KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixers | 
| Brand: KitchenAid
Buy New: $315.00 - $588.81
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Rating: 375 reviews
Legal Disclaimer: Sale Ends: 05-11-2008. You may return or exchange merchandise purchased from Macy's @ Amazon by mail only. Certain items are covered by warranty as indicated. To obtain a copy of the warranty prior to purchase, please write to: macys.com Customer Service Dept.; P.O. Box 8215; Mason, OH 45040; Small Ticket Department-Warranty;
MPN: 136737
ASIN: B0006LKLTS
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Product Description
A versatile professional mixer that contains everything you need to mix dough faster and better. It includes a PowerKnead(tm) spiral dough hook, which replicates hand-kneading to handle 20% more dough than previous models. One year warranty. Model #KP26M1X.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 370 more reviews...
 Defective Design, Guaranteed to Break! December 16, 2005
Joel R. Helgeson (St. Paul, MN USA)
832 out of 944 found this review helpful
They advertise ALL METAL GEARS, but fail to disclose that those gears are held in place with a PLASTIC COVER!
Allow me to share my story:
I am an engineer, my wife; a domestic goddess. We have not purchased a loaf of bread in this household for over 3 years now. Every kitchen gadget we own is top of the line because we know that it'll get used, and used hard. That and being an engineer, I can really appreciate a well designed product. The KitchenAid mixer is the ONLY appliance we own that has continuously failed at every opportunity.
Dezra (my wife) had been using her Artesian 325 watt to make dough's and whatnot for years. When she started getting serious about bread making, she requested the wheat grinder for Christmas, which she got. When she put it on the mixer, it strained for a bit then "Popped".
I could hear that the transmission had broken. I opened it up and found that the electric motor feeds into a gearbox, and all the gears in that gearbox are held together by a PLASTIC COVER! I was astonished that ANY design engineer would consider that as being sufficient.
What happens is that the strain on the motor translates directly to strain on the gears, which warm up. As soon as the plastic cover warms up, it starts to flex. The moment it starts flexing, the gears are no longer meshing properly which generates more heat until the teeth of the gears bind up and the plastic cover simply cracks.
I called up KitchenAid hoping to get replacement parts as this unit was over 2 years old and definitely out of warranty. We told the customer service rep our problem and they stated that they would ship out a new mixer immediately, that they no longer made the Artisan model and they would have to upgrade us to the Professional 6 with 525 watt motor. Oh yes, and what color would you like sir?
We were amazed by the speed and courtesy of their customer service. They stated that we ground too much wheat for too long. Uh huh, sure. They made a product with a cheap part and that cheap part broke.
Well, once we got our new Professional 6 we plugged it in and started grinding wheat. It wasn't 5 minutes before the gearbox broke on that one too! Could they possibly be using the same gearbox cover? Well, sure enough, I pulled the cover off and it had the exact same gearbox and cover as the 350 watt motor. I was floored. They are using a motor that is nearly 2x as powerful but they didn't beef up the gearbox? That's like putting the transmission of a geo metro into a truck and expecting it to hold up. The bigger the motor is simply ensures the more power going into that gearbox which will undoubtedly fail. The bigger the motor, the faster it'll fail.
I told customer service, as they were shipping out a new one, that ALL they had to do was put a metal cover on the gearbox and all the problems would be solved.
My wife got the new mixer and promptly put the wheat grinder away, permanently. She now grinds wheat with her Vita Mix blender.
Well, a year has passed and we're now hearing the gearbox popping and rattling. I open it up, see the familiar plastic cover, shake my head and call customer service. What I heard from them had me bewildered. Should I be laughing or crying?
They said that we were mixing the bread dough for too long at too high of speeds. Excuse me??!! This plastic part was under engineered and so therefore your response is to only use my mixer in 10 minute increments out of fear of breaking it? Wrong answer.
That's like buying a new pickup truck and having it break down the first time you try and haul something. Taking it back to the dealership only to hear them say, sorry, your 1 ton pickup truck can only pull a half ton load in 10 minute increments, and you can't be going over 45 at any time while doing so.
Excuse me, that's why we bough a KitchenAid, was so that we could USE IT! Their customer service stated that if we wanted to keep the mixer, well, we shouldn't use it.
Having done design work, I know what is happening. KitchenAid knows that 90% of their customers don't bake bread except for special occasions. They use this for making cookies and whatnot, and only on occasion. They designed the internals using the CHEAPEST PARTS they could get away with, that way they can make an extra $5 on each machine sold knowing that only a small % will come back while under warranty. The ones that they do have to swap out will be covered by that extra $5 they're making on all the others.
