The Work Horse

The work horse, my 575 watt, 6 quart mixer

This mixer, the Kitchenaid 575 watt 6 quart beauty, is absolutely one of my favorite kitchen things. I’m introducing her early because she will undoubtedly make many appearances throughout the life of this blog and the recipes shared. AND, this is an appliance I thought I’d never own. Not that I didn’t own a mixer before this one, it just wasn’t a Kitchenaid stand mixer, that is for sure. It was a hand held mixer, which I still own and it is very rarely used. I think I was intimidated by the grand stature of the Kitchenaid – I mean, real chefs use this brand of mixer! And I’m a home cook! What could I possibly need this piece of chef’s equipment for??

Well, I waited quite a long time to purchase one and it was the proverbial deal you just can’t pass up. You see, I had been contemplating the purchase when the local Williams-Sonoma had them on sale, which they regularly seem to do. Even on sale, these suckers are not cheap but I’d decided I would bite the bullet because I really wanted one, intimated of the thing or not. And it really was almost too good to be true. It was a Saturday afternoon that I dragged my husband into our local WS. I was ogling the many different colors trying to decide which one would eat my wallet, when…the sales person helping us mentioned they might have a discontinued color in the back for $199…which was HALF of what the ones were currently on sale for. Uh, Yes I’ll take the discontinued color for $199, I didn’t care what color it was! Said sales person said he’d check in the back…

I think he must have realized while he was in the stockroom checking that he had someone in the store who was already willing to pay for the one that was double the cost of the discontinued model. He returned and of course, no mixers. But it was too late, the seed had been planted and there are 4 more Williams-Sonomas in our area so I wasn’t giving up that easily! With the other stores’ phone numbers a mere google away, we sat in the car and called the other stores until, yes! I found one albeit 25 miles away! It’s the pretty one you see in the picture and the name of that color is: Williams- Sonoma Green. And I love it! Helps that my favorite color is green but they didn’t know that when they marked it down!

Okay, enough about how I came into actual ownership. I love this mixer and she no longer intimidates me. She whips, mixes, kneads, and whips some more. If you are reading this and contemplating buying a Kitchenaid mixer, I am now jumping up and down yelling “BUY IT! BUY IT!”  There are a few other models that are smaller and just as handy. And who knows, you might even find one on Craig’s List.

I have made more batches of holiday cookies than I can count, beautiful cheesecakes, homemade pasta, pizza dough, scones and much more.  It really is a wonderful appliance, even for this home cook, I think it elevates my game a bit… well, it definitely elevates my baking skills…