I love my KitchenAid and although I haven’t had any problems with it yet (knock on wood), I decided to put together a page full of handy hints and tricks that I’ve bookmarked from around the web so I have them on hand “just in case”.
So far there are basic maintenance solutions and fixes but I’ve also found a few neat ideas to try (such as shredding chicken, pulled pork, making homemade butter, etc.).
If you’re a lucky duck who has an old workhorse stand mixer that just won’t quit (pre-1986) and it’s getting a bit banged up, you’ll find a tutorial for how to take it apart and repaint it so it looks like a shiny new Kitchenaid again. Some of the designs are *gorgeous*.
Is there a goody I missed? Please feel free to share your experience in the comments section below. I’ll be adding more helpful ideas to this page as I find them so you may want to bookmark it for future reference.
PS: Don’t miss these Free Kitchen Appliance Cover Patterns & Tutorials, there are some good options that will help keep the machine dust-free.
Fixes & Tips For KitchenAid Stand Mixers
Directions: click on images for more information, a new browser tab will open & save your spot here
How To Grease It
This is a well done tutorial with plenty of pictures showing the steps to take it apart & lubricate with wheelbearing grease. Recommends doing this once every year or so. The original website is not available but I was able to find these instructions saved on the web archive.
Source: web.archive.org
Leaking Oil Repair (Video)
When oil leakage is an issue, he recommends replacing the old grease in its gearbox to solve the problem. The comments section has some good tips too in case you run into problems.
Source: youtube.com
Bread Machine Substitute
“Hmmm…isn’t my breadmachine acting just like a programmed kitchenaid mixer?” And the answer is a resounding, “Yes”. This page is full of info to use your mixer for bread-making.
Source: jewishcuisine.net
Brown Ooze Around The Drip Ring
(alternative solution to leaking grease mentioned above) Turn on Speed 10 for 2 minutes then wipe up any oil. Repeat once a month if appliance is not regularly used.
[from old source no longer online]
How To Shred Chicken
Uses a flat or pastry beater and recommends chicken to be warm, boneless and skinless. Low power setting, shredding is done in less than a minute.
Source: kitchenaid.com
How To Adjust The Beaters (Video)
Demonstrates making small adjustments to the screw, testing is done with a dime in the bowl so you can tell when the tweaking is ideal.
Source: youtube.com
Mixing Meat
Recommends using the paddle attachment or dough hook, medium speed until ingredients are just combined. This method is ideal when whipping up a slew of meatballs or big batches of ground meat since it incorporates food ingredients nicely without pureeing the batch.
Source: meljoulwan.com
Quick & Easy Splatter Guard
Drape a clean dish towel over the bowl before running the machine & this will help protect from flour clouds & splatters kicking up.
Source: thekitchn.com
Paintable Clings Design
Here’s a great option to customizing your appliance if doing a permanent paint job is a bit too intimidating. Pick & choose the designs you want & paint in custom colors to add a bright, cheery pop to the machine. Can be changed & rearranged as desired.
Source: 52mantels.com
Stopped Spinning Fix
A minor repair that can be done at home, this guide shows step-by-step how to replace the worm gear.
Source: instructables.com
How To Adjust The Hinge Pin (video)
If you’re having trouble with the head wiggling or if the pin keeps coming out, don’t fret! All that’s needed is a simple adjustment to the hinge pin.
Source: youtube.com
How To Paint & Customize
If you have an old Kitchenaid that’s getting pretty shabby, here’s a nice tutorial for re-painting it (you can also add vinyl decals).
Source: dwellbeautiful.com
Marble Rollers
Remove the rubber feet and fit glass marbles into the empty spaces. This will make it a breeze to slide the machine around on the counter. Make sure to rest it on a dry sponge to prevent it sliding off surface.
[from old source no longer online]
Make It Easier To Move Around
If you rest the machine on a dishcloth or small towel, you’ll find it easier to slide around the counter as needed. She also recommends stashing small frequently used items in the bowl for easy access & storage (such as a candy thermometer, etc.).
Source: kitchenstewardship.com
Make Homemade Butter
Whip whole cream on high speed for a few minutes to make delicious butter that can’t be beat. Pack into an airtight container and freeze for long term storage.
Source: thekitchn.com
Kneading Advice For Bakers
(webarchive) The time difference between white flour; part white flour; whole grain flours.