They consider this a wise tradeoff. Well, it might be if the internet didn't exist and people like me could post a review that exposes them for what they are doing. They're taking a MONSTER of a brand name and throwing it out the window, all for a plastic part that would cost $1 to have milled out of aluminum.
We now have, courtesy of Kitchenaid this new Professional 600, and wouldn't you know it, it has the same plastic cover. All this means is that this gearbox will break faster than all previous ones. What's the use?!
Exceeded my expectations! January 1, 2005
N. Silver
355 out of 365 found this review helpful
I was a bit nervous about this Kitchen Aid model based on the research I'd done on Amazon and the internet of previous models in the 6 quart range. I own and cherish a K5SS I bought 25 years ago. I will never part with this machine (with all its chips and cosmetic wear - it's been a faithful workhorse and one of my most prized possessions).
I was ready for greater capacity, more power and a more cosmetically appealing mixer, so I took the plunge with the KP26M1XC (licorice). I'm glad I did.
The machine is a bit louder with more of a high whine at higher speeds, but I would expect that with the added power and size.
This morning I took it for a "test drive" with a 600 gram (flour) batch of pizza dough using very high gluten flour which I kneaded at speed 2 for 5 minutes. The sound under load wasn't at all unpleasant and the spiral dough hook really works the dough like the professional mixers I used in culinary school and on the job.
I've mostly used my 5 quart Kitchen Aid for cakes, muffins, pate choux for eclairs, mashed potatoes and whipped cream and meringue. I've made my bread dough exclusively in my large capacity Cuisinart food processor. Now that I have a more powerful Kitchen Aid mixer, I feel confident it can take the challenge of the high gluten dough (Take heed: DO NOT USE MORE THAN 8 CUPS PER BATCH OF HIGH GLUTEN BREAD FLOUR, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR OR ANY OTHER HEAVY GRAIN FLOUR. THE 12 CUP CAPACITY REFERS EXCLUSIVELY TO ALL PURPOSE FLOUR. ALSO, ONLY USE SPEED 2 when kneading dough. (Repeat this to yourself 20 times and post a notice above your machine, especially if you have a spouse, kids or roomate(s) in your household that might use the machine.)
Caught up in the excitement of this new, beautiful machine I was inspired to purchase the pasta roller accessory based on the terrific reviews on Amazon, I also added the sausage stuffer to my order (could this be used to fill eclairs? I wonder....) as an addition to my collection of accessories.
Currently the attachment I use most frequently is the shredder which I use exclusively for shredding cheese for pizza and casseroles like lasagna.
And, the Licorice is a matt, slightly pearlized finish, which nicely complements the black trim on my larger appliances. An unexpected bonus of this dark color is that it really shows the "dirt/flour/batter enabling me to get it "spanking" clean after use. With my middle-aged eyesight I find it hard to see the accumulating mess on my white machine.
For the price, this is DA BOMB May 28, 2005
Drake-by-the-Lake (State of Euphoria)
171 out of 181 found this review helpful
We went with the white/"meringue" mixer (would have preferred light green "jadite", but such is not available). Works great! Now granted, as with any piece of machinery--including your car--you must learn the in's and out's. Before purchasing, I printed out all the reviews you see here and the product description, and studied all this information. Then after purchasing, I read the product manual. You owe it to yourself to do the same -- after all, you're plunking down several hundred dollars. The main thing to carry away from the reviews here is to go easy with the high gluten flour.
This is a reliable machine. It gets a workout in my household on almost a daily basis. No complaints! The things I like about this, and the KA brand in general, is the elegant design, which inspires confidence (being heavy and metal, rather than el cheapo plastic) and accentuates rather than detracts from kitchen decor. I am not sure when so many major manufacturers decided that American consumers preferred cheap and ugly and unreliable, a la Wal-Mart, but they are wrong, and KA is right.
Do not try to scrimp and go with a lower powered model, such as the 525 watt. I think you will regret it. I have read little hints in the reviews of that model, to the effect that the machine labors under heavier loads; not good. I also don't recommend getting refurbs or used, based on discontented reviews I have read on them. Just drop the three sixty-nine (current price), minus the twenty-five dollar discount. It's worth it, if you are cooking for more than one person. I like to imagine buying something once, using it for a lifetime, and then bequeathing it in my will. I do not expect things I buy to ever break, or if they do, they should be repairable, rather than disposable.
