Please talk me out of this...

[Frugal Nurse]

Last week I broke my little cheapie hand mixer that I've had for 6 years (originally cost me like 7 bucks or something). For all of this time, I have been lusting over a Kitchenaid mixer. They are so pretty and shiny, and not having to hold the mixer would be so nice!

The on my left shoulder says get the new, over-priced, keeping up with the Joneses Kitchenaid.

The on my right shoulder says to use my Rite Aid rewards to get another handheld (I have a $20 gift of savings reward that I need to burn, and wouldn't you know it they have a decent one for just that price...)

Please tel me that the Kitchenaid mixers are overpriced pieces of junk so the will win! Because right now the thought of getting the cheap one is so...unexciting.

[Deleted]

The Kitchenmaid thing is just overpriced chrome. The free handmixer would work soooo much better!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

My neighbor, who bakes the most wonderful breads, muffins and cupcakes, LOVES her Kitchenaid Mixer she got last year. She raves about it. She loves it. She talks to it! And she really really really enjoys using it.

I've never felt that way about a kitchen appliance, but she sure seems to be enjoying the relationship.

[Deleted]

Molly! You are NOT helping!

[Opti]

I like my KitchenAid mixer but it does have its disadvantages. The cheap handheld mixer sounds like a great idea for now. The KitchenAid was much more useful for me when I made bread regularly, now not so much.

The handheld mixer also doesn't need permanent counter space.

[Gardening Grandma]

Hm,
DH has asked me if I wanted a KitchenAid mixer and I told him "no". I'm very happy with my little hand held mixer. It doesn't take up counter space (I really try to have uncluttered counters). It's not heavy and cumbersome and it's so easy to clean. What's the attraction? "New" and "shiny"??

Why not get a better quality hand held mixer that is also "new" and "shiny" but not overpriced like the KA?

[pepperdoo]

You could just meet yourself halfway and get a Kitchen Aid hand mixer. I've had mine for over 7 years and it's so powerful it mixes cookie dough and bread doughs.

[Peace77]

Ask for a mixer on Freecycle and see what happens.

[Frugal Nurse]

I do a lot of baking and cooking from scratch, so having a mixer that will hold up is important, however it seems that even the cheap ones will last a long time. Do we have it in the budget? Yes, but I hate to spend a lot of money on stuff without being able to justify it.

I'm not sure what my attraction to the kitchenaid is, which is why I want to be talked out of buying it. I guess because it is kind of considered the gold-standard for mixers, and they are nice looking.

I would use it often, it would not sit in storage. It would take up counter space, which DH would hate.

[Frugal Nurse]

Jan 19, 2011 19:15:55 GMT -5 @justaposter said:

The Kitchenmaid thing is just overpriced chrome. The free handmixer would work soooo much better!

Haha thanks!

[honeybunny66]

Sorry but I love my KA mixer. It was a 2009 Xmas present along with some Paula Deen pots. Yes, I requested them. It reminds me of watching my grandmother and aunts throw down in the kitchen back in the day. I try to come up with old recipes and see it I can make stuff to taste like theirs. Not quite but getting there.

[Frugal Nurse]

I also like that the kitchenaid mixer has so many attachments.... But the hand held would be free.... decisions decsions....

[dancinmama]

Jan 19, 2011 19:13:27 GMT -5 Frugal Nurse said:

Last week I broke my little cheapie hand mixer that I've had for 6 years (originally cost me like 7 bucks or something). For all of this time, I have been lusting over a Kitchenaid mixer. They are so pretty and shiny, and not having to hold the mixer would be so nice!

The on my left shoulder says get the new, over-priced, keeping up with the Joneses Kitchenaid.

The on my right shoulder says to use my Rite Aid rewards to get another handheld (I have a $20 gift of savings reward that I need to burn, and wouldn't you know it they have a decent one for just that price...)

Please tel me that the Kitchenaid mixers are overpriced pieces of junk so the will win! Because right now the thought of getting the cheap one is so...unexciting.

