Kitchenaid Stand Mixers - A Great Gift!

I'll say it again, if you are a serious baker or cook, you need a heavy duty stand mixer. Baking one loaf of bread in a bread maker is not a serious cook, although it is fun for children. I am not throwing stones at anyone. Everyone starts somewhere and appliances that are designed to do one job often do that job well, as do bread makers!)

But if you are really serious about working your kitchen, turning out marvelous meals that have people taking about them years later, you need some serious tools. And the Kitchenaid Professional Stand Mixers are on that list. If you do not have one, consider giving yourself one or to a loved one who is a serious cook.

Giving a chief a gift that belongs in the kitchen is difficult at best. But, I promise you that if your chief does not have a great stand mixer, you will reap a ton a good will with a Kitchen Aid Stand mixer.

If the chief has one, then consider giving them the accessories pack or a soft edge beater. There are a multitude of things the mixer can do with add-ons. You can grind meat or cranberries, make ice cream or grate carrots for a carrot cake. There are a ton of things that you can do with one of these great mixers.

There are so many different colors, you can co-ordinate with nearly any color scheme. Below, I tell you of my journey with these marvelous machines.

Like many cooks, I really needed a heavy duty mixer. One that would stand up to the way I cook, bake - whatever I do in the kitchen.

I really did not even think about color. It was a long time ago when I got my first Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.How long ago, you ask? It was so long ago, they did not even call them Stand Mixers. It was simply a Kitchenaid mixer and they came in - yes, - white. only! (Please don't try to guess my age. It would embarrassing for me and you would be wrong.)

The color certainly did not matter. I have recipes that call for creaming butter and sugar for forty-five (45) minutes. And you can taste the difference if you beat the batter for less time. My mixer is used every day so it must able to work hard, all the time. I had gone through a number of mixers before deciding to spend the money on a Kitchenaid.

Now days, there are much more expensive brands on the market, but I am so happy with mine that I would not change brands for any reason.

This first mixer went out the door with a daughter who did not want a new one, but the one that 'Mom" had been using. She is still using it after ten plus years in her kitchen and the ten in mine..

So on to the next one!

And a Beauty it was! This one too, left as a gift to the next child. I am just glad that we did not have ten kids. I never would have been able to keep a mixer in the kitchen.

This one was bought to replace the white one and the color went with a new kitchen that was black and white. You can read about that kitchen at http://kitcheninteriordesign.net. We had much fun remodeling the kitchen but cooking while remaking the kitchen was impossible. In fact, I ending up cooking else where during the reconstruction that took months. We actually took a bathroom and made shelves so I would have some flat space.

This beauty fit into a new drawer designed just for it in the new kitchen, although it did not spend much time there. It was nice to have a place to store it away from all the fuss that sometimes goes on in the kitchen. It came out of the drawer with no problems as was ready to go to work anytime it was needed.

None of the children have red kitchens, so I felt safe in choosing this color. I was delighted to find that the accent color was a joy to see in the mornings, placed on a butcher block table in the window.

I have talked about color, but the real strength of the mixer is its motor and mixing ability. I love meringue on lemon or lime pies. I have always used home-made whipped cream on any dessert - whether it is fresh fruit like strawberries or raspberries or a pie,right out of the oven. Besides, who needs the carbon dioxides that are used to expel canned whipped cream?

Don't misunderstand me, there are many food stuffs that I use in my kitchen that are commercially produced, but there are somethings that I think are just better. (Do not make my own butter, for example but do bake breads.)

In the end, if you bake a little or a lot and you like really good kitchen equipment, get yourself a Kitchenaid mixer, you will not be sorry.