KitchenAid mixers have been the must-have appliance in homes for decades but with so many models and options which mixer do you really need? After exclusively using KitchenAid mixers for over 20 years professionally & at home, you can say I’m a bit of an expert.
My Gear
I learned to bake on a Hobart KitchenAid bowl lift model, slugged my way through college with a KitchenAid hand mixer, then bought a KitchenAid Artisan tilt-head stand mixer in 2010 when I finally had the counter space.
I hated the Artisan. I’ll explain why later.
Then in 2018, my husband surprised me with a vintage 1978 K5SS! The same model Julia Childs swore by. She’s a beast to say the least.
The Professional Heavy Duty Series is the modern day “equivalent” to my vintage model.
Quick KitchenAid History
KitchenAid stand mixers have not changed for the most part since Hobart Manufacturing introduced the iconic design to home cooks in 1969. Hobart is the manufacturer of the huge mixers you see in bakeries that are built like tanks. They didn’t skimp on their home models either.
In 1986, Hobart sold KitchenAid to Whirlpool and things slowly went downhill from there in the name of profit.
New vs Vintage Kitchenaid Stand Mixers
All newer Kitchenaid mixers leak oil
That’s right. Kitchenaid is aware of it and doesn’t really see it as a problem. It’s a major problem. I cleaned up oil ALL. THE. TIME. It leaked constantly and got everywhere no matter what I did. Disgusting.
The only way to stop oil leaking is to open the gearbox up & replace the cheap lubricant with a higher quality food grade lubricant like Super Lube. You’ll need 2 tubes.
Consider it a full day project to find the service manual, disassemble, clean out & replace lubricant, and then reassemble.
Internal Parts: Gears
All new KitchenAid stand mixers have plastic gears except the Pro Line. Plastic gears break and crack all the time and can’t handle dense doughs like bread for long. Plastic also breaks down, especially when heated. Your machine will get hot depending on what you are mixing and for how long.
Vintage mixers like mine have solid metal gears which are more durable.
New Paddles, Bread Hooks, & Whisks
Plan on replacing new white paddle beaters and bread hooks yearly. Yes, yearly. They state they are dishwasher safe but no matter how careful you are, they will chip. Even with handwashing, the paint flakes within the year. It’s a manufacturing problem. The aluminum base is not properly cleaned before they are nylon coated and leads to bonding issues.
This also goes for the Flex Edge paddles. I loved mine but the paint failed after a year and the rubber scraping edge had to be reshaped often.
In the short term, individual replacement is inexpensive but over the life of the machine, it gets quite expensive and frustrating. Nothing like paint chips in your muffins to add a bit of crunch.
Also none of the aluminum whisks, beaters, or bread hooks are dishwasher safe. They develop a residue that will leave a black film on your hands and black streaks in your batters & doughs. Yum, white cake with black stripes.
Replace Coated & Aluminum with Stainless Steel
KitchenAid just came out with a 100% stainless steel option for paddles, dough hooks, and wire whips. Run and buy all three!!!!! They are pretty hard to come by online but I have had great locally at Dillard’s. If it’s less than $30 per accessory, it’s not 100% stainless steel.
Seriously. The stainless steel beater, wire whip, and bread hook by Kitchenaid are the best purchases I have ever made. I have even given them as gifts to fellow bakers. They are 100% dishwasher safe and have made the need for yearly replacements a non-issue. They literally will never need to be replaced.
Reviews on KitchenAid’s website are terrible but I think it’s because people are mixing up the burnished aluminum accessories with the stainless steel. They do look similar but when you pick up the stainless steel ones, they are significantly heavier. Like “be careful not to drop them on your foot” heavy.
Vintage KitchenAid Stand Mixers
If you can find a vintage KitchenAid stand mixer model (1970 – 1986) on eBay, Facebook, or an estate sale; snatch it up! This includes models like my K5SS, K45SS, and KSM90. They are usually only $100, and in my opinion, built better than brand new mixers. Replacement parts are easy to find and modern accessories/attachments work on these vintage models as well.
