KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart
Tilt-head; avoid the 5.5-quart KSM55 bowl-lift
Illustration of the product
▶ From a video review of this product
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- Bowl
- 5 quarts, tilt-head
- Bread dough
- Light duty only
Why it ranks here. The Artisan is the mixer everyone names first, and the one with decades of owner history behind it: units from the 1980s still running on a $25 gear. It ranks first for cakes, cookies and buttercream and for its attachments. It is not the mixer for frequent bread, and the 5.5-quart bowl-lift model is the one to avoid.
'We have had a Kitchenaid stand mixer since we got married (28 years ago). It is a work horse, and it never fails'↗, says one owner. Another has had hers 'for 35 years now'↗ with no service, and it once fell off the counter while running: 'The floor tile broke and the mixer was still running on the floor'↗. A 30-year-old one still mixes bread and pizza dough every week. KitchenAid replaced a secondhand owner's motor 'completely free of charge'↗ under a warranty he did not know he had. When one died at ten years, '$25 and 30 minutes of my time had it working as good as new'↗. The limits: 'If you use your mixer frequently for doughs, especially low hydration doughs, do not get a Kitchenaid'↗, says a baker whose 32-year-old mixer 'died on the 4th batch of bagels'↗. Skip the KSM55 bowl-lift, which has 'a weak gearbox design'↗. And some arrive with rough welds or grease on the bowl.
What owners like
“We have had a Kitchenaid stand mixer since we got married (28 years ago). It is a work horse, and it never fails. The Hamilton Beach mixer in the video looked like it would walk off the table if it weren't being held down. The Kitchenaid doesn't move.” — YouTube comment · @DM-mt7km · 2023-05-25
9 positive · 3 mixed · 2 negative · 14 voices · ✓ all 14 linked to source
Read all 14 quotes (14 voices)
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I had always used a Kitchenaid tilt head mixer but found the capacity to be a bit small for my needs, but overall liked it. I upgraded recently to the bigger capacity bowl lift version and I hate it so much. Even after many months of trying to get used to it I still can’t use it without thinking how much I hate it. I hate that it’s such a pain to add ingredients or even just scrape the bowl without a huge mess. It also does a terrible job mixing items toward the bottom even after scraping and doing an adjustment of the mixer itself so it’s at a correct depth.
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My 4.5 quart Kitchen Aid tilt head mixer is 30 years old, I use every week to mix bread and pizza dough. I've replaced a dough hook and the power cord. It's getting a little noisy, but still does the job.
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The ones you don't want are the KSM55, the 500 watt 5.5qt bowl lift models. They have a weak gearbox design, but you can swap in the motor, transmission, and control board from a 1.3HP DC motor model that makes it much more durable. The tilt head models (Classic, Artisan) are much more durable and use the old motor and gearbox design, and the higher end bowl lift models (Professional and Proline) use a more sturdy motor and gearbox design.
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If you use your mixer frequently for doughs, especially low hydration doughs, do not get a Kitchenaid. Our 32 year old 6qt lift mixer died on the 4th batch of bagels. Not the gears, it burnt up the motor... For batters and icings Kitchenaid is excellent
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I’ve never used the Cuisinart but I’ve had a kitchenaid artisan for about 8 years, it still works wonderfully! I’ve never had any issues with it and it’s seen heavy use as a run a home bakery. It does great with breads too.
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Thanks for your review, but what a shame about the bowl. For the money KA charges, these machines should be spotless, with no residue or oil, no scratches, no issues with the welding, etc. And they should use all stainless steel attachments because the burnished ones will turn ingredients gray.
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Hmmm. I just bought one of these. I hope their quality control has improved since you reviewed it... I just opened it up and I didn't see any flaws on the bowl or mixer. There was a spot of grease on the bowl but there wasn't any dents or welding problems.
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My mom got her kitchen aid for a high school graduation present over 30 years ago. Still going strong. Not a huge baking household, but certainly not underused by any means. Really impressed by the thing considering it's been around literally my whole life.
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For over a decade, I used a Kitchen Aid mixer in a manufacturing environment, mixing thick heavy pastes. The mixer was used so vigorously, the motor would become almost too hot to touch. It was bullet proof and ran as smoothly as the day it was bought.
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I’ve had my Kitchenaid stand mixer for 35 years now. I have never had it serviced and it still works like new. It has been abused... It even fell from the kitchen counter while I was making bread once. The floor tile broke and the mixer was still running on the floor… One bit of advice: do not buy the cheap attachments, be sure it is made by Kitchenaid.
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Bought my wife a Kitchenaid as a 5th anniversary present... It was $225 back in 2000. It has performed flawlessly as one of our most used kitchen appliances for 23 years. Use it for everything from bread making and CC cookies to meatloaf. Really minimal maintenance required with only a little tightening of the head’s attachment to the neck.
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I purchased one secondhand about 5 years ago. It was running into some minor issues... After stating my serial number the nice woman told me I still had warranty, and that I could send it to them. Upon return they did not just service the machine, but replaced the whole motor and some other stuff, completely free of charge!
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My Kitchen Aid finally died after 10 years of hard use. When this happens 95% of the time it's going to be the gearing inside the mixer... In my case $25 and 30 minutes of my time had it working as good as new.
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We have had a Kitchenaid stand mixer since we got married (28 years ago). It is a work horse, and it never fails. The Hamilton Beach mixer in the video looked like it would walk off the table if it weren't being held down. The Kitchenaid doesn't move.
