KitchenAid KSM150PSBY Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield - Boysenberry

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my fiance. I have to say, from a man's mechanical sense of perspective, this seems to be a pretty good machine. Keep in mind of course, I haven't used it much myself, and we've only had it for a couple of weeks. However, the mixer is very solidly built; the entire body, even an attachment cover plate, is made of solid steel or aluminum. As a result, the thing is heavier than our medium sized dog, but I also expect that this means it will last for many years and be resistant to breaking down. From my perspective, I give major points to anything built with longevity in mind, especially when steel is used in place of plastics.Performance wise, the motor seems relatively quiet, especially when compared to our old hand-held electric mixer. We haven't really had reason to kick the motor up to full-blast, but I can't think of what you would need that for; there are 10 speed settings, and even at 3 or 4, the mixer attachment is moving pretty quick.A quick note: the mixing bowl is burnished aluminum, and it's pretty nice ... however, I highly recommend giving the inside of the bowl a good scrub in the sink before initial use. Not just a rinse out, but an actual scrub with a sponge ... we found out the hard way (via ruining a batch of scones) that there may be a light coating of aluminum dust on the inside of the bowl. This also may have come from the unfinished whisk attachment (also aluminum), so I'd give that a good scrub too.

I was informed that I needed this mixer by my many friends who have one. I have a Kitchen Aid hand mixer and thought I was perfectly happy with it, but when I found this price (cheaper in this color) combined with a $50 rebate card, I told my husband to go ahead and order it for me for Christmas.To be honest, I haven't yet found it able to do anything I couldn't do before with the tools I already had. I have a bread machine that I use on the "dough" setting to make all of my breads. The hand mixer handles everything else.So far, I've used it for the following:Mashed potatoes: I gave up and used my hand mixer because the mixing attachment wasn't mashing the potatoes and the wire whisk-like attachment isn't stiff enough.Cookies: worked ok. Even though I have the mixing blade with the rubber scraping edge, I still had to raise the mixer head and scrape the bowl with a hand spatula. With a hand mixer, I can "drive" the blades around the bowl and scrape the bowl with the hand mixer. The mixing head is pointy too, so I have to take the bowl out to scrape the little round bottom of the bowl.Bundt cake: worked ok. Same issue with the scraping of the bowl. Additionally, the mixer attachment stirred the butter and sugar but was unable to CREAM the butter and sugar to a fluffy consistency as my hand mixer does. It is necessary to use the splash guard when adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients, not so much for the splashing, but more because it is difficult to pour flour around the mixer without it getting all over the mixer.As far as the construction of the item, it is sturdy and seems that it will hold up for years of cooking and baking. The stainless bowl is light and easy to maneuver even when it is full (a concern I had about getting a glass bowl).I like the fact that I can easily clean the beaters of a hand mixer by lifting it slightly out of the stuff I'm mixing and the goo flies off, back into the bowl. With this setup, I have to tilt back the top and scrape of the blade with a spatula because in order to remove the blade from the mixer and get the bowl out, I have to grab the dirty end of the blade and wind up with batter on my hands. Again, to compare that to my hand mixer, the eject button allows me to cleanly drop the beaters into the sink for washing.I apologize if readers are annoyed by my constant comparison to a hand mixer, as I realize I'm not comparing apples to apples. My reluctance to get one (aside from the cost and storage issue) stemmed from the fact that my hand mixer and other tools were able to do everything I ever needed up to this point in my life.Had I read this exact review prior to buying, I would have decided that I didn't really need to spend this money. I'm hoping that, if you are debating the necessity of this type of mixer because you aren't sure what else it can do for you, this review is helpful. If you aren't sure why I keep comparing this mixer to a non-comparable item, I apologize.My husband would like to get the meat grinder and the pasta attachment for me and I'm just not certain that spending more money to enable this machine to do something I currently can't accomplish (make pasta and my own sausage - neither of which I'm inclined to do) is worth the investment.I gave four stars because the item is attractive and functions fine, but I find myself reluctant to haul it out of the cabinet when I know I can do the same job faster and easier with a cheaper tool.

As you can guess, we're victims of The Great British Baking Show, but if the truth were completely told, I was eyeing one of these for years. A friend who is a talented baker swears by KitchenAid recommended the 5 quart because she had the 4 quart and wanted the extra capacity.The bowl secures tightly in a screw bottom, and the mixers are very close to the edge of the bowl, you only need to scrape the sides and clear the beater. The motor has been strong enough for the cake and muffins, we haven't done bread yet, but it doesn't even labor with a thick dough.Very solidly built, beautiful color, and the extra attachments will be useful for meringues and bread.The product was delivered very quickly and came in excellent brand new condition.So far very happy, we'll see how it survives the next year.

I got the idea of getting one for a friend as I was helping her run a home assembly-line, turning out scratch angelfood cakes prior to Christmas (...thinking, "Wow! This would be soooooo much easier if I still had my old KitchenAid mixer!"). I was pleasantly surprised when I found one in "purple" (boysenberry) here at Amazon since that is my friend's favorite color.I have owned/loved one in the past and found it to be the only logical choice when it comes to stand-mixers in both quality and performance. She was amazed at the attachments that came with it and the others that were available and is planning to order more of them. The splash guard that came with hers is functional and saves quite a bit of cleanup.The KitchedAid whipped up the egg-white mixture using the whisk very fast when she tried it the next time she made an angelfood cake.I'm sure that I will gain both benefits and hazards from this gift in the future. (Goodies vs. weight)If you do much serious mixing/kneading/baking it is an excellent investment.

I shopped on the internet for a good long while for a stand mixer before I chose to go and purchase it on amazon. I had never owned a Kitchen Aid stand mixer in my entire life. I had never even used one before.This one is a real, true treat! The very first time I used my mixer was to make a recipe that came with the mixer. It was a recipe for cream cheese mints. I added all the ingredients to the stainless steel bowl. It resulted in a tiny amount of batter.My husband looked into the huge bowl and then laughed. However, the second time I used it was to make an Italian Cream Cake for some friends of ours. I loved watching the Kitchen Aid mixer's planetary action while I walked away to the other side of the kitchen ! You can't do that with a hand held mixer. Boysenberry is a divine color.It's home is on my counter-top at all times. It's practically a decoration !!!