Most helpful client reviews
576 of 576 persons found the following review helpful.
I’m a satisfied Cuisinart convert!
By Steven J. Rickard
I’ve been a long-time fan of the KitchenAid mixer. My grandmother has been using the same KitchenAid mixer since the late 50s, and it’s still going strong. I was thrilled to get a KitchenAid “Ultra-Power” mixer as a gift regarding seven years ago, and it worked outstanding for occasional use. Over the past couple of years I’ve been doing more and more baking, and in regards to a year ago I started out making my own bread. After with regards to six months of using my KitchenAid to knead two loaves of whole-wheat bread each week or so, it made a terrible grinding noise, and stopped working. I decisive I’d better buy a new KitchenAid with a more powerful motor, and went online to see which was recommended. Much to my surprise, the reviews for the KitchenAid were no longer as positive as they had been. People were complaining when it comes to a decrease in quality and client service. The biggest complaint was that numerous metal constituents had been substituted by plastic, and while it sounded as if the company had not long back started making the elements out of metal again, people were giving tips on how to determine if the model you were purchasing had the metal or plastic gearboxes. On top of that, Cooks Illustrated rated the Cuisinart mixer above KitchenAid in a March 2008 review.
I did more exploration and found that the warranty was much better on the Cuisinart than on the KitchenAid. So, nervously, I decisive to switch from what I had always considered to be the top brand, and I purchased the Cuisinart.
My original impressions were mixed. I without delay liked the way the mixer looked, but I was nervous regarding it, because the body and the mixing paddles are much lighter in weight than on the KitchenAid. It lacks the solid, all-metal feel of the KitchenAid. Since the KitchenAid jittered all over the counter when I was using it to knead bread or even whip butter and sugar together for cookies, I figured the Cuisinart would in all likelihood fly off the counter. I decisive to use it finelooking hard for six months, and then write my review.
I’ve used it each seven to ten days to make two loaves of heavy, whole-grain bread, have made some batches of cookies and assorted cakes and I’m very happy to write that this is a GREAT mixer.
Much to my surprise, it doesn’t jitter at all, not even when I’m using it to knead bread. Ingredients are more exhaustively mixed, and I don’t need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula closely as oftentimes as I necessitated to with my KitchenAid. Counter space in my kitchen is limited, so I keep the mixer in a cupboard, and the lighter weight means that it’s much having little impact to move around. In my experience, the lighter weight has NOT affected, in any way, the performance.
Once, when I was kneading a lot of heavy dough on speed #4 for when it comes to twice as long as the popular seven or eight minutes (I’d forgotten to add salt to the bread and was attempting to knead it in) the mixer overheated and shut itself down. It hasn’t done that since, and frankly, I’d rather that occur than have the gears freeze up and totally destruct the gearbox, as happened with my KitchenAid. Another mainly cherished feature is that a great deal of clever person designed the bowl so that it’s easy to remove, even after I’ve applied the mixer to knead dough. The bowl on the KitchenAid would lock so tightly after kneading bread that I’d have to wrench it free, ordinarily skinning my knuckles in the process. Some reviewers complain that the bread dough “climbs” the kneading hook, making a mess. I find that the dough in truth climbs a lot less than it did when I applied my KitchenAid. One reviewer noted that she finds the splash guard for the most part useless, but I love it — I find it genuinely useful, not similar to the awkward, two-piece splash guard that came with my KitchenAid.
The timer function is nice, in particular now that I don’t need to stand over the mixer while it’s kneading, worrying that it’ll jitter it is way onto the floor. I don’t leave the room, but now I set the timer and let the mixer do it is thing while I prep other ingredients or grease the baking pans. I actually like the slow-start feature — no more cloud of flour when I turn on the mixer.
Basically, this mixer does everything my KitchenAid did, and does it better. The performance has been highly satisfactory, and if it breaks down any time in the next five years, it will still be beneath warranty … not similar to my KitchenAid, which was only covered for a year.
I don’t hate KitchenAid — I think the mixers are in all probability still a good product, overall. I recognise that I was using mine for more than it was designed to handle. However, I am happier with the Cuisinart and have commended it highly to assorted friends.
This is still a comparatively early review. I suppose stand mixers to last for at least a decade, and ideally for much longer. Six months after my purchase, I’m very happy with this machine. If anything happens to alter that, I’ll update this review.
