If you are looking into buying a serious mixer, this KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Mixer review will give you a scoop on this highly popular mixer. We used this mixer for some intensive kitchen duties and the results are in. This is one of the premium electric mixers on the market and you must determine which mixer is the right one for your purposes.
Table of Contents
Overview
Stand mixers do yeoman’s work in the kitchen and can be quite pricey. So if you’re considering making a purchase, it’s valuable to compare features on a variety of mixers before making a decision.
To that end, we’re continuing with our look at the most popular stand mixers on the market today. You can compare the features and benefits of one model to another and make a choice to best serve your kitchen needs. Below we have selected a stand mixer and would like to share our findings on what it does and how well it does it.
Why you need an electric mixer
Most of us turn our attention to baking, as visions of light and fluffy cakes, homemade freshly baked breads and cookies play in our minds, but the reality of baking is that it’s very time consuming and labor intensive. Yes, the biceps on one arm will get a good workout if mixing dough and batter by hand.
Unless you’re striving for the Johnny Bravo look, you might want to consider using a stand mixer.
They produce superb results for a wide range of cooking techniques including mixing all kinds of dough, cake batter and cheesecake mix and they’re so much faster than working by hand. This gives you more free time to do other tasks while the mixer does all the hard work.
KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Mixer
Product Specifications.
- The Mixer is 16.50 inches tall, 11.25 inches wide and 14.50inches deep.
- The cord length is 45 inches long.
- It weighs about 29 pounds so you would probably want to leave it on your counter top or find a solid place for it.
- There are 30 colors to choose from.
- The unit is 575 watts and has 10 speeds.
- This stainless steel bowl has a steady handle and holds 6 quarts.
- Included are a burnished metal flat beater used for cakes, frosting and cookie dough, burnished spiral dough hook for bread and pizza dough, 6 wire whip for egg whites and heavy cream with a 1 piece hard plastic pouring shield.
The Nuts and Bolts
This high quality machine is driven by a commercial-quality 575 watt motor. One of industry’s largest and most powerful home mixers, it gives all 10 speeds plenty of energy for working through dense and heavy mixtures.
To handle all that power, the stand, housing unit, and internal gears are all made of rugged metal for reliable performance and durability – this model is designed to work a lot, and to work hard.
One of the features that makes this mixer appealing is the adjustable screw that allows the height of the beaters to be raised or lowered for proper clearance. Using a flathead screwdriver, a slight turn will restore the ideal calibration between the surface of the bowl and the beaters to cleanly pull all ingredients into the mix.
The larger than average 6 quart bowl is constructed of polished stainless steel and is securely riveted with a comfort handle to make lifting heavy mixes easier. It’s held in place on the bowl-lift ledge with riveted bowl supports that slip over locator pins, snaps into place with a spring latch, and is easily lifted and lowered with the convenient bowl-lift handle.
This bowl-lift feature adds much needed stability when mixing large, heavy batches of stiff batters or kneading dough, as it keeps the bowl securely in place. A great feature if you’re doing a lot of bread making.
And unlike many of its contemporary competitors, all of Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers are still manufactured in the US.
Useful Tips For Using The Mixer.
Loosen the attachment knob, slip up the hub cover and you can attach one of over 10 Kitchen aid attachments for pasta or grinding meat. The lever raises the bowl into position. The head does not tilt like some other models. The bowl lift handle is used here and the bowl height adjustment screw is back there as well. Attach the beater, straight up the shaft and turn right, it’ll hook onto the pin on the shaft to attach the bowl, leave the bowl lift handle in the down position. Put the bowl over the pins and press down on the back of the bowl until you hear it snap. Raise the handle and that lifts the bowl.
When you’re mixing, the handle always has to be in this position. If you’re using the pouring shield, carefully place it on the rim of the bowl. Add in the ingredients through the chute. Put the handle down to lower the mixer. Remove the beater by pushing up and to the left, it slides down the shaft. Hold the bowl handle and lift the bowl straight up. The beater should just clear the bottom of the bowl. If the beater is hitting the bottom of the bowl, turn this screw slightly counterclockwise to raise and clockwise to lower the bowl. This mixer is very heavy and quite large. We leave it out tucked in the corner on the counter, but if you have limited counter space please know that it’ll be heavy to move around to use. The rubber on the bottom of the mixer helps it stay in one place even when kneading bread using the bread hook. You can see and hear the motor running hard, but this machine stays put.
Whenever you’re mixing anything, always make sure to start at a low speed and then slowly increase as you go. There are some great tips given in the manual regarding the correct speed to use for different ingredients. The pouring plastic shield can also be washed in clean warm soapy water or on top rack of your dishwasher. The dough hook, beater and whip wire are all hand wash only, do not put them in the dishwasher or they will get ruined. Wipe down the shaft and entire mixer with a clean damp cloth and leave to dry.
Cleaning tips
Before you use the mixer, wash the bowl at least 3 times to remove any dark residue. As we know that any kitchen appliance you purchase will for sure have to be given a quick thorough wash before use, that’s normal. Also wash all the attachments like the hook, beater and wire whip. Before mixing, we always check to make sure there is no residue left by wiping with a paper towel. This way, your whipped cream, egg whites or butter won’t have any grey streaks in them.
Best way we found to handle any black residue is put salt in it and cut a lemon in half. Squeeze enough juice to make kind of a paste and use the half lemon to scrub the bowl with the juice/salt mix. You’ll see the black coming off. Do a good job adding salt as needed. Then just wash with some dish soap and you’re all good.
Pros
- It’s a cute blender and looks great sitting on a counter top.
- It’s not noisy and works great.
- The bowl is easily removable by turning it and pulling up.
- The beaters and bowl are of good quality and wash up easily in the dishwasher.
- It has an awesome little black switch on the base that effortlessly changes the position of the bowl so that it can blend in the center or switch to blending along the sides of the bowl.
- It tilts up easily to remove beaters or bowl.
- It’s a cute blender and looks great sitting on a counter top.
- Affordable.
- Basic functionality is adequate.
- Small footprint.
- Quality seems adequate.
- Compact & fits well under the cupboards.
Cons
- Head tilt is a little awkward to manage.
- Beaters are hard to eject.
- Only comes with one bowl.
- Beaters seem a little flimsy.
- The mixer doesn’t get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl or the entirety of the sides.
- There is a function that moves the bowl back and forth as it’s mixing, but it is insufficient.
The Verdict
This KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Mixer is a unique and heavy mixer, but for those looking to invest in baking for long term use the bowl lift feature will be worth its weight. Great for both industrial and home use as it caters for baking in larger quantities if you are ever thinking of starting a home baking business this is one for you.
The longevity of KitchenAid products is why we respect the brand so much. Their appliances last for so long which helps you realize how valuable their items truly are. The stand mixers shown here look great. Superb looking and working superb is key.
There are really only two other models that can outwork this fine machine – the Ankarsrum Original and the KitchenAid 7-Quart Pro Line, both of which cost significantly more (but have the power and extended warranties to justify this extra cost).