I considered this and the 1000 watt, 7 quart Viking, which was considerably more expensive, and went with this because it's so much cheaper and has rather good reviews. Viking seems to be an over-priced brand in general which tries to appeal to price snobs rather than offering real value. I also did not like the fact that you do not see many Viking products in stores; which leads one to think about what happens if the Viking needs repair or replacement parts; hmmmm... Also, the Viking just does not offer neat attachments such as an ice cream maker.
Yeah, I suggest also purchasing the ice cream maker attachment for another fifty bucks or so. We have had a lot of fun crafting unusual flavors like green tea and ginger.
Product Info regarding gear housing upgrade from KitchenAid October 7, 2006
Cindy (Georgia)
136 out of 138 found this review helpful
Due to the very high number of complaints about the problems people were having with heavy duty tasks (which is what the mixer should have been made for!) due to cheap plastic housing holding the heavy duty metal gears, I contact KitchenAid to find out if this design flaw has been fixed. It has been and here is their response (note that they are saying that if you receive one of the models with the plastic housing they will replace it under warranty with the new metal housing. It is also important to note that the people who've had the problem have almost all stated that KitchenAid had great customer service and replaced their mixers with no ones with no problems.
RESPONSE FROM KITCHENAID: Thank you for visiting the KitchenAid website!
I would like to reassure you that our engineering and product teams have addressed the gear box issue. In fact, we have already implemented a change in the manufacturing of the Pro 600 Stand Mixers to a metal gear box. Although these will be changed out on additional 5 qt bowl-lift models that include all metal gearing, the time line on that is not known at this time. Although a transparent change, this will insure the long-term durability we expect.
I would like to emphasize to you that should you purchase a Stand Mixer (with all metal gearing) which has not been assembled with the upgraded metal gear box, and you should have a problem with your mixer (as a result of the plastic gear box (failure), we will most certainly extend your warranty to resolve the issue properly and effectively.
If you have additional questions, feel free to reply back to me. Or, you may contact either our KitchenAid Customer Satisfaction Center at 1-800-541-6390, or you may visit our secure KitchenAid Live Chat.
 A comparison to the Artisan Mixer October 30, 2006
ut158 (USA)
110 out of 113 found this review helpful
I already own a 5 Qt mixer from the "Artisan Series" but decided to upgrade to this model so that I could make larger batches of bread dough. For my recipe, a single batch is 2 cups of bread flour. I tried making a double batch (4 cups) in my new Pro 600, but after about 15 min. of kneading, the motor just turned off. I thought I had burned it out, but after consulting the instruction manual, it seems this is normal. Normal?! Yes, that's what it said--all I needed to do was wait for the motor to cool off (it's also "normal" for it to get so hot it is uncomfortable to touch) for 30 min. and then try again. I find it hard to believe that this mixer could make bread with 14 cups of AP flour, as the box says. Having said that, here are my thoughts on this mixer vs. the "Artisan Series" mixer I already own:
1. The motor consumes over 50% more electricity (and is certainly more noisy) in the pro 600, but how much of that is being converted to extra torque, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that I can only do a single batch of bread at a time in either mixer.
2. As has been mentioned in other reviews, the Artisan mixer came with a "coated" paddle and dough hook, whereas the pro 600 has "Brandished steel". This means the Artisan's implements are dishwasher safe but the pro 600's are not. I had assumed those bright, shiny implements that I saw in the store display were stainless steel, but I guess not. If it weren't for this problem and the huge price tag, I would have given this mixer 5 stars.
On the plus side...
3. I love the new spiral dough hook--it is much better than the C shaped one in my Artisan
4. The soft start feature is a nice touch. Then again, it would be even nicer if there was a speed lower than the lowest one provided.
5. The larger bowl is nice
6. There is more of a difference between speeds 7-10 than the Artisan
Things I'd like to see changed in the next iteration:
--A gear box. I have a cordless drill that has a high and low gear. As could be expected, low is for more power, high is for more speed. Why don't these mixers use a simple gear selector like that? This would be a HUGE improvement--it would not only provide more power, but the lower speed I would like, as mentioned in point 4.
--Stainless steel implements as mentioned in point #2
CONCLUSION:
A very nice mixer, but so is my "Artisan". If you are going to buy a new mixer (and don't have an unlimited supply of money to throw at it), I wouldn't recommend the Pro 600--get one from the Artisan series instead--it is much cheaper and does just about as good a job. There are small advantages to the Pro 600, but even all together, I don't think they are worth the added price.
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