I do recommend replacing the gearbox lubricant as it’s probably pretty old and newer silicone based lubricants like Super Lube keep machines cooler. This is especially important if you plan on making bread.
Vintage Accessories
On the topic of bread, the hook that comes with old machines, especially bowl lift models, is shaped like a long J. It’s terrible at kneading bread and the dough works its way up the hook instead. Replace it with a spiral hook.
Tilt Head or Bowl Lift?
If you have wall cabinets above your counter, KitchenAid stand mixer tilt head models are a pain in the butt. They will hit the underside of your cabinet when you tilt it up. You will also need to pull out tilt head models to the edge of the counter so it doesn’t bonk the wall behind it. I prefer bowl lift models for these reasons alone. No pulling the mixer back and forth aways from the wall all the time.
Bowl lifts are also easier to scrape down with the paddles, whips, or hooks still attached. Simply lower the bowl, scrape, lift, continue. The tilt head attachments tend to get in the way and you end up with batter on the back of your hand. Not a deal breaker but kinda annoying when you’re already a messy baker.
Stand Mixer Accessories
I love my KitchenAid glass bowl for the Artisan. It is really great for things I need to keep cool like whipping cream and it’s beautiful for my tutorial photos. There are a ton of beautiful bowls to choose from and I highly advise buying an extra bowl to have on hand. Nothing like a dirty bowl ruining your baking flow.
There is a glass version for bowl lifts but they have major issues with breaking. I highly advise against them.
The only downside to the glass mixing bowl is it’s heavy as f*ck. I can’t use my scale with it because it maxes out the 5 lb limit immediately. (Might be time to upgrade to the 11 lb scale.)
Stand Mixer Attachments
Every hub attachment works with every mixer no matter what.
My favorite attachment is the pasta maker. Anyone who have ever cranked a manual pasta knows it takes major coordination to operate the machine and wrangle the dough. It’s never an enjoyable or neat process. The Kitchenaid Pasta Maker makes it fun.
My next attachment will likely be the ice cream maker.
Best KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Bread
If you intend on making a lot of bread, you need an all metal gear system. Metal is only used in vintage bowl lifts or the brand new Pro Line Series 7 Quart Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer. This does not include Pro 600, Professional 6500, Professional HD, Professional 5,
Pro Line Recommended Products
If you go with the Pro Line, go ahead and get the 5 quart bowl as well. A 7 quart bowl is way too big for everyday recipes and you will not be able to mix efficiently.
Making bread in a tilt-head stand mixer is like wrestling a bucking bronco. You have to hold the machine down from the top as it kneads so it doesn’t buck off the counter. Yes, I’ve come close to this happening.
Bowl lifts tend to be heavier and more stable so you don’t have to worry about holding it down to while kneading bread dough.
Best KitchenAid Stand Mixers
Budget: Vintage 5 Quart Bowl Lift or Professional HD
Vintage KitchenAid stand mixers were built to last. They are still great machines and can be bought for around $100. Get a vintage 5 quart bowl lift mixer in good condition. They are the best bang for your buck with plenty of available upgrades like modern attachments and accessories. Replacement parts are easy to find and they can handle kneading bread.
New: Pro Line 7 Quart Bowl Lift w/ 5 Quart Bowl add on
If you want the best available new KitchenAid stand mixer, the Pro Line 7 quart model is the best before having to move up into the commercial line.
A note on 6 Quart KitchenAid Stand Mixer Models
Don’t.
KitchenAid 6 quart stand mixers seem to be sold mostly at Costco for very little money compared to their other models. There’s a reason people. Finding replacement accessories is about impossible. Even the official KitchenAid website only lists the wire whip as a replacement option.
5 quarts models are the easiest to find replacement paddles, whips, hooks, and bowls for. Make it easy on yourself and resist the low 6 quart price.
Krystal says
My kitchenaid paddle attachment was also flaking! I’m so grateful you gifted me that amazing stainless steel one. I’m going to get the whisk and dough hook one too. They are so worth it.
Austin says
I talked to a Kitchenaid rep recently, October 2020, and they confirmed that most models now have all metal gearboxes. The proline 7qt does, as well as the bowl lift 6qt, and I believe the 5qt bowl lift as well, although we only talked about that model briefly.