Source: web.archive.org
Pin “Won’t Push In” Fix
Wipe spring with a hot wet cloth then apply a drop of vegetable oil and wipe again. Work the spring by hand a few times before trying attachment again.
[from old source no longer online]
Hand Painted Designs Gallery
No tutorials here but wow! These are too beautiful not to share. Lots of inspiration if you’re planning a makeover.
Source: un-amore.com
DIY Splash Guard
Cheap & easy to make by cutting a hole in a plastic lid. It might not be pretty but it sure does the trick!
Source: sweetsugarbelle.com
Easy Pulled Pork
Cut cooked meat into 2 pound pieces (remove excess fat & bone first) and use the dough hook or paddle attachment for 20-30 seconds at a time on low speed. Also works for chicken. Careful not to overwork meat.
[from old source no longer online]
Head Doesn’t Lock In Place
Lift the tilt head and tighten the screw in the neck, if it’s too loose then the tilt head will not lock, if too tight then beaters will be too low. Also review the comments, more help found there too.
Source: thefreshloaf.com
Bowl Is Hard To Remove
This can be loosened from the base plate by several sharp slaps on the sides of the bowl, using the flat palm of the hands in a rotating motion. More tips available on page.
Source: thefreshloaf.com
Stuck Bowl
Another page with good tips on how to remove this when it’s stuck hard in place. Includes using a warm, wet towel & mineral oil or PAM spray to loosen things up.
Source: inspiringkitchen.com
Beaters Are Stuck On The Shaft
Soak in hot water, try WD40, CLR Rust Remover, and more ideas available.
Source: beautyandbedlam.com
Rusted or Discolored Attachments & Accessories
This typically happens if items were run through the dishwasher or just over time from use. A quick fix is to make a baking soda paste with regular white household vinegar then use it to gently scrub away gunk & discoloration spots with a nylon scrubbie. May have to repeat a few times (allowing the paste to soak on spot for a couple hours is also helpful).
Beater Level Test
And here’s how to do the famous test using a dime: (Source: cakecentral.com)
- Get one dime and a flat head screwdriver.
- With the bowl and beater in place, put the dime into the bowl.
- When the beater is turned onto the “Stir” setting, it should be moving the dime 1/4 inch per rotation.
- If it is not touching the dime, the beater needs to be adjusted. With the flat head screwdriver, turn the screw that is just to the left of the mix handle 1/4 turn counter clockwise and retest.
- May have to test more than once before it’s fixed.
Advice From Readers
There are over a hundred tips, tricks & pleas for help that readers have shared below, you might find it worthwhile to go through the comments section to review what’s been shared so far. Here’s a sample of what you’ll find (with thanks to all!):
- TJ Taylor: Take a large ice cream pail lid (party pail size), cut a straight line to the middle then cut a hole in the middle. This will slice in place over beaters as a shield for flour, powdered sugar, splatters, etc.
- Brenda: Prefers storing it centered in a corner on her cabinets. She put 3/4″ felt protector pads on the rubber feet and now the machine slides across the granite nicely.
- Lindsey: Recommends to completely cream butter & eggs before adding any extra ingredients, this will help batters to be smooth. Also recommends another 2 or 3 minutes longer than you think necessary.
- Dawn: Mix on low until everything is incorporated then turn to high & leave it to mix for several minutes, this will result in a well mixed batter.
- Dee: Recommends using the Kitchenaid to mash potatoes (throw in all the ingredients then done in a few seconds).
- NF: Shares that they have success using a can of PAM to spray the inside of the beater attachment to help it slide & lock into the head. Occasionally reapply as needed.
- Amber: Cut a flexible cutting mat to fit your space, set the machine on top & it will slide wherever needed.
- Jan Brown: The mixer attachment became stuck so bad they tried blowing heat directly where the attachment connects with a hair dryer. It took a little while but it did work its way loose!
Good luck and I hope these tips helped get things repaired and running smoothly again for you!
These are some great tips that I want to keep but I don’t want to print. It would be a great idea to be able to either have a file of these tips or be able to transfer them to our computer documents for us to create our own file. Printing just wastes so much paper, its hard to find and organize tips and a computer file will make keeping more tips an option. Love them and keep them coming. Thank You.
Miss C
Click where it says “print” below the tips. Then, highlight the whole page; ctrl c to copy; then open a new document or email and ctrl v to paste. You can leave it like this, or if you don’t want the photos in, simply place your cursor to the bottom right of the photo and use “delete” or “backspace” to take the photo out. You should be able to clean it this way to get the results you want.
