Kitchen Aid Mixer Advice

I can only suggest you get the bowl lift and not the tilt head as they have a more powerful motor in them.

The 6 qt pro (bowl lift) is a decent machine, as long as you’re not doing gnarly stiff bread doughs (like bagels or pita). I had one for 10+ years, it was a workhorse. I had the juicer, the pasta rollers, the meat grinder, and probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten. I’d still have it, but I outgrew the bowl capacity, and I upgraded to an Ankarsrum.

If you’re a big-batch bread baker, the Ankarsrum is a damn fine machine. I knead 8-loaf batches (2 kilos of flour, plus other ingredients) of challah in the 7-quart bowl. The single additional quart capacity over the KA doesn’t sound like much, but the mixing mechanics are totally different. Open top and roller/scraper means you can put way way more into an Ankarsrum than a KA. Bowl rotates from the bottom; lots of torque. A crazy solidly build Swedish workhorse. Any larger capacity would require a fully commercial unit, and I don’t have space for that in my home kitchen. Check ‘em out: LINK. A full line of attachments is available; I’ve got pasta rollers, citrus juicer (way better designed than the KA version), and shredder/processor attachments.

Costco has the 6 QT Professional model for $249, right now. That's $80 off.

KitchenAid Mixer

The price is the same online or in the store.

I bought the five quart Artisan one last year for future daughter in law. Granted, she's only making things for two people, so she doesn't have requirements for a larger one, but she's been very happy with it, using it mostly for bread and cookies and the like.

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I can only suggest you get the bowl lift and not the tilt head as they have a more powerful motor in them.

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I first got the 5qt Tilthead. I like the functionality and look of the tilt head better. It's easier to get the bowl on and off, as well as removing the paddles / attachments. But yes, the tilthead's for the most part don't have the power that the bowl lift models have. So if you are doing something, like thick bread dough, it may not be able to handle the load. I switched to a bowl lift after my tilthead's lower speeds starting getting wacky and wouldn't turn completely off unless I unplugged it. The only thing that sucks about the bowl lift is it is a good bit taller than the tilt head because the head unit is so large (even for the 5 quart). I couldn't fit the thing under my cabinets, where my old tilthead fit easily.

I have had the 5 qt tilter for about 25 years. I do a lot of bread making and it suits my needs fine. My wife talked me out of the 6 qt because of the space it takes up and it doesn't go under the cabinets. So it would have to be a permanent fixture on the countertop, not that there is anything wrong with that if you have the room.

The 6 qt is more powerful, but the 5 qt is still a very suitable machine for most people.

i keep seeing these come up on sale on facebook marketplace for around $50-$100 "hardly used" they are good but they are too big to put away somewhere and people get tired of seeing it sitting out on counter 24/7 when you hardly ever use it. hence that os why they sell for $50 a year or two after you pay $250 for it.

they get bought up as fast as they advertise them but here is one for $100 OBO: LINK

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Ankarsrum

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Wut wut! I have one, too, from its days known as the Assistent. Didn’t know we had another serious baker here! Although I feel like I’ve typed that before lol.

To answer OP’s question, pasta rollers are much handier than the hand crank type. Also, check out the pasta sheeter.

The lift bowls are made better than the tilt heads but the tilt heads will still last forever.

We've had the tilt head 5 quart model for 14 years now. Still going strong, as we used it yesterday. My grandmother got each of her grandchildren one as a wedding gift. It started with my older sister, then my cousin. My wife wasn't sure we'd use it, but I told her that was what Granny wanted to get for everyone, and all these years later she is so happy we have it. She does a lot of baking around the holidays, makes cakes and icing from scratch, cookies, bread, etc. All the time saved by not standing there with a hand mixer is great. She uses it to mash potatoes, and I use it with the blade paddle attachment to bust up smoked meat. I'll never pull pork by hand again. Just chop it into 4-5 pieces, toss them in, and turn it on the lowest setting. A minute later it is done.

I've never bought any attachments, but the only think I think I would get use out of is a meat grinder.