KitchenAid Professional 600 Stand Mixer Review

This is a wonderful review, and very helpful for those looking to buy a heavy-duty stand mixer. What I would add is that the Kitchenaid Pro 500 is the same line, slightly cheaper, and the only difference is the bowl size. Instead of a 6-quart bowl, it comes with a 5-quart bowl. I own a Kitchenaid Pro 500, and it works just as marvelously as the Kitchenaid Pro 600, which I have had the pleasure of using at my in-law’s house. Unfortunately, it has the same noise problem.

I have the Kitchenaid Professional5 Plus. It is indeed a great mixer, and I am finally proud of every single batch of cookies, cake, and bread that comes out of my kitchen. I did not go wrong purchasing a KitchenAid mixer.

I just bought mine from Amazon, they have it on sale for $219 w/ free shipping (new not refurbished but only the black Licorice model) this one seems to be the best bang for the buck. I remember my mother’s Kenwood mixer, it had a lot of attachments, the KitchenAid mixer has much less attachments but they have just the ones I need.

This is a very detailed review. Thank you.

I really appreciate all the time it took to write this thoughtful and thorough review. I is invaluable when I make a purchase decision.

If you are doing large batches of bread, the NEW Bosch Universal Plus mixer can handle a huge load. Check out this link for the Bosch doing 9 loaves of bread dough all at once.
http://kodiakhealth.com/catalog/index.php/module/statics/action/view_listing/page/61
I have a Bosch and it has handled many large loads I have put in it without a problem. I have not made 9 loaves of bread in it but I have done 6 loaves at once many times with no issues. It’s dough hook is very superior to the Kitchenaid’s too. My wife wants me to get a Kitchenaid just because they look cooler but I love my Bosch.

I sure hope your KitchenAid mixer continues to serve better than mine has. I never do whole wheat (read the manual), go gently on the pasta, quit grinding meat (bought a Waring grinder) and do two loaves of white bread a week. I do resort to a 2 lb. rye or sourdough once a month but gave up it cutting in pie crusts. I have a small cement mixer that mixes my planting soils while running quieter. Now I’m kneading by hand because Whirlpool built a piece of junk and decided to bail on it. The KitchenAid Professional 6 mixer boasted a lower gear ratio (more power from 525 watt motor) of 6.57:1 vs 6:1 on smaller mixers. When the plastic gear housing got tired the primary gear failed. No replacement is available, WHEE. If I’d but abused it early and often I’d have learned of the problem in time to collect enough parts to keep it going. New motor and gear (6:1) along with a metal gear case are on the way. It should still mix cookies, cakes and frostings, looking pretty as new, but looking for a mixer that can handle bread. On with the search.

I have my second KitchenAid mixer in pieces. The beater shaft won’t stay on. KitchenAid customer service says that I wasn’t supposed to knead my bread for 10 – 15 minutes but for 3 – 4 and then continue kneading it by hand. If I wanted to knead by hand, I wouldn’t have gotten the mixer in the first place. Cook’s Illustrated says that the Cuisinart 7 qt. is better at bread dough than the KA pro 600. Does anyone have an opinion on that?

Thanks for the really good review. As a professional baker I was looking for information on mix times for dough using the professional 600 and not having any luck. I can say that I way underestimated the mixing capability of the 600. Even using vital wheat gluten and ascorbic acid most doughs were mixed out in 6 minutes at the most. I may be over mixing even at 6 minutes. I haven’t pushed the dough size past 800 grams of flour or 2.5 pounds of dough but it seems to handle this with no problem.

I just got my first for Christmas, the 90th anniversary model,great review, thanks! I think I am going to be MORE than happy with it!

hey! Thanks for the post, very helpfull! We also do noodles for Thanksgiving… my grandmother made from scratch i’m hoping to do the same with my new Kitchenaid mixer… are you willing to share your recipe????

Ahhh…you guys! I am looking at getting the Kitchenaid 600…salivating over it actually! I like to make cheesecakes and have burned up a hand mixer and afraid to try it with the hand mixer I have now! I make my bread dough in my bread machine and only make one batch at a time so don’t really need the Kitchenaid 600 for bread – bread machine is so easy, mixes, kneads, and rises all by itself. I have a new recipe for Banana Nut Bread that is really bogging down the hand mixer as well so I need to upgrade. With arthritis, hanging on to a hand mixer is a real pain as well! I think I am going to jump in and go for it! Thanks all for the GREAT and not so great reviews…Happy Baking!

