Yuck! that's terrible. My worst experience was travel oversea while eating out in one of the restaurant. Really, until now, I don't even want to talk about it:(
Mainly is because of the knives handle. Anyway, I would recommend to hand wash your knife and dry it quickly even it's dishwasher safe, this will help to maintain your knives better.
I think for hand mixer, currently the best in the market is either make by Cuisinart or KitchenAid. I currently own a Cuisinart PowerSelect CHM7, it's work great for me.
If you are using a breadmaker, you can't mix everything together especially the yeast, try to each ingredient in different location.
If this is not working, then maybe it is the yeast ...