Hope this helps! Merry Christmas!
For misschameleon you have an option for turning the screen you ate looking at into an image or jpg file your keyboard has a key for it mine is tiny source then you can save all the pages you want in your pics file that’s what I did rather than print them all.
Copy and paste onto word 🙂
You can also print to a PDF file, instead of printing to paper. When you print, select PDF or whatever your file choice, instead of your home printer. Then you can archive them on your computer’s hard drive.
Click ‘print’ at the top of the page, then right click and choose print then instead of printing to your printer choose print to PDF or save to PFD.
Or just print it as a pdf and save it to you computer.
For flour,powdered sugar etc. that flies out when u turn mixer on….I took a large ice cream pail top(party pail size) cut strait line to middle,cut hole n middle to place over beater and it just slips rite over bowl n beaters n just rinse off when finished!
Thanks for the tips.
I keep my Kitchen Aid out on my counter (too heavy to put away). I prefer storing it centered in a corner on my cabinets. Between the weight and the rubber feet, it was a nightmare moving it out and across my granite to use it. I put 3/4 inch felt protector pads on the rubber feet and now my mixer just glides across the granite and out of the corner for use.
While I like my Kitchen Aid, I used to have a Sunbeam stand mixer which was more user friendly. The beaters were offset such that you could scrape the bowl while the mixer was running. I think Kitchen Aid could improve their design. I did recently purchase a beater with the attached rubber scraper which helps. Also, my Artisan came with the plastic splash guard with the shute for adding ingredients. I’m glad I have that.
I like the power of the Kitchen Aid. If mixing a stiff batter with my Sunbeam, you could sometimes “smell” the motor like it was burning. I haven’t experienced that with my Kitchen Aid, but I feel like my Sunbeam mixed batters better. It seems like I always see tiny lumps in my batters mixed with the Kitchen Aid. I have a friend who also used to have a Sunbeam and she said the same thing about her Kitchen Aid. The important thing is that the finished products usually turn out okay.
Any suggestions for mixing smoother batters in the Kitchen Aid?
Thanks.
Hi Brenda!
I also had trouble getting my batters to be smooth when I first got my KitchenAid. I think the trick is to completely cream your butter and eggs before you add any extra ingredients. I *thought* I was creaming it enough when I first began using it, but quickly found out that if I let it cream even two or three minutes longer than I really think it needs to go, my batters turn out silky smooth.
Hope this helps!
Lindsey
Mix you mix on low until everything is incorporated and then turn to high and just leave it to mix for severel minutes. Just make sure you give it plenty of mixing time and i you will have a well mixed batter.
I would take a Sunbeam mixer over a KA any day! They work wonderfully and their design beater-wise and bowl-wise are infinitely better!
I agree….buy ten Sunbeams for price of one KA and skip all of these tips.
KitchenAid FLEX EDGE BEATER. No more scraping. Check out QVC. I adore my KitchenAid stand mixer – have had in for 20 years & it shows no sign of weakening or wearing out.
My kitchen aid turns ok when bowl empty but won’t turn whrn to try to do a mixing with flour any ideas how o could fix it toom it fir repairs charged me 117$ and still doesn’t work
I love my Kitchen Aid mixer!! Another great discovery I made and a major time saver: I use it to mash potatoes after their boiled, I throw everything I need in it, seasoning, cream, butter..done in a few seconds!
Miss C…copy the whole post and paste it into a word document and file it on your hard drive.
Thank you for this! I, too, had the Sunbeam–my mom’s old one was much better than my “new one” from 1978. I finally made the leap to the Kitchenaid and I love it, mostly. Each one has their perks, but the KA is more powerful and I can turn it on and turn away while it’s doing its thing…a definite advantage!
One really neat trick I figured out on accident: Sometimes, I can’t get the beater attachment to lock onto the mixer head (you can get it to get on, but it won’t twist to lock in place). One day, I thought it probably needed grease, but I didn’t have anything to grease it with – except for a can of PAM. I sprayed the inside of the attachment (where it connects to the KA head) and it slid right in and I didn’t have a problem after that! I do need to reapply every now and again, but it’s enough to last a good few months, especially if you use the dishwasher to wash your attachments. PAM is something I always have on hand, so one quick spray and I’m good to go 🙂 Just a little tip for anyone else that might have the same problem.
