Oster Stand Mixer is horrible

[Traveler]

8 months ago I purchased an Oster planetary stand mixer at Walmart. BIG MISTAKE ! After using it perhaps 25-30 times the machine died on me. All I was doing was "creaming" butter, so that means it was not working hard at all. To make matters worse, it took Oster 10 days to finally reply to my email asking for help. They just replied today. 10 whole long days. outrageously bad service on top of horrible equiptment.
Do yourself a favor, and NEVER buy anything made by Oster (or their parent company Sunbeam)

 

[Andy M.]

That sucks, Traveler. Sorry you have to deal with it. Time to switch to a Kitchen Aid?

 

[Traveler]

That sucks, Traveler. Sorry you have to deal with it. Time to switch to a Kitchen Aid?

Yes, indeed. I had a KitchenAid stand mixer (a real work-horse) when I lived in Asia but, I had to leave it behind when I returned to the U.S. I will be buying another Kitchen Aid in a few days.
What really sucks is that people were counting on me to do all of the baking for a pre-Christmas party. Time was short and I didn't have time to do everything by hand so, I ended up buying some of the pastries at a bakery. I was so embarrassed.

Oster and Sunbeam are bogus companies. Never buy any of their Chinese made junk !

 

[Andy M.]

I try to confine my kitchen tool purchases to name I know can be relied upon. Cuisinart, Oxo are two that provide high quality well designed products. There are others as well that I don't know personally.

 

[Katie H]

Oh, my! I'm so sorry to hear of your travails.

Oster used to be a quality producer. I still have my Osterizer blender I bought in 1967 and it's still going strong. Used it to make baby food for my children and, just last night, chopped some onions for our scalloped potatoes and ham.

Also our KitchenAid mixer was purchased over 40 years ago and is still a trooper.

 

[caseydog]

I had a bad Oster experience, myself. It was a "Professional" bar blender. It couldn't handle ice at all -- as one would expect from a "Professional" bar blender. I replaced it with a Kitchen Aid blender about 20 years ago.

I also have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. No regrets on that purchase, either.

CD

 

[iamvics]

I received an Oster Kitchen Center for Christmas 1987! It's still going strong after all these years. I've said many times when it dies I'll get a Kitchen Aid mixer & a new blender, too. (I just looked at it and stamped on the metal is "Made in the USA.")

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Traveler, I'm sorry you got a clunker mixer. I hope Oster ends up doing good by you.

iamvicks, I'm still using my Mom's old Oster Kitchen Center. It has to be from the mid-1950s! I can remember her storing it in the base cabinet of her roaster in the first house I lived in. We moved from there in 1958.

 

[caseydog]

Keep in mind, just because an Oster product from the 50s or 80s was great, doen't mean they still are. Remember, the dominant department store chain was once Sears.

There is a lot of pressure for companies to "WalMart" price their products. That has taken some manufacturers down a lower road than others.

CD

 

[iamvics]

Keep in mind, just because an Oster product from the 50s or 80s was great, doen't mean they still are. Remember, the dominant department store chain was once Sears.

There is a lot of pressure for companies to "WalMart" price their products. That has taken some manufacturers down a lower road than others.

CD

That was my point - things aren't made the same now and brands of the past are not the same quality.


I don't know what your Walmart price comment means. Are the Kitchen Aids at Walmart lower quality than at other stores?

 

[iamvics]

Traveler, I'm sorry you got a clunker mixer. I hope Oster ends up doing good by you.

iamvicks, I'm still using my Mom's old Oster Kitchen Center. It has to be from the mid-1950s! I can remember her storing it in the base cabinet of her roaster in the first house I lived in. We moved from there in 1958.

That's very cool. I think mostly they changed colors as the years went by.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I know that, cd. That's why I'm hanging on to my antique. Much as I would love a new Kitchenaid, I'm hanging on to this one until it's ready to go up in flames. [emoji16]

 

[caseydog]

I don't know what your Walmart price comment means. Are the Kitchen Aids at Walmart lower quality than at other stores?[/IMG]

WalMart's business model is built on low prices. They make their money on low price/high volume sales. I'm kind of surprised they even sell Kitchen Aid products. It is kind of out of their market niche.