If you have used a hand mixer for six years, it seems that you don't REALLY NEED anything more than that. Yes, the Kitchen Aid might be a "nice to have", but it's gonna cost quite pretty penny AND you'll be looking at it every day, taking up counter space, and wonder why the heck you bought it.

I had a Sunbeam Mixmaster for years, but I always seemed to grab the hand mixer. It was quick, easy, and I could use any bowl I wanted to use, etc. I finally sold the Sunbeam in a garage sale.

I don't think that the Kitchen Aid is a piece of junk. I do think that they are overpriced and, for most cooks/bakers, unnecessary.

[Opti]

If you really are going to use the KitchenAid mixer they can be very helpful.
I never did get any of the attachments however the meat grinder can be very useful. I had a friend help turn a cheap cut of beef into ground meat for me and have seen others use it to make homemade sausage, etc.
Think the pasta attachment works OK if I remember correctly.

I love mine, but my current kitchen counter is quite small so I don't use it as much as I used to. Never replaced my hand mixer when it died so its my KitchenAid or the whisk.

[Frugal Nurse]

Thanks Dancin!

[Opti]

I agree if you've lived with a handmixer this long you don't really need one.
Besides bread, I loved the KitchenAid for a brownie recipe I have where you beat the eggs and sugar for a long time. I used to have to rest the handmixer when I had it so the motor wouldn't burn out but it was a non-issue for the KitchenAid and I could use a higher speed and beat the eggs for a shorter time.

Enjoy whatever choice you make. You can always make a different one in the future!

[dancinmama]

Jan 19, 2011 19:42:00 GMT -5 Frugal Nurse said:

Thanks Dancin!

I've seen the price tag on those KA's and all I can say is, "That's a lot of OOP!!"

[Sharon]

I had a Sunbeam stand mixer for years. It only needs new beaters and it would probably still work just fine. I bent the crap out of one of the beaters. It was a lot less expensive than the kitchen aid. I now own a kitchen aid and in my ways I like the way the Sunbeam worked better. You can probably get a sunbeam for about half the price.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I have a KitchenAid hand mixer that I managed to score at Williams Sonoma for a great price. It does the few things I ask of it, but I've not done a lot of baking at home recently. However, I covet the stand mixer and the 2 do not do anywhere near the same thing. TD has a KA Stand mixer and that sucker will do ANYTHING. You can throw all the ingredients into the bowl to make bread, turn it on and 10 min later, you have a ball of bread dough for rising.

The next thing I want to try is to make pasta and it has an attachment to roll out pasta......

IMO, if you do a lot of heavy baking and can swing it, go for the stand mixer. You also may want to look at Cuisinart stand mixers. they got very good reviews in Cooks Illustrated too.

[upstatemom]

I love mine. It was on sale at Kohls and I had a 30% coupon

[mtntigger]

It's not worth it! I replaced my Oskar food processor (20 years old) with the Kitchenaid. The Kitchenaid ONLY mixes! So, I still have my Oskar around for blending, chopping, and grating.
I wish I looked around more for an equivalent replacement instead of falling into the hype.
Did that help?

[kansasflower]

I was given a kitchen aid mixer as a gift. A few years later, the person who gave it to me visited and commented that it was too loud. I'd never had anything other than hand mixers, and thought that the kitchen aid was supposed to sound like a 747 taking off, lol. Oh and the locking mechanism never worked, allowing me to raise the mixer arm while the mixer is spinning (makes a great mess, by the way ). Count me as a vote for stick with a hand mixer and stay away from the overpriced, piece of junk kitchen aid.

[montanatransplant]

I have a Sunbeam that is 30+ years old (Harvest Gold) and it is still working just fine.

In addition to a stand mixer, sister-in-law has a portable Kitchenaide mixer that she says works quite well.

Consumer Reports rates one of the Kitchenaide models quite highly and it isn't the top-priced one. Purchased one for our daughter for Christmas from Kohls. Think that after all coupons tendered it would have been under $200, but couldn't find all the paperwork before the offer expired (another instance of being disorganized costs a person MONEY).