January 29, 2009
I dropped my mixer! I was doing a lot of Christmas baking, the countertop was crowded, I put it too close to the edge of the counter and WHAM, it fell to the floor, landing hard, upside down. While I have no idea how the trauma will affect the overall life of the mixer, it still works fine. The top is a little askew now, and the hinged door at the front that covers the slow-speed power outlet will no longer stay closed. But: the mixer works as well as it ever did. I genuinely wish I hadn’t dropped it, but this is a strong peice of equipment. That was a hard fall from countertop height to a hardwood floor, and there appears to have been not one thing more than cosmetic damage. I’ve been baking as much as ever, and it still works beautifully.
September 4, 2010
Wow — I don’t oftentimes look back at my reviews, and when I came back today to make an update, I was astonished that so a great deal of persons found this helpful. Thanks! I hope if you purchased a mixer based on my recommendation that you’ve loved it. Mine is still going strong, and this evening over dinner, I commended it to a friend who was thinking of buying a new stand mixer.
Thank you to those who have commented, it adds a great deal of further and added clear or deep perception and balance. It was interesting reading the remarks — one person commented that this mixer didn’t in truth handle big batches of heavy rye dough, so you might want to keep that in mind if you make a LOT of bread. I’m still making a loaf or two each week and am rather pleased. One commenter noted that his KitchenAid mixer never moved around the countertop. Since I would have to in a literal sense hold my KitchenAid down while kneading bread, it makes me wonder how much variance you might find among person mixers. One of the things I still really, actually like regarding the Cuisinart is that it stays still for me, even when I’m kneading a couple of loaves-worth of bread dough. In fact, I’ve not so long ago stepped up my bread baking, because I’ve been experimenting with sourdough recipes. I’ve also been churning out a LOT of batches of cookies lately as I experiment with a new recipe. (I noticed today that my jeans are sentiment a bit tight around the waist. Maybe I need to experiment with something a bit lower-calorie. But, I digress.)
Anyway, I logged on this evening to say I’m still rather pleased with my mixer. Despite the tragic dropping incident over a year and a half ago, the Cuisinart is still working beautifully.
164 of 166 people found the following review helpful.
Great Warranty
By Drew K.
This is a comparatively new buy and it has been applied only a few times, but so far everything is working wonderfully. The slow start out and fold features are great; it keeps flour-type ingredients from dusting the kitchen counter, and the kitchen floor, and other kitchen appliances – you get the idea. I was happy that it likewise came with a splash guard for much the same reason! The design is sleek, the control knob works well, overall a good product.
There is one complaint I have: the top cover which also hides the accessory attachment area, is easy to remove. So much so that it occasionally comes off in an unintentional manner when raising the mixer head if you grab the faulty part. No big deal really, but something that must be looked at for future product development.
The main point I want to make is the strength of the warranty. To have a company stand behind their instrumentation by giving a 3 year product warranty and a 5 year motor warranty is very comforting. Compare that warranty to the one KitchenAid gives (1 year).
99 of 99 humans found the following review helpful.
WOW!
By Amanda Bucko
I purchased this to replace a 5 qt. KitchenAid Artisan. I do a little cake embellishing and I necessitated something that would handle huge batches of buttercream icing a couple times per week, as well as ordinary kitchen use. It was a toss up among this one and the KitchenAid Pro. I was a little nervous in regards to spending so much cash on something that doesn’t have the solid reputation that KitchenAid mixers have, but I’m so glad I took the chance! This is a terrifi mixer!! In my opinion, it is far superior to the KitchenAids in closely each way. I would commend this to anyone.
Pros:
It handles big and little quantities evenly well.
The more powerful motor is wonderful! It handles a large total of heavy dough and icing with ease.
The splash guard forms a tight seal. Not air tight, but when I make big batches of buttercream icing (using 5# of powdered sugar) it keeps in all the powdered sugar dust and I don’t have rather so much to clean up afterward. In fact, I have very little to clean up!
If you begin on a high speed it gets rapidly and without delay gradually so that you don’t end up splashing what is in the bowl all over you.
The timer turns the mixer off mechanically when time’s up. No more over mixing!!
The paddle, whisk and dough hook are dishwasher safe.
I can’t say anything with regards to the affixations as I don’t have any yet, but I love that I may add a blender or chopper to it without having to by the whole little appliance.
Cons:
It is for the most part plastic and accordingly much lighter than the KitchenAid. I haven’t found this to be a problem at all with it walking of wobbling like I thought I would. But, the plastic body makes it look kind of cheap.
It is louder than my KitchenAid was.
Overall, the cons are very minimal. I’ve not found them to be sufficient of a bother to skew my opinion of the mixer. I perfectly LOVE this mixer and I will never go back to KitchenAid!
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