Butcher

Recipes 

My wife has hinted that she would love to have one and I was thinking of saving up for one. I don't mind paying a lot as long as I get my money's worth. So what features are good on these? Any complaints about them?

mr_goodwrench

Recipes 

We got our Heavy Duty as a wedding gift 14 years ago and it has seen plenty of use. In fact, today I used it to make English muffin dough and grind breakfast sausage. Tomorrow, it will be making dough for baguette and whatever else we decide to throw at it.

My only complaint is that it is a 5 quart model. I would prefer a larger model. They just came out with a 7 quart model that we will hopefully upgrade to later this year.

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tv187u

Recipes 

We love our 5quart model heavy duty. It's mostly used for cookies and what not. I only do bread in it once in a great while. And find that it is plenty big enough for our usage.

drkaeppel

Recipes 

These things are bomb-proof. My gf just bought one and loves it. My mom has had her kitchen aid for over 25 years.

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-Dave

"Give a man a beer, he'll drink for the day.Teach a man to brew, he'll be drunk the rest of his life." -Anonymous

joeybeer

Recipes 

We love ours... Bulletproof. Your mention of "I don't mind paying a few $ for quality" sums this up perfectly., this thing is a workhorse - you'll be surprised how much you'll use it over the next several decades . We have the standard red model

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Kegged :
15 gallons of Yellow Bucket Light
~1 gallon of Little Miss Muffet Cider

Fermenter :
12 gallons of Under Pressure Brown Ale
5 gallons of Dead Guyish IPA for a competition

copyright1997

Recipes 

Although they are more money and have limited color options, if your wife intends to do a lot of baking, get the professional model. Much stonger motor. I researched these quite a but before buying (about 5-10 years ago). I will post the model when I get home.

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Pri/Conditioning: Brown Ale
In Keg: Cherry Soda, Kabe's Secret APA,Dales
From Keg to Bottle:Clones of: SNPA, Victory Hop Devil, Mirror Pond, Red Rocket Ale, SN Celebration, Blue Moon, Bell's Two Hearted; Centennial Blonde, English Style IPA with EKG, Captain Hooked on Bitters, Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH (DeathBrewer Recipe), Nut Brown Ale, Vienna/ Cherry Wheat Ale, Root Beer, Lakefront IPA, Golden Nugget Ale, Pilsner, Shandy Blonde,Cream of 3 Crops,Sculpin Ballast Point IPA!

blizzard

Recipes 

I love mine, even though I don't use it as much as I would like. My one complaint is that I have one where the bowl cranks up and down and I wish I had one with with a mixer head that tilted so that it would be easier to add ingredients on the fly.

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Primary/Secondary/Bottles/Kegged: Delicious, delicious beer

weirdboy

Recipes 

Yeah, I love mine and us it all the time. I bake bread with it frequently, and also use it for various sweet stuff like cookie dough, cakes, and making whipped cream.

I have considered getting the grinder sausage stuffer attachment for it, but i have read some complaints in various places (including here on HBT) about that being a pain in the butt.

Bottenbrew

Recipes 

I have the professional series model and I love it, easily worth the money spent.

bad67z

Recipes 

The only small appliance used more in our kitchen is the coffee pot. These things are tough as nails. We have had ours for 15 years and uses it a number of time every week. The ice cream attachment is one of our favorite accessories, there is nothing better than homemade frozen custard. The only advice I would give is similar to when buying a brew pot buy more than you think you will need. And if you up for a road trip you can visit the their factory store in Greenville.