Good luck--do post your decision and the cost, PLEASE??

[Deleted]

Use the reward bucks!

[Tiny]

Ok, probably not what you want to hear - but I have a hand held Kitchen Aid mixer. I LOVE the thing. I had a crappy 70's era handmixer that I hated to use - it wasn't powerful, was hard to hold, couldn't rest it on the counter, and on and on. I think I paid about $45 for the hand held Kitchen Aid (it got the highest ratings on America's Test Kitchen for a hand held mixer. The opinion was also if you didn't have counter space for the big KA mixer - the hand held was the way to go.). I think I used some Rewards dollars from my Credit Card for it ... so it was kinda free... sorta...
Why not use your rebate/reward or whatever to buy something else that you need and then put that amount of Cash into an envelope and find $5 or $10 a week to add to it until you can buy the KA hand held. Just a suggestion. You get the wonderful power and convenience and different attachements of a KA without spending completely foolishly. That's what smart spending is all about - getting the MOST enjoyment from your money while still achieving your long term money goals.

[stantonjane]

How much do you use a mixer? If you love to bake and use a mixer on an at least weekly basis, I would very much consider investing in a Kitchenmaid mixer. The base model, which you can still pick up under $200, not the shiny cool colors one going for $300 at the higher-end stores. We are using a KitchenAid mixer, harvest gold, my hubby's mom bought in the 70s and used for many years before passing it on to him. It is a champ for working. My hubby can bake up a storm, tho.

The drawback is that it is a very large and very heavy appliance. We don't have the room to leave it on our countertop, so it's stored on a shelf in our pantry, and we have to grunt it out when we need it. We do love it, though, and can't imagine getting rid of it. Can't imagine it breaking, tho I guess that could happen. The thing's built like a tank.

[Agatha]

Frugal nurse, you are making me salivate! I've been lusting after an apple green Kitchenaid for two years now. But between my very large Cusinart food processor (now almost 30 years old. . .good grief!) and a handheld little mixer for small jobs I really can't justify it. No, not even if I wait for it to go on sale at the store my nephew works out (and if he buys it for me ...discount!)

But only you know what your cooking style is. Bake bread? Hand-kneading is a wonderful stress reducer but sometimes you just want to get it done! Thinking of taking up more complex things? Bake loads of goodies for friends and neighbors?

If you can say yes or justify I'm going play devil's advocate here . and say go for it. But giving your a say in the matter save up for it! If you satisfy both of them I think you will be doing a happy dance when it finally arrives in your kitchen.

Is this talking you out of it? Probably not. . .guess I'd better

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

I have a question for those of you that have the Kitchen Aid hand held mixer. Does it work well for triple and quadruple cookie batches? How well does it work for mixing bread dough? Does the hand held last as well as a stand mixer? I have burned out cheaper hand helds to mix cookie dough.

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2011 6:48:59 GMT -5 Lady Gaga Gaga Snerd said:

I really can't justify it.

Who is everyone "justifying" their purchases too? If I want something I buy it. I don't care if anyone thinks it is "justified". I don't even know what that means.

You're on the Smart Spending board Snerdley. We are aware that every purchase is a trade off with something else, either something else we want or more savings or paying down debt. So we "justify" our spending.

[Frugal Nurse]

Snerdly- I currently am in school working my butt off to go from LPN-RN. Every purchase I make I think "wow, I have to work X amount of hours to pay for that". When I graduate I will have a little student loan debt to pay off. We are also trying to start a family, so I have to consider that when making big purchases (and right now, i consider $300 a big purchase). When I am not in school anymore and have my RN job secured, I will feel a lot better about spending that kind of money. But for now, I have to justify it. Yes, we could afford it, but the that is money I couldn't spend on something else (like a weekend away with DH). If I bought everything I wanted, we'd be flat broke and in more debt than we could handle.