In bread-bakers.v099.n053.18, Ellen casts a vote for the 350-watt Kitchen
Aide mixer with a reset button. I initially bought a smaller model,
without reset, and quickly broke a gear inside making heavy whole wheat
dough, though I was within guidelines on amount of flour used. KA Service
told me, incredibly, that this gear was designed to break as a sort of
protection for the rest of
the unit!
They were very accommodating however, and sent me a reconditioned
Professional model (with reset button) as a loaner until they could replace
mine with a new unit. It was Christmas time and they were out of new
mixers. I used the reconditioned unit without problem until the
replacement arrived. The first time I used it with my stiff whole wheat
bread dough it began smoking heavily
and smelled on the verge of burnout. Disgusted, I sent it back and held on
to the larger unit, even though it was a reconditioned machine, with no
warranty. I figured it must be pretty close to an even trade versus a new
underpowered unit. KA must figure that way, too; I never heard from them
again and it has been almost two years.
The reset often pops when I make whole wheat bread. At that point I can
finish it by hand, though the mixer will usually reset if I push the
button. Sometimes it has to sit a bit and cool off.
The moral for me is, make sure your mixer has overload protection if you
will use it to make heavy doughs. Also, be sure to turn the power switch
off before you push reset. Otherwise, the unit starts right up. I didn't
see any warning about this in the literature I got. The sudden activity can
be dangerous if your hands are near the mixer at the time.
I thank Ellen for her note; I've always wondered if others didn't have the
same problems as I did with those smaller mixers.
Richard Casey