I broke my Kitchenaid mixer – found something much better, same relative price.

After I burned out the gears (stripped) in my Kitchenaid 600 professional mixer while making whole wheat bread dough, I bought a Globe SP-5 stand mixer to replace it. Much stronger construction, bigger motor (800 watts) and best of all, it has the same #10 attachment hub as does the Kitchenaid mixer. This means I can use all my accessory attachments as before. The bowl, paddle, dough hook and wire whip don’t fit however, but of course the Globe mixer comes with it’s own.

It also comes with a 2 year warranty.

I don’t know if anyone else has had this happen to them, but I wanted to share my recent good fortune. My mom bought me a white classic 250 watt Kitchenaid mixer several years ago. I didn’t use it very much at first, but then I got into making pizza. Well, after a few months of very small batches of pizza dough it died on me. We took it off the counter and put it away, thinking we might try to have it repaired one day. Since it was a few years passed the 1 year warranty, we thought that was our only option. So, my birthday was yesterday and my boyfriend said let’s go buy you a new mixer! I was thrilled and in doing my research I came across this article and decided on the 600. We went down to Macy’s and were just about to grab the box and take it to the register when a salesman walked up and asked if we had any questions. I was going to just tell him, no, but thanks, and that we were gonna buy the 600. But, I decided to ask him to tell me about the difference of warranties available on the different mixers they had. Instead of talking about the warranties he just stated, “well if you get a Kitchenaid mixer, you’ll be able to give it to your grandchildren.” I just smiled and explained to him that I was actually buying a new one to replace my broken Kitchenaid. He frowned and asked how it broke, and when I told him he said “well, if you bring it down here we’ll replace it for you, or give you the full credit for that model towards the 600. ” After a few minutes of making sure we understood him correctly, we went home, picked up the broken mixer, (mixer stand only, no bowl, or attachments) went back and walked out with the 600 Pro for $117 (after an additional mail in rebate they were offering that he applied at the register). Soooo, long story short, if you have a broken Kitchenaid ask around or just call Macy’s!

I bought my Kitchen Aid 6 qt Epicurean model off QVC 8 years ago when they made it their Today’s Special Value and from day one it screamed like a banshee. I thought it was me doing something wrong with it. It never mixed over 4 cups of flour without sounding like it was giving birth. The high-pitched sound of the gears straining was unbelievable. It didn’t do it with everything but it got worse with time. If I made potatoes or whipped cream it was ok but still sounded abused. Bread was horrible. I finally broke down and took it to a local “Authorized” service shop and he charged me 100.00 for greasing the bloody gears! The thing then went wheels up on me altogether. Called Kitchen Aid and they were very nice. Said to ship them the mixer and they would fix it, but if the gears and or motor needed to be replaced I was looking at better than 2/3rds the cost of a new one (after the 100.00 I’d already spent.) I was worried that I could fix it and it might still not be right so I bought a new Kitchen Aid Pro 600 mixer. I made a double batch of cookies in it with ease! You don’t need to spend a lot of time mixing. Actually, it takes literal seconds, 30 here, 60 there, etc. You will need to adjust the speed between creaming and mixing the batter. The manual will tell you what to do if you look at some of the recipes in the back for an idea and read what it says for speeds to use for various functions.

The only thing that really worries me is that the screw adjustment for the bowl doesn’t want to move. Not a good sign. I’ll run over to the local shop where I bought it and check out the displays and see if theirs move easily. If I have to I can swap it out if it’s a problem. Also I bake A LOT of bread and am scared that I will kill this machine as I did the last. However, the gal from Kitchen Aid did tell me something I was doing wrong with the last that may make a difference; while I was using speed 2 for kneading my dough I was using the machine for the required kneading time for the recipe. SHE TOLD ME NOT TO KNEAD BREAD FOR MORE THAN 4 MINUTES. PERIOD. So I will try and see what it will do. I want to make bagles, artisan breads and Ciabatta and found a recipe which literally states “Won’t hurt your precious Kitchen Aids.” And yes, that is a direct quote. (Jason’s Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread Recipe posted on Thefreshloaf.com) I am keeping my fingers crossed because I have owned my original mixer since 1988/89 and loved it enough to buy and use the attachments religiously. I’m praying that the original Kitchen Aid 6 qt mixer I bought was just a fluke and that this one will last me.

