KitchenAid KSM7586PCA 7-Quart Pro Line Stand Mixer Candy Apple Red

Faire du pain et pâte

Love this machine!

As I've mentioned in some other reviews, I'm an amateur when it comes to cooking, but I've been taking various classes and trying to practice those skills. Some of the classes I've taken involved using this mixer, although of a different color. I used to have the Artisan model of KitchenAid mixer and it did alright for what I used to ask of it. However, I ran into some challenges with stiffer dough or larger quantities, which is why I decided to upgrade. It's early days yet, but I haven't been disappointed so far.I've made a few different kinds of cookies and a variety of biscuit and pastry doughs and they've all come out as I expected. The mixer has a bit more horsepower and torque than the Artisan and it shows. It's been able to knead dough effortlessly and much more quietly than the Artisan. I like some of the simple features such as the gradual ramp-up in the speed when you turn it on, which helps avoid flinging flour all over the kitchen. My occasional bouts of idiocy can overcome any technology, but this feature helps a bit with that particular bit of carelessness. I've found the plastic guard to be basically alright although I wished it attached in a more secure way -- I'm forever bumping into it an knocking it out of position.Cleanup has been straightforward. I don't put the attachments in the dishwasher so I can't speak to how well they hold up in that environment. However, cleaning everything really doesn't take much time and doesn't require special cleaners so it isn't that much of burden to me.A few things of interest. I recall seeing a review where the process of getting the bowl seated seemed to be a challenge. I can't speak to anything that might have simply been defective on that particular unit, but I have found the process to be simple. The bowl will tell you when it's seated properly. If you're struggling with it you might be overthinking it -- I saw that happen a time or two in my cooking classes by folks who weren't familiar with the process. Follow the instructions and you should be fine.The unit is heavy, so you likely won't want to constantly be moving it to and from the counter. It also has non-skid feet to keep it from "walking" all over the place. That helps with some of the heavier doughs I've made, but it can be a bit of a pain if the only place you can store it is under the overhang of a cabinet. In my case, I need to pull the unit out from under the overhanging cabinet to get easy access to everything. Those non-skid feet make that interesting since they grip very well. Be prepared to find some way to move it around if you're in a similar situation. I've taken to using some heavy duty shelf liner beneath mine to make it a bit easier to relocate without compromising its grip.Something else I needed to get used to was the changing out of the attachments such as the whisk, beaters, and dough hook. On the Artisan you could tilt the head up and swap out the attachment. With this unit you need to detach one tool, remove it and the bowl, add the new attachment to the bowl, move the bowl and attachment into position, and then attach the new tool to the mixer. It isn't hard, but it feels clunky. It's just a side-effect of the lift-bowl system as they've designed it.Another comment that I've seen a time or two is that there isn't a spring to exert pressure to keep the attachments in place on the mixer. This is something the Artisan had and I can understand the logic behind it. However, with this mixer, I haven't noticed the attachments bouncing around at all while the unit is in use, so I've stopped worrying about it. The way the tools attach to the mixer makes it fairly unlikely that they'll pop off -- the weight of the tool and the orbital rotation of the mixer are enough to keep everything in place.So, in summary, I've found this to be a solid upgrade from my Artisan. It works well and it works more quietly. There's a small learning curve in terms of finding your preferred way of dealing with the bowl and the attachments when you want to switch them out, but it isn't all that complicated. The unit is heavy, so I'd suggest finding a good place for it on your counter and just leaving it there. That will also keep you more inclined to use it if the mood strikes you.

We own an older 4.5 quart Hobart made Kitchenaid tilt head mixer. It's still running strong after 30 years! I wanted a more powerful stand mixer to knead double batches of bread. WOW!!! Made the right choice here. This mixer is very quiet and has plenty of power. I considered buying the commercial version but after talking to Kitchenaid customer support, they informed me that this unit has the same motor and drive system as the 8 qt commercial model. The difference in the two is mainly the wiring and stainless dough hook and paddle to meet NSF requirements. I confirmed the information by looking up the part number for the drive system including the motor for both mixers and they are indeed the same. The warranty on the commercial version is two years but this model has a five year warranty. So even though I found the Commercial version for the same price, I chose the Pro-Line model. Its 7 qt capacity is more than enough for my needs. The Pro-Line 7 qt model also included the splash shield in the box. I wasn't expecting that! No splash shield available for the 8 qt model. (Not that you need it)Now the test! I have made both large and small batches of bread using this mixer. Plenty of power, and the spiral dough hook really works well. Although the motor stays cool, heat is generated at the mixers planetary head. During a 25 minute knead of 3 pounds of sour dough, I would occasionally place my hand on top of the mixer to check for heat build up. While the motor area stayed cool, the mixing head got very warm. The heat transfers down the spiral hook and actually began to warm my dough. Not a problem for my bread. Now the cake mix test... Mixed one box of cake mix using the paddle attachment. I noticed right away that the clearance between the paddle and the inside of the bowl was more than our tilt head version, but it wasn't a problem. The mixer performed as good as the other with only the one usual scrape down.Very happy with our purchase

The king of all kitchen appliances.