Viking mixer review Revised

[BBQ Fish]

Ok, now to give you some insight about what i thought was a good mixer.

The 10th of this month i had decided to make a deep dish pizza and prepare it with my Viking mixer. The first part was going good, mixed everything great then i let the dough rise for a few hours, and put it back in to do the final mix. I turned it on, and a few seconds later i heard crunching and thought somehow something got in the bowl. I checked the bowl and nothing was in that shouldn't have been so i turned the mixer back on and there it was again. THEN the oh so familiar smell of a burning armature arose and in that small amount of time, no breaker was tripped, but i now have a fried Viking mixer!
So, after everything cooled and i figured it was gears and not my bowl, my only 10 month old mixer is kaput.
I called Viking the next morning, got all the info i needed to get this thing fixed and sent out that afternoon.

A week goes by and i get a call from viking informing me by saying "Sorry sir, your mixer is out of warranty....we can fix this for $328.26 parts and labor"!
Calmly i stated it was only 10 months old, and i sent in my warranty card as well, so surely you are mistaken and my mixer is covered in full......the girl on the phone said.... No sir. Your recipt shows this mixer is infact 13 months old which deems it out of covered factory warranty....but i can offer you a 10% discount on parts and labor for $295.43 and it can be delivered back to you tomorrow.
Now i'm mad, and asked to speak with her supervisor, which i did, but only got my another 5% off the total!?!?
I then said forget it, send it back to me and i will take care of it myself (going up deer hunting with me this weekend).

So with all that said, i am the proud owner of a KA Pro 600 and will never turn back (because it had no problem mixing a double batch of the Chicago pizza recipe i got from here, which i actually the same one that did my Viking in)!

 

[Corey123]

I hope that your K'Aid Pro 600 lasts after what I found out about them.

I would hate to burst your bubble, but keep a close eye out on this one also. The transmissions in these are put inside a plastic gearbox which heats up, distorts and then cracks, causing the gears to lock up, rendering the machine useless.

From what I was told, the best mixer now, is the Electrolux. Sorry to have had to break that bit of bad news to you, but at least you know now.


~Corey123.

 

[BBQ Fish]

Sorry just got back from hunting and fishing and ready to go back out tomorrow so....Well i contacted KA as well as went on their website, and i'm sorry to tell ya, you are wrong.

Professional 600 Series

Professional bowl-lift design raises bowl into mixing position.
10-speed slide control ranges from a very fast whip to a very slow stir.
PowerKnead™ spiral dough hook replicates hand-kneading to handle 20% more dough than previous models.
Durable direct drive, all-steel gear transmission delivers high-performance mixing action.
Commercial-style motor protection ensures motor longevity.
Elegant, Satin Pearl custom finish.

From what i know, one of my neighbors had an electrolux and quite frankly, as far as design and abilities, KA beats it hands down! And when she used my KA recently, (wife lets nieghbors play with my toys ) she ebayed the electrolux and bought a KA because of it's abilities and versitility.

So, sorry to burst your proverbial bubble, but in any event perhaps the next best thing to KA is Hobart, because that is the next i'm getting to fill holiday orders from friends and family.

 

[Corey123]

I am NOT wrong. I know what I'm talking about.
K'Aid is not going to tell you this because they don't want to discourage you or anyone else. Believe what you want, but I know better.

Go vist http://www.epinions.com, then click on MIXERS and read the latest reviews on this mixer.

I thought it was just a dream myself, but it isn't. And yes, K'Aid IS replacing that plastic gearbox cover with a more durable & reliable injection-molded metal one in this model. Do you think that I'd tell you that if it were not true?


~Corey123.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Let's leave the bubble bursting to the activity in the New Year's Champagne glasses, OK?

The truth is - you are both right to one extent or another. KA would not be as popular as it is if it wasn't reliable more often than not. Is it as rugged as when it was made by Hobart? Probably not - but then Hobart sold off KA before plastics became popular ... so who knows what would have happened to the "Hobart home line KA" in the future even if it had remained in the hands of Hobart.

