I purchased the artisan mixer in "Cranberry" and it is a beautiful addition to my kitchen. It is well-made and seems to work well. However, there are some design improvements that could be made to make it much more user-friendly. 1) It's quite heavy and difficult to move, especially if it needs to be stored away. A handle on top or a carrying case would allow for easier portability. 2) The mixing attachments and bowl design are beautiful, but not as functional as I would have liked. Ex. When whisking pudding mix with the wire whip there was still mix left in the bottom of the mixing bowl that had not been blended. The mixing bowl does not have a flat bottom so the mix got stuck in the crevices. The pointed shape of the attachments is supposed to account for this, but the whip didn't do a complete job. Plus, if you're using the pouring shield during the mixing process, you can't easily scrape the bottom of the bowl to correct this. When using the flex edge beater (additional purchase) for whipping up a cream cheese filling, it did a great job of scraping the sides, but left a ridge of partially mixed ingredients toward the top of the bowl. So I still had to scrape the sides to get what was in the top of the bowl back into the mixture. Perhaps the attachment needs to be made taller to account for this. 3) The pouring shield is great for keeping powdery mixtures and liquidy ingredients from splattering all over the countertop. However, the shield does not cover the entire circumference of the bowl so ingredients still splatter onto the machine itself. It would have been a better design to have it to cover the entire bowl circumference to make cleaning the machine easier. It would also have allowed for users to place the pouring shield opening on either side of the bowl which would accommodate left-handed versus right-handed users. There are some other minor suggestions I could make, but overall it's a very solid piece of equipment and worth the $s.

I ordered this late Thursday afternoon, Christmas Eve Day, and it arrived Sunday! SUNDAY PEOPLE! I was not expecting it to arrive so quickly since it was Christmas weekend! Even with my Prime account I never thought the good people working in shipping could get it loaded on a truck that fast with the volume they must deal with on Christmas! And even with receiving my standard "2 day guarantee" email, I still didn't expect it until Tuesday, Monday at the earliest...I mean seriously, it's Christmas after all! I couldn't have been more wrong! Not only did it arrive Sunday, it was here at 9 am! 9 AM PEOPLE! (Ok ok I'll stop with that) I'm just still so impressed, over a week later, with the shipping! Ok so on to the mixer. It's PERFECT! The box arrived without one squish mark, my beautiful Green Apple mixer, bowl, and attachments are all scratch and defect free. Since it is brand new I did take a wet paper towel and wiped off all the bare metal, and screws, of any small amounts of left over metal shavings or oil, that was there as others have commented but was genuinely minimal. The stainless bowl DOES need more than Dawn and a sponge for the first wash. I did the Dawn and sponge first, rinsed it out, then squeezed lemon juice all around the inside and sprinkled with baking soda (thanks for the tip other reviewers!) And then just rubbed it all around the inside, only using paper towels, til it wiped clean...Easy peasy! I did a double check with a clean towel to make sure it was truly clean and it was. I made cookies the same day, every speed setting worked smoothly and the locking latch also worked great (I totally lifted the machine...and maaaaybe shook it a bit...just to make sure...sorry warranty people) My cookies turned out perfect and when I washed the bowl after and there was no medal or gray color wiping off. Everything is GREAT! I've always wanted a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer and I couldn't be happier! It makes me smile every time I walk in the kitchen and see it!

I grew up with a Kitchen Aid in my house and was very happy to purchase this one. I chose the slightly more expensive Artisan model (over the basic model) because of the handle on the bowl (super useful) that I was used to from my parent's model (which is still going strong after 25+ years) and because it came with the splatter shield (plastic piece on top).

Unfortunately, the new splatter shield KitchenAid KPS2CL Pouring Shield for 4-1/2 and 5-Quart Stand Mixers , instead of making a full circle as my parents did, is horseshoe shaped and made out of lighter plastic. When you try to mix basically anything (even on the lowest speed), it sprays the flour out the back and up under the crack between the bowel and the rest of the plastic shield because it doesn't make the same close contact that the older models did. This is a serious design flaw and quite annoying since they had a version that worked much better before. In addition to having the splatter shield in place, I now either wrap a dishcloth tightly around the whole top of the kitchen aid, turn the low power on for less than a second to get the paddle to move but not to go to full speed (and repeat until the liquid/solids are mixed enough that they won't fly out), or I just turn it on and then clean up the mess off a 1-foot radius (that unfortunately includes the floor).