My wife has had our kitchenaid pro 600 for 4 years, then she was making pasta ie spaggetti with the KA grinder/pasta attachment and stripped a gear. Anyone else have this problem with grinder attachment??? P.S. She also follows the KA bread recipies to the letter as far as mixing times and flour amounts go. I am a pretty good mechaninc, can I fix it myself, or are there manuals and parts supplys anybody has heard of?? Thanks alot- great Blog!!

After reading different comments praising stand mixers as machines for kneading bread dough I came to a conclusion that people do not know better. Stand mixers (all of them without exception, even commercial) do a mediocre job kneading bread dough. The dough hook and the stand mixer design overall is not very good for kneading bread dough. If you don’t believe me, try to find old Zojirushi BBCC S15 bread machine and compare. Meanwhile I love my K5SS kitchenAid, but for other uses.

Thanks so much for the in-depth review. I’ve been struggling with the choices out there. I do a lot of cookie baking for a local charity and need something larger than my 5 qt but have been hesitant because of the negative reviews. I think the Kitchenaid Pro 600 Stand Mixer will be for me.

I have a 6 quart Kitchen Aid that I prefer to use over my bigger mixer..if it starts to struggle (sounds like it, as it slows down and whines), and it does on fairly small amounts of stiff dough (6-8 cups),I toss the dough into my 10 quart Hobart to finish it up. I will keep the Kitchen Aid because we have attachments for it and it is fine for cake mixes, icings and so on. It might make it past the difficult struggling sound but I don’t want to risk breaking it, so I haven’t tried.

Growing up my mum had the KA Proline. When I got married I realized how much I needed and missed my moms KA, so I bought one for my husband for Christmas (Professional HD). It lasted for a little more than a year. My husband tried to use the grinder and striped the gears. 1 YEAR WARENTY my ice cream maker has 3. Let that be a lesson to me. I called the repair shop that KA recommended and they said that it will cost more than I paid for the mixer. I stole my mum’s KA a year and a half ago and need and have been told that it is time to get my own. KA was a company that I trusted now I am scared that if I shell out another $400 I may have to do so every other year. I appreciate everyone’s comments I may take a look at Hobart.

I just purchased my first Kitchen Aid Pro 500 lift mixer. My only question is how do u remove the bowl after mixing. It seems I will have to tilt the bowl almost on its side to remove it so it can clear the beater I am using at the time, or do I have to undo the beater and let the beater sit in the bowl to remove the bowl. I did not realize this was not a tilt head model when I ordered it. So I am not sure if a tilt head model is better than a non tilt head.
Thanks for any info.
Leesa

My second Pro 600 also just burned out while kneading dough, ( white flour) I’ve used kitchen aid mixers for over 35 years. I had much better luck with the old smaller one, and trouble since upgrading to the larger pro 600. For cakes and cookie dough, it was perfect, but it can’t handle bread dough.

I have a Kitchenaid k5ssfrom1982. It works but the bowl is tilted and it scrapes with the hook. My daughter would love it even if it is not perfect. I have a big birthday and want the pro 600. After researching the Internet I am concerned about my family buying it for me. I would love to hear any comments. My machine makes plenty of noise, that’s why my iPod sits in the pocket of my apron. Besides making bread, cookies, cakes and the usual I would love to make pasta with the attachment. Will I be disappointed?

I’ve had a Pro 600 for about 3 years and have made hundreds of loaves of bread, most being 75% to 100% whole grain. I keep the dough hook speeds at 1 or 2 and only once exceeded 7 cups of whole grain flour because it strained the mixer. Soaking the whole grain flour in soakers or bigas (medium consistency dough) may help reduce strain as well and I almost always do that for bread reasons – not mixer reasons. The mixer may break today, but so far my experience has been good.