KA IS making changes in the gearbox material ... just read what Mixerman47 has to say in another thread here discussing this.

I've got a 3-year old KA 6 Pro - I use it a lot to make bread almost every week, grind meat 1-2 times a month, etc. - and it works like a champ. It's not rated for heavy commercial use ... but there are a lot of them that are used in that situation - as are a lot of the Artisan 5-qt series. IMHO, unless there is a manufacturing material defect the biggest failure problem is probably from the user not following the instructions!

 

[Corey123]

Thank you, Michael.

And yes, there ARE a lot Pro 600 as well as the Artisan mixers used in places like small restaurants & bakeries, where they would get much more constant use than they do in a normal household.

A clip by Thomas Keller in the New Cook's Catalog (Household Equipment in the Restaurant Kitchen) appears below as follows. It says:

(Quote) "We do things in small amounts here, so we don't need appliances that are designed to handle huge quauntities. Instead of investing $5,000.00 in a big Hobart professional mixer, we use three regular KitchenAids.

They set us back about $230.00 each, and so what if they have to be replaced every few years. They're more convenient (End quote)."

But the members over at Epinions.com say that they've use the mixers within their limits. But at least K'Aid is taking action to improve the bowl-lift models.


~Corey123.

"

 

[Michael in FtW]

I don't think KA limits their improvements to just the "bowl lift" models. They did seem to have had a run of bad luck a few (4-6) years ago where they had a LOT of failures in all of their models. But, they seem to have solved, or significantly reduced, the problem.

Were the problems caused by a flawed change in design specs? Was it caused by flawed parts from suppliers? I don't know.

 

[Corey123]

Mixerman47 has revealed that the company will begin replacing all of the ill-fated plastic covers in the Pro 600 Series bowl-lift models asap.

But you're right, the other models DID have a run of bad luck. And accoding to some of the members at Epinion.com, some are STILL breaking down. They should continue to keep an eye out for ALL models, as people pay good money for these machines and they expect to get their money's worth and years & years of reliable service.

I was only trying to say that these machines in general have made so many unhappy customers because of the plastic gear cover breaking, which lead to the machine itself breaking down.


~Corey123.

 

[Mixerman47]

Corey123, I have to step in and comment here. Over 99 percent of our customers who have purchased the Pro 6/Pro 600 have experienced NO issues with our transmission. It is a thermoset plastic, and is very rigid under almost all conditions our customers put it under. And yes, we have return rate numbers to back up the 99% claim. We are ALWAYS trying to improve our product. The metal cover is the latest in a series of ongoing improvements. Even the venerable K45 classic model went through 4 complete model versions in the first 9 years of it's life. Remember, when more than a million mixers are sold EVERY YEAR, there are going to be some situations where users have an issue.

 

[Corey123]

Your last sentense IS true. I realise that.

Also, I never once said that the tranny itself was at fault, but rather the cover that holds those mechanical parts in place.

And yes, K'Aid DID tell me in an e-mail that the K45SS Classic and the K5SS both use nylon gears to protect the motor. That if for any reason an undue strain is placed on these machines, that the nylon gears would blow before the motor does, saving the owner the added expense of having to replace the motor as well.


~Corey123.

 

[Mixerman47]

Corey123, look, I am not challenging the detailed facts here, but rather the overall CHARACTERIZATION that we have made "so many unhappy customers". The overwhelming data we have just does not support that statement.

 

[Corey123]

There ARE quite a few customers who have returned them.

Look, I know that you work for K'Aid and that you'd defend them to a certain degree, which is natural and not a problem with me, but I don't think anyone is blaming you for this snafu.

It's just one of those unfortune things that, in time, will be rectified.


~Corey123.

 

[Mixerman47]

Corey123, no problem here. No denying I am biased, and no question that the new metal cover will improve the product.

 

[Corey123]

I can sense your feel of defending the company.

I felt that same way during most of my 16 years with, and was so gung-ho about United Airlines until mid '03 when they started making us take so many blasted paycuts, losses of benefits and other stuff, then they outsourced my whole department and laid us off! Now I hate them with a passion and would never work for anolther airline ever again!!