Brenda: To make your batters smoother, cream your fat and sugar first (I go on low until it’s mostly there, then kick up the speed for a minute or so). Then add the rest of your ingredients in the order they call for. Once everything is added, mix on low for 1 1/2 minutes, then on 3 or 4 (I normally go to 4, I believe) for another 3 minutes. You’ll get a silky smooth batter. 🙂 I stole the idea from pre-made Duncan Hines cake mix boxes! I just adapted the technique for everything that I do 🙂
For moving your mixer around easily, just cut one of those flexible cutting mats to fit your mixer and your space. Set your mixer on top and slide it wherever you need it!
I always use my mixer to shred my chicken now. It takes at most 30 seconds. I just cut it in half and plop it in the mixer while it’s still hot. The shredded chicken only takes about 5 minutes to cool down. By hand I have to wait about 30 minutes for the chicken to cool enough to touch it, then it takes another 10 to shred it. I will never shred chicken by hand again.
I have also used the mixer to shred a roast for bbq sandwiches. (can’t remember the cut, only that it was beef) I didn’t like the texture it gave. The pieces turned out very small and almost like mush or stage 3 baby food. That could have just been that my roast was super tender and I had a hard time getting it out of the crockpot because it kept falling apart. Maybe if the roast was slightly more firm it would have worked better. I plan to try it again the next time I need a roast shredded.
I really thought the painted Kitchen Aids were absolutely beautiful. I just sat back an enjoyed the beautiful artwork and marveled at what I was witnessing in beauty on of all things a mixer.
My mixer is from the mid 80’s used, but not tons, Last time I used it the speeds did not change properly. I found a place on the web to order a new gear, I don’t know if that is the problem, seems so, or how hard that will be to change, anyone else change gears in their mixer b4? wasn’t terribly expensive but want to know more before I order it.
The tips are great, If I get my working I am going to paint or decal it, it is white now.
thanks
My mixer has done the same, only high speed most of the time. Called a repair place in Dallas and he said it was the Control Plate Assembly, I’m going to order it next week. He said it’s easy to replace, unplug wires put assembly in and replug. Hope it is that easy.
This reminded me that early on in my marriage, my mother gave me a very old Kitchen Aid Mixer. I had no idea what it was, and it didn’t come with any beaters, so I trashed it. Many years later, realizing exactly what it is, I saved and saved to purchase one. Bummer, that old one had a great motor, I probably could have ordered the beaters……I love my kitchen aid!
Replaced the brushes and it still won’t turn on. Could be that water got in while it was being wiped down? Don’t know what to do. Sending it to Greenville Ohio will cost $32.00 to ship and $25.00 to diagnose. Any ideas?
Thanks for plastic plate/ice cream cover idea.
I had the same problem while working at a business that did baking. We had to take it in to be serviced and $50 later found out the brushes were simply in backwords!
Just bought a new Kitchen aid, the 600 series and I put the attachments into the dish washer before I read that I shouldn’t. As a result I now own three attachments which are oozing some gray matter. Called kitchen aid, they will replace one attachment, have to buy the other two. I chose the white coated attachments. The old kitchen aid has been in steady use for about 25 years, still works, gave it to my son. The one given to me by my mother in law is the one which we can get to come on. I wonder can they be taken apart to see what
could have gone wrong?
We *can not get the one given to me to turn on. The brushes were replaced and still no luck.
Mine will not start running at level 1-3. I have to crank it to the highest level for the motor to run. Ideas?
I have cleaned the gray off of the attachments. Use white vinegar and baking soda, make a paste of it and just keep wiping the attachments with the paste until you no longer see that ucky gray stuff. I used paper towels and then I washed the attachments with soap and water and dried them immediately after wards.
Thank you for the tip! I was planning to buy another paddle attachment!
I have found that if I just wipe my counter with a damp towel it will slide where ever I want. Love you page!!
I have a Pro 600 series that I bought in Jan 2007. The motor died with a single loaf batch of bread dough and it’s over $140 to repair at KA’s authorized repair center. KitchenAid will not help me or guarantee the repair. They claim to not know the life expectancy of their mixers and do not stand behind them. I’m not happy.
I make whipped cream in my Kitchen Aid but it wants to splatter so I tent the Kitchen Aid with plastic wrap and it solves the problem entirely.
Mix up ground meat (with spices, eggs, bread crumbs & what ever else for meat balls or meat loaf.