I have been waiting a long time to buy the professional 600 kitchen aid. I am soooo disappointed. I really can’t understand all the fabulous reviews. I really don’t and can’t have a cement mixer on my counter while children are asleep. The main reason I bought it was for bread and it just can’t do the job. I understand now that although it can pull in a lot of electricity, it does not have the torque. Its a blow, a big waste of money (and I have no more). I did have it replaced once thinking this MUST be a lemon, but my second one is just as loud and overheats immediately too with sourdough. I’m just sad. I will be sure to alert everyone I know who is thinking about this product to find another brand. I did ask them if they would exchange it for their artisan, as my old artisan was a good machine, but they said no. I will try to sell it because just looking at it makes my blood pressure rise! Sorry so negative, but really, it must be said.

I’ve had my KA Pro 600 for over a year and have made hundreds of loaves of bread. My typical batch is 10 cups of flour (6 bread flour and 4 whole wheat). With this I turn out 4 one pound loaves of bread. Sometimes I add things like nuts and raisins to this and it still works just fine. I doubt I will make anything larger. I only use speeds 1 and 2 for bread. Once mixed, I just use speed for 2 minutes. I then allow a 20 minute rest and put it back on 2 for about 30-45 seconds. No problems. Noise? I suppose there is some but to be honest I don’t notice it.

I have tried the ice cream attachment and it works well. It would probably do better with someone who had more freezer space.

Old Kitchenaid mixers were made like tanks, new kitchenaid mixers just look like tanks and work like cheap. I would get a bosch, I have never worried about how much ingreedients I put in my bosch, whether it is 4 cups or 15 cups it handles it with pride.

I have had the KA Pro 600 for several months now so feel able to make some comments about its performance. That being said, I have never had a stand mixer before so have no point of comparison in that regard.
One of the major reasons for buying the mixer was to make bread. As others have mentioned, it was disappointing to find that I can only make two loaves of bread at a time. When I tried to make four loaves, the motor shut down. For making two loaves, the machine works fine. For certain tasks/recipes that utilize small quantities, however, it grinds quite a bit until whatever you are mixing/whipping expands, such as egg whites or whipped cream. So my disappointment is that I cannot help but wonder if the smaller, less expensive model would have also made two loaves equally as well.
I do plan to buy the pasta attachments and am hoping they work well. But will certainly try to find some consumer reviews first!!

Well, I can see this is not just my problem but a common problem of most of the people here. I too bought KA 600 Pro, after having a KA Ultra Power (KSM90) for about 8 years (which I had bought used from a friend). I too bought the 600 Pro with much expectation to do more with it than what I was able to do with the Ultra Power. First of all, my Ultra Power had no issues with making bread doughs, I had two bowls to make two full batches back to back. And it did not give me any problem, never shut down, smell, etc., although I could tell it was a bit stressed when I did stiff dough and full amount sometimes. I also always make WW and white mixed (50/50).
When I got the Pro 600, I had something to compare it with, so I had expected it to be much stronger, as it is 575 watts vs. 300 in my previous UltraPower, I expected to make much bigger batch of dough as it was 6 qt. vs. 4.5 qts. The box even says it can handle 15 cups of flour!! But from the first batch it started smelling like burning and then a few minutes later I could even see some smoke coming out from the head. I called KA and told the problem, they said they never had this kind of issues (which is a complete lie as I can see so many people with the same problem), but they offered to replace without a question. That was nice. So I got the second mixer, try it again, same problem. They sent me another one. Same old story. I knew by the second one it wasn’t the first mixer’s problem, but it was ALL newer KA problem. But I had to agree to the third mixer as that is the only way they would finally give my money back. Then I got an upgrade to a KA Commercial 5 Series, which is supposed to be certified for commercial use. I tried it out. Not much difference in the bread dough kneading, and also when I used the grinder attachment, with the first try I heard something like a popping noise then it sounded like the machine was falling apart. I stopped it and called KA and they agreed to buy back my machine. I haven’t received my refund yet, but they are supposed to send it to me.
Now, after all these, I still haven’t given up my love for KA stand mixers yet because of my experience with my Ultra Power and due to what I have heard about the Hobart made mixers. So now, I’m turning to Ebay and looking for a good used Hobart made K5SS. I hope I will find a good one, which I believe I will as I see them come up time to time. I think more and more people will be looking for them, though. I would also suggest looking on Craigslist for a good used one. But as with anything, used ones don’t come with warranty, so I would make sure it was not an abused machine.

