Do you need a new mixer? Then read on for my opinion of the Kitchenaid Professional 600 Mixer.
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Kitchenaid vs Bosch: A Backstory
For 14 years I exclusively used and loved my Bosch Universal Mixer. It was a great machine, even if it wasn’t pretty. It did everything I asked it to, until one day it didn’t.
I found myself mixer-less and not sure what to do. I’m all about using what we have or fixing what’s broken before buying new. But the thing is, we’d fixed my Bosch Mixer once already when the plug end broke off. Arlen rewired it with an ugly yellow extension cord end and it was back in business.
I priced out new parts for my machine and they were close to $300 for a new gear box, but I’d still have an older machine with a retrofitted plug and a broken splash guard. But buying a new Bosch Machine would start around $600.
$600 was not in my budget and when you’re trying to stretch your budget some things aren’t a priority. I resigned myself that I’d need to save up for a couple months until we could figure out what we should do. I searched Facebook Marketplace to see what was available used, but I never could find a used Bosch machine.
The hunt is on…..
We expanded our search on Facebook marketplace to include the Kitchenaid Professional 600 mixer. I chose this one since it seemed like a comparable machine to the Bosch Mixer, but all the good priced machines were either too far away or they wanted next to new pricing ($550).
As luck would have it we were at my parents house (near Calgary) between Christmas and New Years and checked the marketplace again and found a brand new in the box, never opened, Kitchenaid Professional 600 in the north end of Calgary. Because of the time of year people were clearing out their houses of excess.
Arlen being the salesman that he is managed to get a deal that we were comfortable with and I was the new owner of a Kitchenaid Mixer. I also knew that I could sell my Bosch attachments if I liked this machine to help offset the purchase cost.
So now that I’ve been using it for a solid month I feel like I can give you a honest review of the machine and how it compares to the Bosch Universal Machine.
Comparison Chart
Copy of Bosch Universal Mixer vs. Kitchenaid Professional 600 Mixer
| Bosch Universal (Old Model) | Bosch Universal Plus (Current Model) | Kitchenaid Professional 600 Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | N/A | $550-$650 | $450-$600 |
| Attachments included | Splash Guard, Dough Hook and Whisk | Splash Guard, Dough Hook and Whisk | Splash Guard, Dough Hook, Whisk and Cookie Paddle |
| Speed Settings | 2 and Pulse | 4 | 10 |
| Motor | 800 Watts | 800 Watts | 575 Watts |
| Capacity | 6.5 Quarts | 6.5 Quarts | 6 Quarts |
| Warranty | N/A | 3 year motor | 1 year |
| Mixing Bowl | Plastic | Plastic | Stainless Steel |
| Transportable | Easy to move around | Easy to move around | Awkward and Heavy, hard to move around |
| Colour | White | White | 10 colours |
Reasons to love a Kitchenaid Professional 600 Mixer (pros)
Lots of Speed Settings
There are 10 settings to choose from on this machine. The #1 setting has a really nice slow mix which is good when you first add ingredients.
Anything yeast based should be used no higher than the #2 setting, but the cookie paddle and whisk can go up to the #10 setting.
It holds a lot of flour
The mixing bowl can easily hold 10 cups of flour. I haven’t tried going over 10 cups as that is what my bread recipe calls form.
Those 10 cups of flour make 4-6 loaves of bread depending on how big you like your loaves.
It comes with basic attachments
When you purchase a Kitchenaid Professional 600 Mixer it comes with a mixing bowl, splash guard, bread dough hook, cookie paddle and whisk.
I have found that the cookie paddle is a really nice addition as the dough hook is much smaller and wouldn’t mix cookies well enough.
Optional attachments
There are numerous attachments you can buy from different paddles, whisks to meat griders.
The first attachment I will be saving for is the paddle with the rubber scraper. After making a couple batches of cookies I wished that this paddle was included in my purchase.
Colour
Choosing a colour might be one of the most fun things when shopping for this machine. I didn’t get that option as we purchased off Facebook Marketplace. But with 10 colours to choose from you will be sure to find one that suits your style
Cleaning
I found this machine really easy to keep clean. The motor drive is above the bowl so all the attachments are above as well.
This means that you don’t get dough or batter inside where the attach. The bowl is really easy to pop off as well to clean in the sink.
While parts of this mixer are dishwasher safe, I find it’s faster to just hand wash and then put back on the mixer.
Things you might not like (cons)
Cost
This machine is not a bottom entry level machine. It is pricey, but …. you get what you pay for. This machine is going to last you a very long time if you take care of it!
Splash Guard
While the splash guard is supposed to help you add flour and ingredients to the bowl when you are mixing, I have found it gets more in the way. It is a bit messy to add flour, but with practice you can add flour while the machine is running without too much of a mess.
Dough hook, Paddle and Whisks
All three attachments don’t come low enough in the mixing bowl for my liking. This means that you can’t whip 2 egg whites. I also found you need to add flour slowly so it doesn’t fall to the bottom and not get mixed in.
Most of these issues can be solved by working slower or making larger batches of recipes.
Weight and Height
This machine is heavy and awkward to move. In the past I stored my Bosch Mixer under the cupboard, but this Kitchenaid Professional 600 Mixer is far too heavy to move.
This model is also very tall. It doesn’t fit under my cupboards. Thankfully I have a corner where it fits. So measure your cupboards when purchasing or be ready to retrofit existing cupboards to make it fit.
This is a good machine!
Since using this machine for the last month I haven’t had any issues with it. It has met all my requirements in a mixer. If you’re still not sure pop over and read why I still love my Bosch Mixer. I’d still be using it today if it hadn’t died and my budget had no limit.
Only time will tell if this machine is the workhorse that my previous machine was.