I purchased my 4th Kitchen Aid 6 quart Professional Model last January… Love them – they work awesome. The first 2 I used hard – we have a big family. The 3rd one quit working after a short period of time. Kitchen Aid was awesome to deal with – I saved the receipts, etc. Within a short period of time, I received a replacement. Besides baking, I use mine for mashing potatoes – works great, easy and done in a few minutes…and no lumps…
Is there a way to replace the switch? I got my mom’s after she passed away but when you shut the macine to off it still runs.
My dad had this same problem-it’s a safety issue because your machine could start running while you think it’s off and have your hands near the beater. He called kitchen aid and they sent him a brand new one for free-he didn’t have receipts or anything, but they stood by their product.
I have my KitchenAid stand mixer from 1972 … never a problem, until … I broke the glass mixing bowl. I accidently dropped it when I was washing it … KitchenAid doesn’t have a replacement bowl that will work with my mixer. (sad face) They sent me a metal bowl but the beater hit the bottom of the bowl and the mixer bounced up and down. So now I am sending the bowl back and must decide if I want to buy another KitchenAid stand mixer or a hand held. I don’t use it as much as I did when I was younger, mostly at Thanksgiving and Christmas now. I think my mixer would have worked forever if I only hadn’t dropped that glass bowl 🙂 .
Check ebay for your bowl don’t throw it away. Maybe check Craigslist also
you can adjust the height of the attachments…it might help.
I have a newer one and the speeds 1,2,3 all work but if I turn to 4,5,or6 theory are the same as speed 3. Does anyone know what’s wrong?
Very useful, well-organized site. Thanks for doing all the work to put all of these tips in one place. I found the answer to a problem that I was having with my mixer that I was unable to find on the Kitchen Aid website. I will add this site to my bookmarked pages for easy reference later. Thanks again!
I am fortunate to have one of the pre-1980 mixers that is still working strong. Unfortunately, I had a housefire, in which I lost about everything. I was blown away that my Kitchen-Aide kept right on working. I had an electical problem in the home I am living in at this time, and the electrician said that I should not be using the mixer, as the power cord turned black at the end that goes into the wall. Can I replace the power cord? If not, should I take it to an appliance repair shop? I am distrustful of letting just anybody into my Kitchen Aide, as I use it almost every day for something. I have come to depend on it heavily. I cannot afford to replace it, and I suspect as you mentioned that “they don’t make ’em like they used to!”. Please advise. What a great site this is! Magnifique! Thanks so much!
I have an additional question: I bought a second Kitchen Aid, just a few years ago, and it worked once and pooped out on me. I wanted to take it back to the store, but my children had thrown away my receipt and the box. I should have taken it into the store anyway, and at least asked them to let me exchange it. I cannot drive, so I did not chase down a ride to do it. Should I open it up myself to try to see if there is something I can see that is wrong? I am disabled, on a fixed income (that although I am very greatful for, is sadly not enough[I still have 4 children at home] and cannot afford to send it away somewhere for service. By the time I pay for shipping and the service cost, I may as well buy a new one. Any ideas on this? Thanks again so much, for your time and consideration!
Does anyone have trouble getting their bowl off the mixer? Sometimes it is on so tightly after using that I cannot get if off with out a tremendous struggle.
yes. i am having trouble getting my bowl off my mixer after kneading bread dough. Is there an adjustment i can make to make this easy. it gets so tight i have to wait for my husband to get it off.
One of my favorite uses is to re-moisturize Play-Doh. All I do is put the Play-Doh in the bowl, add a tablespoon of water (for about a cup of Play-Doh), attach the bread kneader, and let it go on high for a few minutes. Voila!!! Brand new, fresh Play-Doh!!!!!!!
Kitchen Aid doesn’t tell you this, but they have a life time replacement policy. I managed to burn the motor out on mine while playing around with a royal icing recipe, I called them up and even though my mixer was over four years old and the damage was totally my fault they just asked for the model number and told me a new one would ship that day. I received my mixer two days later and shipped the old one back to them in the box my new one came in. I didn’t even have to pay shipping. I love both of my Kitchen Aid mixers, but it was their excellent customer service that sold me on the company. They didn’t even teas me for breaking the most powerful mixer they make.Very nice people!
The lifetime warranty is a great thing to know. Thanks for passing that on.