I would like to comment on the KA Professional 600.

These mixers work great for large batches of cookie dough, however they can not stand up to my Whole Wheat recipe that makes 4 large loaves. I make all my own bread, but with my arthritis, it is too hard for me to mix and knead. Previously, the motor has simply stopped working. It gets too hot and stops. Eventually, it won’t go at all. This has happened to 2 or 3 of my machines.

This time however, it seems that it has stripped the gears and gets stuck when rotating the dough hook and will not work for any mixing at all now.

I need to good heavy duty knead/mixer machine and have no idea what to buy.

After reading all this I have to say That I am glad that I have a KA 600. Got it for Christmas last year. I love it! Sorry to the folks who would rather or need to make 6 loaves of bread at a time. It mashes potatoes, mixes cookies, cakes,and bread and does it with out a problem for me. I Love, Love, Love my 600!

Almost ordered the KA Pro 600 this morning from Amazon for $260.00 with an extra $50.00 mail in rebate. After reading these reviews, have decided not to purchase this item. The older reviews were kinda scary but figured they fixed all the issues, until I read the reviews from the past few months. The price is awesome on this machine, but if it won’t do what it’s supposed to do, it’s pretty much worthless, regardless of the price. Thanks to everyone for posting their reviews of this machine. They were all very helpful.

Really enjoyed your blog Cheers for showing for us.

I purchased the Pro 600, and used it for the first time last night. I was overwhelmingly disappointed. I bought it to make bread, and it kept shorting out and shutting down. I had 8 cups of flour in there, the directions say not to put more than 14! So it should be able to handle 8!
Additional cons:
-The dough was riding the hook
-the stainless steel bowl was flexing while it was mixing
-the top metal strip around the whole head of the mixer is slightly indented, as if they pulled it too tight around, and as my kids poured flour in the bowl some got stuck there, extremely difficult to clean out!
-The motor got louder and quieter as it strained to mix 8 cups of flour

If you are a serious bread baker, this is not for you!

Purchased the Pro 600 3.5 years ago. It just died. We were disappointed in the short life of this thing especially after reading/hearing about people that had these mixers for 20+ years. We spent extra and bought the heaviest duty one we could afford because we planned to use it a lot. I guess they don’t make them like they used to.

Here is my problem- I called customer service to see what, if anything could be done. To my surprise they said
1. You shouldn’t kneed bread dough more than 2 min. Really??
2. Professional series doesn’t mean anything, Um OK. Why put it on there then?

In short, this will be the last KitchenAid product we buy.

I bought one of the 600 Pro mixers this year and absolutely love it. Just this morning I made 4 loaves of french bread using the recipe in the book which works great. The 600 has amazing power.

I bought a Pro 600 and had it sent to me in Ghana. My problem is that our voltage level here is 220V and since it’s from the US, it’s 110v. I was trying to find a step down adopter but recently read on the mixer that it should not be connected to any adopter. I need some help because i cannot wait to use my mixer.

If your serious about small mixers, don’t fool around with the Kitchen Aids. Get a Globe: planetary gears, good power, tough and durable. Yes, they are more money, but if you replace your kitchen aid, you will have spend more that the cost of a Globe 5 qt. The globe can be had for about $575 if you shop and the gears won’t fail on you. They also come with a spiral dough hook that works great. If you’re serious about making bread the spiral hook is what you need. There is another post talking about the Globe, it is absolutely accurate. These are tough mixers, what Kitchen Aid was when Hobart built them.

