. I prefer to use our bread maker.

I *think* I probably haven't discovered all it's abilities, sounds like a lot of you love your mixers.

[lightheart]

Jumping in here with a question for the folks who use the stand mixer for bread dough, do you make less of a mess in the kitchen by using it for kneading bread? I find kneading by hand relaxing and fun but I always make a huge mess with the flour plus I use the kitchen table as my work surface so either I'm constantly cleaning it or we end up eating at the little kids table in the living room.

[Traci mom23boys]

love , love my kitchen aid for cookies, bread, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, etc...

Traci

[Ironica]

A stand mixer is on my wish list. Since my baking is all gluten-free, some of the cake "batters" and such are quite thick and would do much better with a dough hook (instead, I end up doing it by hand with a fork, which is kinda fatiguing). The other day I made egg-free bread for a friend, and the instructions *really* wanted me to use a stand mixer and the oven; instead, I did a custom setting on the breadmaker and it worked out just fine... but it'd be nice to be able to do it according to the directions, ya know? ;-)

[Arduinna]

I've had my kitchen aid for 15 years, and my mom has had hers for probably 30. Love it!

[hollyvangogh]

I love mine, but I have to admit it's largely for sentimental reasons. I bought it for my mom when I got my first job, her MS is so bad she had no use for it anymore and passed it down to me. I've been decorating my kitchen around it (it's red)....well as much decorating as can be done in a rental anyway. My husband uses it more than I do though. It's great for cookie dough. I do like that it's functional AND looks great. It's its own decoration, kwim?

[bigeyes]

I use mine several times a week. I can't even remember where the hand mixer is, I may even have given it away.

The thing I don't use as much I thought I would is the food processor. It's just too much to wash.

[kijip]

Without my stand mixer, I would not be able to make cookies as I hate to cream butter by hand. Which would be a bad thing (though, perhaps also a good thing for my pants size.)

We use ours often, it was a gift and I am glad to have it. It is a KitchenAid.

[Quaniliaz]

Things I really dislike doing without my stand mixer:
whipping cream
whipping egg whites
making ice cream/sherbert, etc. (have a special ice cream maker attachment for my K.A. - love it!)

I also make bread with it. And if I feel like kneading myself, I just use it to mix everything up.

[SNRPMom]

My standing mixer is the one tool I would NOT want to be without.

[KariM]

I have a KitchenAid stand mixer that DH and I received as a wedding gift (nearly 9 years ago now).

I use it 3-4 times a week. In addition to using it for mixing we also bought some optional attachments and grind meat and stuff sausage as well!

We're trying to decide if we'll upgrade to the larger model when this one finally expires or if we'll replace it with the same type model.

[txdancer]

I love my stand mixer. It's a kitchen aid professional. I use it everyday. I also have a lot of the attachments, and I use them all all the time. I hate hand mixers, I used to burn them out on ehasvy batters whenever I needed them most.

[ustasmom]

Originally Posted by lightheart

Jumping in here with a question for the folks who use the stand mixer for bread dough, do you make less of a mess in the kitchen by using it for kneading bread? I find kneading by hand relaxing and fun but I always make a huge mess with the flour plus I use the kitchen table as my work surface so either I'm constantly cleaning it or we end up eating at the little kids table in the living room.

No.

You still have to baby the dough a bit, get it rounded and shaped. You still have a mess to clean up. I have a Bosch so I can do six loaves of bread at a time, but honestly, I've just gotten to the point of baking bread in my Zojirushi.