CD

 

[tenspeed]

8 months ago I purchased an Oster planetary stand mixer at Walmart. BIG MISTAKE !

But it seemed like a good price at the time, didn't it?

Not much of a bargain if you have to buy stand mixers twice. KA's periodically go on sale. I've found that slickdeals.net is pretty good about having the good sales listed on their front page. Amazon had a KA on sale a few days ago, but like a lot of Amazon sales, it was a short lived sale. If you can wait a bit, you might find a good sale to help ease the pain of the Oster.

 

[Addie]

I know that, cd. That's why I'm hanging on to my antique. Much as I would love a new Kitchenaid, I'm hanging on to this one until it's ready to go up in flames. [emoji16]

I have been looking for one on Ebay. I had one that my aunt gave me. Now I have a Kitchen Aid that I can't use. Too heavy for me to lift to the table. Even the glass bowl is too heavy for me.

 

[gadzooks]

I have been looking for one on Ebay. I had one that my aunt gave me. Now I have a Kitchen Aid that I can't use. Too heavy for me to lift to the table. Even the glass bowl is too heavy for me.

Sorry to hear. I have an N50, and put it on one of those wire rack carts, 3 drawers under the top that hold all the accessories. It rolls to where it's needed. I know the glass bowl you mean, they weigh a ton, or at least it seems.

 

[Addie]

Sorry to hear. I have an N50, and put it on one of those wire rack carts, 3 drawers under the top that hold all the accessories. It rolls to where it's needed. I know the glass bowl you mean, they weigh a ton, or at least it seems.

I live in a studio apartment. Every inch of wall and counter space is in use. The overflow sits in any one of the two closets. And I have the largest apartment in the building.

 

[Kitchen Barbarian]

Forget the KA. They are badly overrated expensive heavy devices. Get a Bosch Compact. It'll knead more bread dough than I ever had any need for. If you need more than say 4 loaves of bread a day, there is also the full size Bosch, and if you REALLY want The Workhorse for the home kitchen, get an Ankarsrum.

I have had all of these at one time or another except the full-size Bosch. The KA is the only one I would never have again - and I had a HOBART era KA, not the distinctly inferior models available today.

 

[Kitchen Barbarian]

I have been looking for one on Ebay. I had one that my aunt gave me. Now I have a Kitchen Aid that I can't use. Too heavy for me to lift to the table. Even the glass bowl is too heavy for me.

Addie, look for a Bosch Compact. I had to replace my Hobart era KA 6 or 8 years ago for the same reason - that KA was too heavy for me to schlep around anymore, and too big to leave sitting on the table. Once I had the Bosch in hand, I was shocked to discover what a bill of goods I'd been sold for all those years. The Bosch is a MUCH better mixer all around, ESPECIALLY for heavy bread doughs. And it costs less than the KA mixers as well as out performing them. The footprint is about as small as you could hope for and still have a usable bowl size.

 

[Addie]

Addie, look for a Bosch Compact. I had to replace my Hobart era KA 6 or 8 years ago for the same reason - that KA was too heavy for me to schlep around anymore, and too big to leave sitting on the table. Once I had the Bosch in hand, I was shocked to discover what a bill of goods I'd been sold for all those years. The Bosch is a MUCH better mixer all around, ESPECIALLY for heavy bread doughs. And it costs less than the KA mixers as well as out performing them. The footprint is about as small as you could hope for and still have a usable bowl size.

Thanks, will do. Right now off to bed, but just left myself a note. "BOSCH." First thing tomorrow morning. With my new leg coming this week, I will be able to stand in my kitchen again and start cooking. One of my main complaints with KA is that you have to constantly stop and scrap down the sides unless you purchase another expensive blade that will do that for you.