We are currently using a 20-year-old Gaggia Coffee while our “serious” machine is awaiting some repairs. It has held up remarkably well over years of alternating storage and legendarily heavy use. Properly looked after, your Kitchen-Gaggia-Aid should serve you well for years.

Your mother’s KitchenAid was made by Hobart — they built mixers to last a lifetime.

However.

The KitchenAid line was bought by Whirlpool in 85/86, and the build quality has been much less consistent since then. They’ve been getting better (for a while, Whirlpool was experimenting with plastic gears and transmission housings. Guess what! They broke!), but you need to go up to one of the “Professional” models to find something that approaches the Hobart models in quality.

We also struggled with a misaligned, miscast pasta making attachment, although struggled may be too strong a word. After a couple of interactions with the slightly wonky piece, a short phone call to Kitchen Aid resulted in a replacement being mailed out, no questions asked, and no requirement to mail the bizarre attachment back. I am sorry to hear that this doesn’t go as smoothly for brothers and sisters across the border.

Phillamb, try this one:

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KPES100NP-Espresso-Maker-Nickel/dp/B000JLBKP4

I didn’t see the red one. But this looks like the same machine. Ouch on the cost, though.

in russian it’s even more confusing.

mya tachka polni pizdyetz = my car is really pussy/fuck (equivalent to ‘the shit’)

bleyatz! mya tachka pizdyetz! = slut! my car is fucked up/pussy-like (equivalent to ‘shit’)

however, one can say ‘mya tachka pizdyetz’ and it is ONLY the tone which determines negative/positive

Thank gawd I prefer tea!

Mind you, I’m sure I won’t be the only one thinking that for £550, a decent response to a product fault would be the least I’d expect. Did they not offer to throw in a shiatsu?

In the end, though, they did finally agree to replace it. They also gave us a nice burr grinder as an apology.

If Kitchenaid’s customer service has improved, then I would highly recommend their products. We love that mixer and miss it; we had to box up when we went overseas. But if you’re buying a mixer, make sure the attachments work. There’s a visible notch in the mixer that a pin in the attachment slots into. This is to keep the attachment from twisting when in use. Its pretty obvious if it isn’t fitting all the way.

OTOH, those Kitchen Aid burr grinders are the shit! I grind my own beans every morning for the brew, and I love the even grind. The adjuster’s good too — changing the grind to compensate for humidity is trivial.

Were it me, I’d send a note to the office of the President and the VP responsible for customer support. Let them know these types of actions help build brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing…

I called the CS line, and I tell the service rep that there is a odd grinding noise, like bad brushes or a bearing failure. She then asks me if the mixer is available; I say yes, and she asks me to plug it in and turn it on for her to hear! So I oblige and hold the phone next to a whirring mixer. She then says that she doesn’t think it sounds too bad, so I lose patience (it was NOT April Fools Day, BTW) and ask to speak to a CS manager, which I got. The manager was apologetic and a new mixer was at my door in two days.