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A few comments: - Stick blenders, at $20, are a steal. - Kitchenaid is a good mixer brand, but Breville also gets very high marks. - If you're going to bake

A few comments: - Stick blenders, at $20, are a steal. - Kitchenaid is a good mixer brand, but Breville also gets very high marks. - If you're going to bake even infrequently, the rolling pin is non-optional. A good solid rolling pin can also be used for whacking things (e.g. butter you want to soften but not melt) and as a cylindrical mold.

tptacek 14y ago
There are probably "better" stand mixers than Kitchenaid, but you want to be in the Kitchenaid ecosystem. Having a non-Kitchenaid mixer is like working in the receivables department of a Fortune 500 company and using Linux + OpenOffice. We have a pricy Vitamix blender, but I use my stick blender much more often regardless.
- euroclydon 14y ago
  We bought a refurbished KitchenAid mixer a couple of years ago. It's pretty big. I don't know the model right now. We made pasta for the first time last week. Threw a bag of semolina down on the counter; cracked some eggs on it and, with a very little water kneaded for a long time. It was very stiff. We started making spaghetti with the meat grinder extruded attachment. Half way through the batch the mixer started making a grinding noise. Turns out we stripped every damn tooth off a 45deg gear in the box. Best pasta I've ever eaten!!! I cleaned the gear box out and ordered new gears, gasket, and a ring. I'm putting it back together as soon as the grease comes in. I'm not sure how I'll make homemade pasta next time though.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
    If you make such a stiff dough then knead by hand. I did the same thing to my Kitchenaid a few years ago when kneading a too-large batch of challah. I have not damaged the replacement sacrificial plastic gear again (it's designed so just that cheap component will fail without causing more damage). I have taken apart lots of machinery and the inside of that Kitchenaid was beautifully made. I hope you repacked the grease when you reassembled it. For pastamaking, I have an Atlas hand cranked pasta roller/cutter with various size attachments I bought over 20 years ago. It' all steel construction and will probably work for another 20 years.
- jgraham 14y ago
  Possibly that's very US-centric advice? I have a Kenwood stand mixer which has better specs than Kitchenaids, which historical precedent suggests will last for decades and which has a large ecosystem of available attachments (I don't know how large in comparison, but frankly for some of the more esoteric things one is better off buying a dedicated tool anyway). I'm sure a Kitchenaid would have been a great purchase too, but there are definitely multiple viable choices here.
blacksmith_tb 14y ago
I've never heard them called "stick" before, but I was going to chime in that immersion blenders are more useful in everyday life (plus you don't have to wash anything else - puree that soup right in the pot you cooked it in).
m0nastic 14y ago
An empty wine bottle filled partly with water can substitute for a rolling pin (minus the "whacking things" use case you outlined) for people who really don't do much baking. We have a Vic Firth one that gets used about a half dozen times a day (my girlfriend has been on a year-long hardcore baking addiction...which while almost as costly as a meth addiction at least has the nice side-effect of keeping us in an embarrassment of breads, cookies, and pies).

tptacek 14y ago

There are probably "better" stand mixers than Kitchenaid, but you want to be in the Kitchenaid ecosystem. Having a non-Kitchenaid mixer is like working in the receivables department of a Fortune 500 company and using Linux + OpenOffice. We have a pricy Vitamix blender, but I use my stick blender much more often regardless.

euroclydon 14y ago
We bought a refurbished KitchenAid mixer a couple of years ago. It's pretty big. I don't know the model right now. We made pasta for the first time last week. Threw a bag of semolina down on the counter; cracked some eggs on it and, with a very little water kneaded for a long time. It was very stiff. We started making spaghetti with the meat grinder extruded attachment. Half way through the batch the mixer started making a grinding noise. Turns out we stripped every damn tooth off a 45deg gear in the box. Best pasta I've ever eaten!!! I cleaned the gear box out and ordered new gears, gasket, and a ring. I'm putting it back together as soon as the grease comes in. I'm not sure how I'll make homemade pasta next time though.
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
  If you make such a stiff dough then knead by hand. I did the same thing to my Kitchenaid a few years ago when kneading a too-large batch of challah. I have not damaged the replacement sacrificial plastic gear again (it's designed so just that cheap component will fail without causing more damage). I have taken apart lots of machinery and the inside of that Kitchenaid was beautifully made. I hope you repacked the grease when you reassembled it. For pastamaking, I have an Atlas hand cranked pasta roller/cutter with various size attachments I bought over 20 years ago. It' all steel construction and will probably work for another 20 years.
jgraham 14y ago
Possibly that's very US-centric advice? I have a Kenwood stand mixer which has better specs than Kitchenaids, which historical precedent suggests will last for decades and which has a large ecosystem of available attachments (I don't know how large in comparison, but frankly for some of the more esoteric things one is better off buying a dedicated tool anyway). I'm sure a Kitchenaid would have been a great purchase too, but there are definitely multiple viable choices here.

blacksmith_tb 14y ago

I've never heard them called "stick" before, but I was going to chime in that immersion blenders are more useful in everyday life (plus you don't have to wash anything else - puree that soup right in the pot you cooked it in).

m0nastic 14y ago

An empty wine bottle filled partly with water can substitute for a rolling pin (minus the "whacking things" use case you outlined) for people who really don't do much baking. We have a Vic Firth one that gets used about a half dozen times a day (my girlfriend has been on a year-long hardcore baking addiction...which while almost as costly as a meth addiction at least has the nice side-effect of keeping us in an embarrassment of breads, cookies, and pies).