KitchenAid Classic 6-Quart Stand Mixer Review

39 Years with KitchenAid, But No More….

A little over a year ago my wife and I replaced our ca. 5-year-old KitchenAid stand mixer with a KitchenAid Professional 600.  The new Professional 600 ran for about 45 minutes, but was cheerfully and promptly replaced…by another which lasted a little over a year--beyond the warranty period but not quite to the end of the holiday baking season--with never having mixed anything beyond half the rated batter/dough quantity, and almost never at more than half speed.  Finding local repair service quite unexpectedly turned out to be impossible, even with a large nationally-known store that seemingly weekly advertises new KitchenAid mixers and avows to service what they sell.  When contacted, “Kenny,” Communications Coordinator from the “KitchenAid Customer Satisfaction Center” offered a “shipping kit,” for $32.00, and to have us ship it to the factory to have “a trained technician … diagnose the problem and contact [us] with an estimate for repair,” assuming, of course, that the basically one-year-old “Professional” mixer run at half-speed and half-capacity could be repaired.  Kenny also noted that “KitchenAid has implemented a program that offers a $30 discount on any Stand Mixer, whether it is new or refurbished.”  No doubt they have quite a few that have been “refurbished.”

Kenny, in my opinion, has a very difficult job at the “KitchenAid Customer Satisfaction Center” as it would seem from personal experience and from what I have read, again in my opinion, that the current company is ruining the good name of KitchenAid.  My wife and I, 39-year-devoted KitchenAid customers and fans, this week sadly said “no more”; we purchased a new Bosch Universal Plus, and come early Tuesday morning most of what is left of our KitchenAid “Professional” 600 will be on its way to the local landfill rather than on its way to see if Kenny’s technicians could repair it and for what price.

And that saddens us in at least two important ways, the most important of which is that our KitchenAid “Professional” 600 is prematurely adding to the landfill refuse of America.  It is claimed that “the classic Bosch Universal [mixer] already has an amazing average lifespan of 17 years,” and that the new Universal Plus is expected to last even longer.  I hope so, as we’re running out of landfill space.

Sincerely,

Tim Roufs

Duluth, MN 55811