Kitchenaids for $199 you Santas

At Macy's yesterday, they had the Artisan series 325W mixers for $299 w/ a mail in rebate for $20. In addition, the salesperson said that Macy's was also offering an additional 10% off (something they don't usually do on these appliances). That brings in down to $240 before the rebate. Might have to wrap one up for myself.

If I may inject my opinion based on over 20 years experience with KA mixers; I'm on my third one.....the first was a 325 watt model that lasted many years, but, finally burned up. The second was a 350 watt model that worked well for several years, but, I finally stripped the gears after several batches of sourdough bread (a very tough dough to deal with). Finally, I got the Professional 600 model which is 575 watts and is the largest one KA makes. It's a beauty and has plenty of quiet, raw power. If I had it to do all over again I would have gotten the 600 model to start with. I saw one on Amazon the other day for $299.....My advice, don't waste your money on those lower power units. They may last a while but, if you ever want to get into making bread such as sourdough, whole wheat, etc. that are a pretty tough dough you're gonna wish you had gone with the power unit.
I also have a Viking 1000 watt unit that has oodles of power but I still prefer the KA.....when I'm doing a serious bread making session I'll have both units going! Joan just shakes her head and goes shopping for the day so she doesn't have to see flour flying all over her kitchen! :laugh:

Before you go ahead and order that one you have to ask your self what do I plain on using this for. Very important. For light stuff this is fine. But if you want something to grind and making sausage, and dough for bread or pizza then this unit is light of a mixer.

With it you will find it's going to work hard and maybe even bog down with only 250 watts. The right tool for the right job always comes out better. Just my opinion.

This is what I use and no bogging down with dough making sausage making and so on and works great. The watts mean a lot, this unit has 575 watts compared to 250 watts. Had it now two years with no problems.

http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=Stand+Mixers&cat=310&prod=1836

So John your like me then when making dough, make a big mess with the flour. See you have to start cleaning up when Joan comes home and make it look like your making a bigger mess so she will help you. :laugh: She is a sweet heart. Never mind don't do that. :evil: I get away with that here. :cheer:

The Pro 600 was the model I just purchased.
I remember seeing a post of yours in the past
on blenders and was waiting for a good price.
Amazon had 3 colors for $269.00 a couple weeks ago when I purchased. It only took me 3 days and it was here.
I purchased the meat grinder as well. For small grinding sesions it works great.
Darian

Hey Mike,
It's pretty hard not to make a mess when you're doing a bunch of loaves at once......But, I always clean up my mess; hopefully, before Joan gets home! :woohoo:

I just got mine the first of this year and love it! They have reconfigured the dough hook into a spiral configuration. It really is a huge improvement over the old "L" shaped one......

Costco has a 475-watt pro model for around 279. Lifetime satisfaction when you purchase from Costco.

If color is not a big issue Amazon still has the black "licorice" color Pro 600 KA for $269 free shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KP26M1XNP-Professional-6-Quart-Nickel/dp/B0002Y5X9W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1229035512&sr=8-1

Just toggle the colors the link will not take you dirrectly to a specific color.

Darian