They didn’t do this for me. I wrote to them explaining the difficulties I had with my second mixer (I’d bought the first one and used it without problem for many (maybe 15) years in South America, but sold it there and bought a new one when I moved back to the states. This one has never worked correctly in the lowest gear, only second lowest. They only said that that they only have a one year warranty. My mixer was bought in 2008.
However, thanks to this post, I now have a mixer whose head does NOT wobble!
Thank you!
What great luck for you! I have a 5 year old Kitchen-Aid that I just took out of the sealed box. Five minutes into using it the motor seized up and just whines. The only help from Kitchen-Aid was the name of a repair center 2 hours from me, or pay to send it to Ohio and pay for a diagnostic fee.
THANKS soooo much for sharing! Very informative!
thanks for all the tips, I agree I will be bookmarking this site.
My husband bought me a KA for Christmas a couple of years ago. The 3rd time I used it, it died. I contacted KA and they paid to have it shipped back. THEN THEY LOST IT! I sent it back in January but didn’t get it returned until the end of May. I had a free gift coming to me that I had a year to claim, but they disqualified me while I was waiting for my replacement. I finally got my free gift because I complained that after paying almost $500 they had some nerve. The darned thing still doesn’t work right, but I refuse to send it back to the factory again. Some of your tips may help me deal with the problems, but I will NEVER buy a KA mixer or anything else they make ever again!
In 1986 my grandmother gave me my first KitchenAid mixer and i loved it. When she passed away I inherited her new 600 series. I love the large mixing capacity, but the quality is not the same. KitchenAid sold out in the early 2000’s and even though it is still the best mixer out there it isn’t what it was. I gave me old mixer to my sister and I wish I had it back!
I’ve started making bread. The dough seems to create enough resistance that the bowl regularly works loose. I have to hold it down by hand. Any ideas? The bowl foot SEEMS not to have changed, i.e. worn. Same for the piece on the base to which the bowl affixes.
Just in case you ever got an answer….I have the same issue. Did you ever find out what the problem was?
IF it’s an older model machine (read: solidly built) and you trust your manual dexterity with a good solid Common Screwdriver and a hammer, you can give the prongs on the base that hold the bowl in place a couple taps. Use the flat tip of the screwdriver, being sure you use a solid one and/or one you don’t care if it accidentally gets slightly damaged, and tap the handle back end soundly. Be sure you move the prongs equally, or either check them ahead of time to see if any of them are unusually up. Be extra careful about doing this gradually if you use a glass bowl, and check periodically to be sure the bowl still goes in. Either way, I will say my old bowl has deeper catch grooves than my newer extra bowl, to the point I’m tempted to message some of these folks with dead older machines and ask if they have the right size old bowl and would be willing to sell them!
I received my KA as a Christmas gift from my husband. I had a WONDERFUL Sunbeam mixer which would mix and knead everything!!! My husband insisted that I use a KA as some guy on the Food Channel said they are the best. I gave my Sunbeam away and am so sorry I did. The KA doesn’t have the power to knead the bread dough for the bread I make. It smells like it is burning. I also don’t like the shape of the bottom of the bowl. I don’t know how many times the darn thing has tipped over in the sink and sent water everywhere. Very poor design! In a nutshell – I am not happy with my KA at all.
I love the advise and everyone’s comments. My husband purchased a KA for me for Christmas (without a manual) and I have used it two or three times to make a cake. However, I find that I still have to hand mix after using the mixer because the beaters do not reach the bottom and I end up with unmixed ingredients. Is one of the adjustments that you wrote about good for this?
Try adjusting the height of the beater (though you don’t want it touching the bottom of the bowl, per the manual.) If you don’t have the manual, you can download it online on KitchenAid’s site.
Anyhow, I bought one of the beaters with the rubber scraper on it. It definitely helped with reducing unmixed ingredients.
I bought one of those new-fangled beaters that has a rubber liner all around so you don’t have to scrape the bowl so often, but after many batches of Christmas cookies, the bowl would not budge off the stand. I called KA and they said the beater with the rubber had driven the bowl too deep into the stand. They sent me a box and I sent my machine to them. They repaired it, greased it, and sent it back with another bowl. I did not know they had a lifetime guarantee as one of the writers above says, and they did charge me a considerable amount. They also sold me a beater with rubber only on one side that presumably puts less pressure on the bowl. Haven’t happened to use it since, though they said I should not let it sit too long.
