KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series Mixer

I received this mixer as a gift, and honestly, it is so great that I almost feel guilty I don't use it every day. I have heard good things about the reliability of Kitchen Aid mixers, and this one is far more powerful than what I actually need it to do.

One especially great thing is the slow-start feature--I do a lot of cake batter and icings, and it's nice to avoid getting flour all over the cabinets after each round of mixing. It mixes very thoroughly, although I was initially suspicious since the bowl doesn't rotate. You do have to stop and scrape the bowl, as with any mixer.

The machine is also incredibly quiet--it makes less noise than the microwave does. I like the fact that the bowl and white attachments are dishwasher safe, too. It might seem trivial, but I also like the styling of the wider bowl that comes standard with this model, instead of the narrower one that comes with the Artisan.

At first I thought the bowl-lift thing might be uncomfortable to use, since I'm used to tilt-head stand mixers. The bowl has two tabs with holes that fit on either side of the mixer, plus a metal nub that rests in a slot at the back. Once those three points are secure, you rotate the lever to lift the bowl to mixing position, and it's very stable.

I've only found two minor inconveniences with this machine. First, it's pretty tall, so it won't fit on the counter underneath my cabinets--I have to move it back and forth from another shelf to use it, and it's heavy. Second, when you're done mixing and lower the bowl, it's hard to scrape all the stuff off the beater because you can't get a good angle. So you have to detach the beater and let it fall into the bowl and when the bowl is off the mixer you can scrape everything out. Thinner stuff like cake batter wouldn't be a problem, but for frosting or mashed potatoes, a lot of stuff is left on the beater. This is not a big deal--just a different thing to get used to after a tilt-head mixer.

I have the cobalt blue model, and I hesitated because I thought it might be too "loud," but it's beautiful and I'm so glad I got this one.