KitchenAid FPPA Mixer Attachment Pack for Stand Mixers

Pros:
You get a decent meat grinder with two blades, coarse and fine. This means you can make ground turkey with no additives, ground chicken without added fat, or fresh ground beef. You can also grind meat for sausage (about which, later.)

You get a slicer similar to those hand-turned cone types that make cole slaw or waffled carrot slices.

Cons:
The sausage nozzle for filling the casings is not included. This is, in my opinion, really dumb. It's just a couple of pieces of molded plastic. For heaven's sake, include it.

The slicer is a bit clunky. If you don't put the bowl to catch the shreds just right, you get slaw all over. And sometimes it is hard to get the cone off the flanges of the connecting pin that fits into the mixer attachment point. But screwing it into the mixer and grabbing with a rubber mat usually works for me.

I prefer a mandoline, a food processor or even a big board and a really sharp chef's knife to the slicer, but it does save on counter space. So, this is a good thing to have as an addition to your KitchenAid if you do any kind of prep cooking, such as canning, salads, baby foods, venison processing, or sausages. It's very good quality plastic and metal, though the cone blade finish seems a bit crude to me. I can recommend it, with the reservations I mentioned.


Not a good accessory for this excellent mixer   September 13, 2003
W. Wilke (SC USA)
166 out of 175 found this review helpful

I purchased this set about 2 years ago. The shredders work OK, but it is easier and less mess to chop them by hand. Much of the produce gets caught between the housing and the shredder. It's difficult getting uniform cuts. The piece that is poorly designed is the meat grinder. I'm on my second grinder. Both the feeder shaft and the housing are constructed of a plastic molding on metal. Over a relatively short amount of use, they both began to crack apart at the unions. This of course is not good, being they are used on meat and it makes it almost impossible to clean. I would recommend going for a good sharp knife and a seperate all metal meat grinder (which I am now looking for).


A Must for every kitchen!   July 14, 2001
Mary A. Price (Rose Hill, KS USA)
70 out of 75 found this review helpful

I recently purchased these attachments, but this week I really put them to the test. Fresh fruits and vegetables are in season and in the past 2 days I made cherry jam with the fruit & vegetable strainer the next day I made 4 qts of zucchini & cucumber relish. What used to take me hours with a food processor, now took no time at all. Now I need to get rid of that food processor!


Nice addition, a little bit cumbersome   January 8, 2003
Eugene Mah (Charleston, SC USA)
53 out of 53 found this review helpful

I use this with my Kitchenaid Epicurean and really enjoy it. Used it to grind our own beef and pork for meatloaf and shredded plenty of cheese for mac and cheese. The motor provides plenty of power to grind and shred through just about anything, and the shredding/grinding blades seem to keep their edge quite nicely.

There are a lot of bits to keep track of though, and some of them can be a little difficult to clean properly. I also wish the hopper for the grinder attachment was a little bit bigger.

It's not going to replace my food processor, but when I have a large volume of stuff to do, or for things my food processor's motor just can't handle, this certainly does the trick.


A long-term owner   January 13, 2003
40 out of 43 found this review helpful

I bought this attachment pack just after buying my KitchenAid, in the early 80's. I've used it for all manner of things, but mostly for grinding meat for hamburger, which it does easily and well, and for putting up sauces from garden produce. That it does well but it's a little tricky to make sure the refuse from the end of the strainer attachment does not fall into the bowl of sauce. I've set up a measuring cup on top of another item to put it at the right height, and that worked, but it is a bit clunky. The other thing I've had to work out is that I'm only 5'4" and the mixer is tall. It needs to stand on my sturdy counter to do grinding, and I need to stand on one of the dining chairs to feed things into it at the appropriate rate. These user issues are why I've given the attachments 4 stars, not 5. Otherwise, they are good, and have seen a lot of use over the years, especially in canning season.