Have the KA PRO 600 with the 6-quart bowl. The bowl has been mis-manufactured so the flat mixer blade hits on the back of the bowl but has clearance at the front. In fact, the mixer blade raises up at least an 1/8th inch and there’s lots of noise whenever it works at the back part of the bowl. The blade cannot be removed when the unit is off and the stand is lowered (of course), when by chance (a 50/50) the blade stops at the back. No, this is NOT because I don’t have the bowl clipped in all the way. Please..duh. You can see the two 90 degree brackets that are spot welded to the bowl were welded slightly tilted forward, it is very obvious. The bowl then sits tilted forward. At first, we thought this was the way it was designed…but after a few minutes use you can see it is a manufacturing mistake. The tilt will not allow proper blade to bowl adjustment clearance. I’ll have to head back down to Macy’s to get a new bowl.

what has been said on here is true. I bought a ka600 pro 6 qt., off ebay. It was a mexican one and while grinding pork, it stripped gears. I say it was mexican because it had a mexican warranty. Anyways, i didn’t get it repaired, i bought the same one at kohls and returned the other in the box.the new one i have had for 3 years now, and it runs like a champ, and i routinely grind semi frozen meats and like 30lbs at a time and then stuff into sausages. The gears are having no problems

Numaira,

The Pro 6500 is new and exclusive to Costco at the moment so there are no review and no information out about it except what is printed on the box. I was told that it is 746 Watts. You should tell us how good it works for you if you decide to use it.

I was a little worried after reading the reviews here – especially about the noise and the dough hook and about not being able to wash the accessories in the dishwasher etc. This time around, unlike my usual pattern, I bought this mixer without doing my research but based on KA’s reputation and the fact that all chefs etc. seem to use it. There was a great special on the Pro 600, 575W, 6 Quart bowl so I bought it. Anyway, the machine arrived two days ago. It has a burnished dough hook and paddle as well as a coated paddle. I was really worried about it being noisy etc. By the way, I also bought the two pasta pack attachment and the shredder/slicer, strainer and mincer attachments. Well, I made pasta last night – eggless pasta and it turned out fantastic. I also made a cake and some bread. All of which were easy peasy to make with this machine. So far, I am loving it. I don’t find it noisy at all and find it very efficient. Thanks for all the comments here. There was some useful advice.

Hi there everyone,
I’m yet another neg feedback I’m afraid. I actually have the KA so called professional plus 5 and I wish I had read this before buying a KA. Like others,I remember my mother’s mixer sitting in the corner – she baked thousand’s of w/wheat loaves every week for 5 kids for 25 years. I too was making bread dough (about 5 days after the 1 year warranty expired) and the gears stripped. Yes it was WW but about 6 cups of flour and yes it was under the recommended time. When I rang to at least see if there was a repair centre I could take it too, it costs more to repair than buy another. Piece of c@%p! No more KA for me either. Thanks for all your comments I am going to have to do some serious research on the other machines you have mentioned.

Can KA Pro 600 hold 20 cups of flour? I want to get a stand mixer that can hold that much so I can make a batch of loaves.

A few years (6 or 7) ago, I bought my Kitchenaid Pro 600 from a friend who was wanting something smaller, and he had never really used it, but knew that I was one to bake…and bake…and bake…and bake…and bake. You get the picture. Well, from the get-go the noise was worrisome – to say the least! But I proceeded to use it anyway, and here I am 7+ years later and my KA Pro 600 and I are going just as strong as ever. We’ve made no less than (I’m guessing here) probably 500+ loaves of bread (easily) 4 loaves at a time, who knows how many cookies, cakes, etc. and divinity! Anyone here made divinity before??? May the Lord help you if you do! The stuff is a mess! But the KA Pro 600 kept on a truckin’! Oh, you could hear it bog down, but never quit! My mother and I tried to make divinity a long time ago and burned up several different mixers that just weren’t up to the challenge, but this one…This Kitchanaid…THIS one – is a champ!!!!! A BEAST! I love it! If you haven’t gathered, I am hard( to say the least) on appliances!!! I really am! I find out what they are supposedly capable of and think “That’s what they SAY, so I bet it can do more.” This Kitchenaid is a winner! So it’s a little loud – who cares?!? I want results! and if it takes a little noise to get them? SO BE IT! I don’t want some little wuss machine that can’t hold it’s own – not in my kitchen! Buy it and be happy! It has a place of honor in my kitchen right on my counter, and that’s where it stays – always at the ready! By-the-way, I’ve used up to I think about 14 or 15 cups of flour in mine? and I was kneading for about 6 or so minutes if I recall correctly. Hope this helps anyone still wondering.