Despite this drawback, I gave it 5-stars because having this stand mixer is so awesome for cooking and baking. I moved to the UK and just took my kitchenaid hand mixer (to use with an upconverter) and realized how inconvenient it is. The stand mixer allows me to be mixing while I am looking for other ingredients or preparing other steps. The different attachments (including the Flex Edge Beater) work much better than the single set of whisks for hand mixer. I use the Flex Edge Beater (has a spatula like edge that somewhat scrapes the bowl whilst it is mixing) for cookies, cakes, muffines, scones. I use the bread hook for bread (very fun not having to hand knead). And the whisk for whipping cream, cheesecake, frittatas. I find that I bake more and make more interesting foods because of the convenience of the mixer. My spouse and work colleagues appreciate it too.

The best part is the US kitchen aid works just fine here in the UK with the upconverter too (make sure the converter is for the appropriate number of watts), and I can bring it back to the US when we return. I am expecting this KitchenAid to last as long as my parents' KitchenAid, which they have been using continuously. If one can divide the cost over 20-30 years, the mixer becomes very economical indeed. I have not tried any of the attachments for pasta making, etc.

I have wanted a pink Kitchen Aid mixer for years. I got a nice bonus from work and decided to treat myself. I work at a bakery and know how much easier it is to use a stand mixer for cookies as opposed to the hand mixer I have used at home for years. What I didn't know was how easy it would be making pizza dough in one of these. I love pizza and when I stopped eating white breads several years ago, it was the hardest giving up pizza. It was then that I discovered a delicious recipe for whole wheat pizza dough and began making my own pizzas. It was so much work, though, all the kneading the dough required to make sure it was the correct consistency. Upon receiving my mixer, I put it to work immediately - I wanted to see if/how it would make pizza dough easier to make. IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN EASIER. I put the dough hook attachment on, threw all of my ingredients into the bowl and turned it on. The hook mixed the ingredients very quickly and once everything was mixed, I increased the speed and let the pizza dough knead away for 15 minutes while I sat down with a good novel! At the end of 15 minutes, I pulled the dough off the hook and let it rise according to the recipe directions. When it came time to bake and eat the pizza, I was amazed. The crust was amazing. The best crust I have ever made. I chalk it up to FINALLY being able to knead the dough the way that the recipe intended for it to be kneaded - and my forearms and hands were not sore the next day! Since then, I have made cookies quickly (and somehow, using the mixer, cleanup seems quicker) and the butter and sugar was so much easier to cream than using the hand mixer. I will not give up my hand mixer just yet, but from my experiences with my new Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, it will definitely be my second choice in mixers.

Oh, and as a side note - the pink color is GORGEOUS. Reminds me of that 1950's pink that used to be in my Aunt's kitchen. I love it and am going to decorate my kitchen around the color of this mixer. You can't go wrong with this color pink!

35 years ago I got the larger KitchenAid to use in bread making and grinding flour, the one that cranks the bowl up. It was impressive in both power and construction but alas it now belongs to someone else.

This is the little brother (325 watt vs 575 watt motor). It was also purchased for use in bread making and grinding flour. It has a couple of advantages over its big brother: (1) it fits on the counter under the cupboards and (2) the tilt head makes getting the mixing bowl in and out easier than was the case with the larger KitchenAid mixer.

While the construction of this unit seems to be as good as the old one the assembly left a bit to be desired. The ring around the drive for the beaters was not properly seated (easily fixed) and the label band was not properly seated at the back where it is screwed to the housing, which took a little more work to fix properly. Finally, the slot for the anti-twist pin that all attachments have needed to be radiused on the bottom, the casting had excess material that prevented the pins from seating properly and needed to be cut away. Not too much work to fix.

Otherwise it arrived in perfect condition.

The mixing beaters work fine for mixing dry or sloppy ingredients. The dough hook works fine for a standard loaf of bread dough, not sure how it will do with dough for two loaves.

The splatter shield leaves a lot to be desired. It does not attach to the bowl firmly, it is a bit warped so it does not sit down properly all the way around, and it needs to be held in place by hand. It isn't really needed if the speed is started slow and not raised too much while mixing ingredients. This part has been squirreled away in a dark place as a useless piece of equipment.

To grind flour I purchased a Mockmill which attaches to the KitchenAid as if it were OEM equipment, an item I'll review once it has been used a few times. The Mockmill, as advertised, is shown attached to this KitchenAid model so I'm sure it has more than enough power to grind flour with this mill.

My take on all those broken beaters mentioned in other reviews is that they were used to mix ingredients that were either too viscous for that beater or the speed was set too high. That said I'm not impressed with the dough hook but the shape is right and it seems to have no trouble kneading enough dough for one loaf. Purchasing a backup may be a good idea.

To avoid destroying the machine should something lock up the beater KitchenAid put one gear in the drive train that will break up so as not to damage the rest of the drive train. The replacement isn't too expensive so it is my recommendation that one backup replacement should be kept on hand to avoid putting the machine out of commission until the replacement part arrives. Probably overkill though.