Genevieve says
Yes, as I stated in the post, the Pro Line does come with all metal gears but is $630 & has been out of stock online all year. The 6 quart is terrible for finding replacement bowls & paddles bc it’s such a weird size, & until I see one in person, the 5 quarts are still plastic gears.
I still recommend the best bang for your buck is seeking out vintage models.
Loretta Westover says
Where can I purchase an 8 quart model, without waiting for 3 months.
Genevieve says
You might as well order now because I’ve seen all the machines out of stock all year. With the parts coming from China, there have been major manufacturing delays.
Ebay is a great place for finding machines this year.
Kate says
Thank you for this very helpful article! I am wondering more about the timeline of the mixers and when problematic changes were made to the construction. I have a K5SS (recently acquired) that was manufactured in 1989- were they already making poorer mixers (plastic parts, etc) by then?
Genevieve says
1989 is a weird in between year where old stock was being sold at the same time new nylon gears were being used. Open her up & see! The lubricant definitely needs to be changed out no matter what anyways & you can change out the gear while it’s open too.
Kate says
Thank you! I am so intimidated to open it up and find out what’s happening, but I’m watching some videos online to try to prepare. I’ll let you know if I discover anything interesting!
Genevieve says
It’s not too hard. The hardest part is knocking the pin out of the area where the paddle attaches. Definitely get a punch from the hardware store.
If you need a maintenance manual, I have two. One for the SS (solid state) models & one for the others. I’d be happy to email them so you can keep them on hand.
Kate says
Thank you, that would be so helpful! I’m planning to tackle the job soon!
Jan says
I currently am using my 30+ year old KSM90 that was dropped a couple years ago. It now ‘walks around’ so I have to hold it in place. I would buy another of the same, but the bowl is too small for me when making a large cake and flour, especially, gets all over the place. Is there a vintage KitchenAid larger than 4.5 quarts since the 5 quart ones’ bowl is not that much larger than mine. I don’t really want to buy a new, 7 quart ProLine machine due to the price and want metal gears. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Genevieve says
Does it “walk” because maybe the feet need to be replaced? I’d try fixing your current one first. My newer 5 quart tilt head is really bad about getting flour everywhere so a larger capacity is not the answer unfortunately.
Jan says
No, the piece where the beater, whip, etc. attaches is bent, I think. When it is on it makes a lot of noise and ‘walks’ mostly sideways. My feeling was that the 5 quart wouldn’t be much of an improvement in keeping flour in the bowl.
Renee says
He Genevieve,
I am looking at buying a used commercial KitchenAid Model KM25G. Are all the commercial makes metal gears? I am trying to make large batches of bread.
Thank you.
Genevieve says
Yes, all the commercial grade machines have metal gears.
Nettie says
I found this article quite helpful…thank you!
I just purchased a refurbished KV25g0x (5qt) directly from KitchenAid because my 1994 Classic was struggling kneading bread dough using 5 cups of flour. So far my upgrade machine has been great. I decided to give the Classic to my daughter, but before I did, I wanted to re-grease it (recently learned this was a good thing to do). I bought grease, gasket and a new worm gear thinking I might as well change the gear out, To my surprise, when I opened the case, I found a metal worm gear with no wear! What year did KitchenAid switch over to plastic worm gears?
Genevieve says
They switched in the late 80s when Hobart sold Kitchenaid so it’s hard to nail down the date when they ran out of metal gears and started using the nylon.
It definitely needed new lubricant so not a waste of time. Both of mine run much cooler after switching them to Superlube.
Nettie says
Thanks Genevieve…I guess I lucked out on the metal worm gear!
I never had thoughts of changing the grease, but recently I used a hub attachment for the first time ever and started making bread. Realized my machine was struggling a little and noisy. One of the reasons could be that I was not paying attention to speed using the dough hook(speed 2 only!) or the meat grinder attachment.
Duh!…another plus for reading directions! All good now.
I am ready to perform surgery again on another vintage KitchenAid. Maybe I will come across a machine that needs TLC while I am thrifting!