The Scraper Mixer Pro (5-qt.) by Breville

Don't know why I waited so long to purchase. It's light weight, easy to use, durable and has no trouble working through some of my toughest recipes.

If you want the pretty colors and all the attachments - get a Kitchenaid. I won't need a pasta attachment or a meat grinder, so the Breville suits me nicely. The Breville is lighter (16 lbs. vs. 25 lbs.), quieter and has a countdown timer - a nice convenience. It has plenty of power and has a nice modern brushed metal finish. Consumers Reports just gave it a higher rating than the Kitchenaid - the 1st comparable mixer to unseat it. It's also a bit cheaper. I've only had it a few weeks, but I really like it so far. My only issue, the spatter shield attachment leaves little room for adding additional ingredients such as eggs or vanilla, but I am sure I'll get used to it.

I bought it based on very good reviews on Consumer Reports and Amazon,and true- it looks great on the counter, but then I proceeded to knead dough for bread (main task I'm using stand mixers for)- what a disappointment!! After kneading my dough for little more then 3 minutes (same basic 50% whole wheat recipe KA mixer never had a problem with) it got so hot I couldn't even touch it,and think just stopped working (error E2-overheating),oh and dense smoke was coming out of it- whole kitchen smelled like machine shop.It took about 30 min to cool it down to the point I could turn it back.In my opinion definitely not suitable for making bread dough, I'm going to send it back and till I find better mixer my old KA is going back on the counter.It may be OK for mixing cap cake or pancakes batter but stay away if you are bread baker.

Sturdy, powerfull, easy to learn and mows through even the thickest cookie dough like it's nothing, and it has great recipes; use for cakes, cookies, breads, pizza doughs....anything!

I'm looking for reasons to use my mixer. I use to avoid it.