Which is part of the reason why I'm going back into my profession as a cook
through the Culinary Arts training program so that I'll be certified as a cook for one of those big hotels out there.

Hopefully, I'll get to use one of those big monster floor-standing Hobart mixers again like before!


~Corey123.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Somehow I don't understand how your employment experiences with United Airlines, or your retraining, has anything to do with the quality of KitchenAid products, Corey.

I've got a $15 West Bend hand mixer that I use when appropriate (once in a while), a KA Pro 6 (most of the time) when appropriate, and I only break out my "Big Boy" 30-qt Hobart when needed (12-15 times a year).

I will admit that a couple of the KA attachments that I purchased are totally useless for my uses - and I wish they had stayed with metal casings on things like the meat grinder rather than switching over to less durable plastic.

Just for grins: If you have a 650 Watt mixer - (1) does that mean that it (a) produces 650 W of power or (b) consumes 650 W of power? (2) What is the ratio of power consumed to the power generated? (3) Is Wolfgang Pucks 800W stand mixer really stronger than a 450W KA Artisan? (4) Do you know how many Watts a single phase, capacitor-start, induction-run type 3/4 hp mixer consumes or produces? Do you know how many Watts 3/4 hp is?

 

[Corey123]

I was loyal to them like Mixerman47 is loyal to K'Aid.

And BTW, yes, when United had the flight kitchen in Boston, they did in fact have and use a K'Ad mixer for processing small amounts of things. They also had a large floor floor-standing Hobart mixer for mixer large amounts of stuff and they had both for many years without any problems and yes, the kitchen where we will be trained has both also, so yes, as for your question, United and the training has a lot to do with the quality of K'Aid mixers.

I've read some time ago that the power in stand mixers aren't really measured by wattage, but rather by the amount of torque the motor and transmission produce.

For instance, the motor in my K'Aid stand mixer has 250 watts, but it produces 8.6 oz. ft. of torque. The transmission produces 272 oz. ft. of torque. That makes a total of 280.6 oz. ft. of torque.

I LOVE to have that mixer shown, BTW. But accoding to the chef who is training us, it costs about $8,000.00!

In the high school kitchen where we are being trained, it has five Hobart mixers. One is a huge 60-qt. floor standing model, two are a 30-qt. model - one of them look just like the one in the pic above, two 20-qt. models and there's also a KitchenAid K5SS 5-qt. bowl-lift mixer for small mixing jobs.

And the Hobart mixers that I used in the past, didn't have safety guards on them like they do now. This has been mandated by OSHA.


~Corey123.

 

[jasonr]

Ok, so does the KA-PRO 600 use a plastic cover or a metal cover? I noticed no one has come out and answered this question directly. Or more to the point, does the KA-600 I bought brand new just last week use a plastic or metal cover?

Me, I don't have a car, so transporting my KitchenAid ANYWHERE for repair, no matter how cheap it may be, is a very big deal for me. Even if it costs $1 to repair, if it breaks down at all, that will seriously piss me off.

 

[SpiceUmUp]

The current pro 600 has the plastic gear housing cover.

Use it with confidence. If you are in the USA and it breaks during the warranty period, KA will send you a shipping label to send it back to them and they will send you a new one so you don't have to take it anywhere fo repair (if I understand the warranty right) and it is HIGHLY unlikely that you will have problems. My experiance is the KA customer service is fantastic.

 

[Corey123]

Ok, so does the KA-PRO 600 use a plastic cover or a metal cover? I noticed no one has come out and answered this question directly. Or more to the point, does the KA-600 I bought brand new just last week use a plastic or metal cover?

Me, I don't have a car, so transporting my KitchenAid ANYWHERE for repair, no matter how cheap it may be, is a very big deal for me. Even if it costs $1 to repair, if it breaks down at all, that will seriously piss me off.

It should be alright. But use Speed 2 only, if you plan to make dough for bread. From what we were told, that speed has the most power for dough making.


~Corey123.