I got a KA for Christmas from my daughters I didn’t use it a lot when I first got it but about 6 months later I started using it for baking. Well I only used it about 12 times when I smelt it over heating before I could shut it off it quit. The store would not return it and said I would have to take it to a small appliance repair shop at my expense. My daughters had paid a lot off money for it. I was disappointed.
I have a 35 year old KA45 stand mixer. The bowl has. Started coming loose, especially with heavier batters. How do I resolve this? I do have the bowl locked during usr.
Thanks.
My bowl will not stay put while in use. I cannot get it to lock in place anymore. I’m not sure if my bowl or base plate is dented/damaged somehow. Both bowl and plate look fine! Very frustrating.
I have had a KA for 15 years. I have always enjoyed the mixer especially for making bread and cookies. Recently I turned on the switch and all I could hear was the sound of the motor but it would not turn the beater. I am concerned about the cost of repairs. Anyone have any ideas? I never thought to contact the company I assumed we had to take it to a repair place.
KA pre 1980 is formerly “Hobart”. They were and still are workhorses. They lasted forever because the gears were metal. When Hobart sold that part of the business to KA the quality of their mixers went to pot. That is because they used plastic gears instead of metal. KA is by no means the great company everyone thinks they are. They are overpriced and skimmed on quality, people do not know the history behind them. So if you have grandma’s Hobart( with the Hobart name plate) you have one quality machine. If you have a KA…so sorry….
The exact same thing applies to their dishwashers. The old ones were made by Hobart which was a commercial manufacturer and they were fabulous. I haven’t had a really good KA dishwasher since the early 1970’s…
Love my KA We also have purchased the meat grinder and pasta attachments. After a year the pasta roller broke, called and a new one was sent free of charge, just had to send the broken attachment to KA.
I love my Kitchenaid mixer! Just after the warranty ran out, the beater became stuck on though, and I had no money to send it out for repair. I searched for a fix online off and on for nearly an entire _year_ before I found the fix posted in some obscure forum – wrap the area where the beater attaches with a hot wet washcloth for about 15 minutes. It worked! (I had to laugh when it did, I had tried all sorts of craziness to try and get it loose, including banging on it with a rubber mallet LOL) It has never gotten stuck again since and is still going strong 7 years later.
I have a gear problem. The planetry gear works fine when making dough, but the gear that turns the accessories stopped while I was making sausage. Which gear do I have to replace to get it working again?
None too happy with kitchenaid refusing to help with schematics and parts. 1 year warrantee, what a joke!
I have had several kitchenaid appliances. I had returned a few that broke and they replaced them with refurbished models at no cost to me. A few years after that I called to get something else replaced that had broken, and they said they no longer do that. So I assume the lifetime warranty is not in place any longer:(
Hope someone can help me. I have an older and simpler KA mixer, the top of the unit does not flip up to adjust the space between beater and bottom of metal bowl. It is scraping the bottom and I need to fix it. Does anyone have an idea how that is done. Thank you.
I adjusted the beater screw but my beater is still touching the bottom of the bowl and won’t move. This is a very recent problem. We were baking a lot on Friday. The day when I wanted to use it, the beaters were touching the bottom of the bowl and wouldn’t move when turned on. Unplugged the mixer, and adjusted screw, but height didn’t change. Could there be something else causing this problem?
I got a KA stand mixer as a gift in the late 80s. I have never had a single problem. I did put felt pads on the feet to prevent scratching my counter. I make sure my creamed items are totally smooth before adding dry. I also scrape the bottom once by hand after adding drybingrediants on low speed before increasing the speed. something I have always done even with a hand mixer.My mixer is used frequently and my mother borrows it. I do put all my attachments in the dishwasher with clean results.
For the sticky bowl I used W-D40 and Cooking spray for the attachments. The cooking spray does not last as long as the W-D40 but probably should not be used on attachments near food.
I have a KA hand mixer that I use for quick projects. I was surprised at its strength.
I LOVE my KA stand mixer and all the attachments. I hope I never need to buy a newer model based on many comments posted here.
No!! KA does NOT have a replacement policy. I just called them and thats what they said. Sure you can buy a service policy thru 3rd party and they would keep fixing it for you if you had issues with it
Thanks..
I have a Hobard Kitchenaid stand mixer, K45SS. It doesn’t slide all the way to the locked position when I put the head down. It stops moving at the midpoint. If I lift the head up, then I’ll slide to the locked position. It was working fine the last time I used.