Great high-end mixer, but I'm preparing for the worst

I got a great deal on this Kitchenaid Professional 450 Watt 5 quart stand mixer this past holiday season, so I went ahead and picked one up. I hadn't really been planning on it just yet, since I don't have the kitchen I'd like to keep this on permanent display, but I ended up saving about $100, so why not? I did a lot of research to figure out if I wanted to get the standard 300 watt Artisan unit, or go for the 450 watt unit I currently own, but reviews seemed to steer me towards this one. In the end, I'm leaning towards liking this mixer, but I certainly don't feel the unbridled love that some people have for this device. Let me tell you why:

Features

This mixer comes with a number of nice features. For one, it has a very powerful motor - 450 watts, obviously - that grossly outperforms the standard 300 watt model. For reference, 745 watts is 1 horsepower, so this is quite a powerful motor indeed. This increases the toughness of the motor, which translates to tougher doughs and longer run times at sustained load without overheating, which is ultimately what will damage your motor. You can mix 12 cups of dough maximum (quoted, I'd probably do less), compared to 10 with the 300 watt version, without damaging your motor.

This mixer also has a bowl-lift mechanism instead of the tilt head where the motor and gearbox actually lifts out of the mix. It makes for a more sturdy device that might not be as subject to vibration damage, but in all honesty, I find myself having difficulty pouring ingredients into my bowl even with it lowered with full clearance, just because you can't ever get anything directly over the bowl to pour. There's a pour spout accessory you can buy to help with this, but I wasn't prepared to spend any more money to solve the problem. In the end, you get a more durable device, with more user difficulty.

You get the excellent attachment port for all of the add-ons that make this brand of mixers the one to own. There are tons of attachments out there - the meat grinder, the juicer, the grain mill, pasta rollers - and they all fit quite easily into this port, found on all Kitchenaid mixer models. This was the main reason I got this mixer - you get to have one device that does the work of many, if you're prepared to spend a little more than base price to do so. I have the meat grinder attachment and I use it more regularly than any other feature of the mixer. I also talked with a friend who has the Artisan 300 W model and meat grinder, who told me that after grinding 5 pounds of meat, the model had overheated and needed to be shut down. I've ground more meat than that in one sitting, so I can attest to the high quality of this powerful motor.

All-metal gearbox. I won't say much about this, because I don't really care what KitchenAid quotes me about this feature. It should be obvious that, because you have a more powerful motor than the 300 W Artisan series, you would need a more powerful gearbox so you don't just rip the threads off all of the gears. This, however, is offset by a plastic spur gear included for protection, which can be easily stripped to protect the motor, and needs to be replaced at an authorized KitchenAid repair center. This does NOT mean you can take it back to the store; it means you get to find some sleazy repair guy who will charge you an arm and a leg for a tiny piece of plastic you can't buy from the KitchenAid website or in stores (I checked thoroughly). Brace yourself for this happening if you like to make wheat doughs or other stiff mixes. It hasn't happened to me yet, but it seems to be the dividing point between "I love this mixer" and its next highest rating, "I hate this mixer".

Mixing attachments. You get a wire whisk, a dough hook, and a mixing paddle included with the mixer, all of which are essential for varied usage. I've used all three, and they all work surprisingly well.

10 speed settings with soft-start and electronic speed control. There's a right setting for everything, so you can precisely control the mixer speed for your purposes. The instruction manual is very detailed for figuring this out. Also, to avoid splashing, the soft-start feature gradually ramps the speed up to the desired setting, which definitely keeps your counters more clean.

Height adjustment knob - something not often considered - is helpful for correcting for gradual misalignment or a sudden jolt out of calibration. With a flathead screwdriver you can raise and lower the bowl height just enough to get the mixing devices perfectly aligned with where the bowl will sit. This is a nice feature that I don't think is included with the Artisan model.

Die-cast metal frame. You can't damage this mixer during normal use. It weighs 30 pounds, and has an incredibly sturdy feel. I'm certainly not worried about damaging the mixer frame before I destroy the motor doing something stupid.

Customize to your color. Assuming you can find it, this mixer comes in at least 8 different colors, including a metallic chrome finish (more expensive). I went with Imperial Grey, which costs the lowest price, and looks very professional while hiding dirt. Bear in mind - white paint discolors and turns yellowish after a few years. Remember your parents' old appliances? They were white once, it's not just bad taste from the 1970s rearing its head.


What's included in the box

KitchenAid 450 watt Professional Series mixer
5 quart stainless steel bowl with handle
Stainless steel wire whisk/whip
Dough hook (white painted metal)
Flat paddle/beater
Instruction manual/recipe booklet


Disadvantages

I already mentioned a few of these, there's the problem of the spilling of ingredients because it's not a tilt-head design. KitchenAid's solution is a pouring spout you can buy for $17 on Amazon, if you really need it.

Another HUGE problem is the plastic protection gear that you will strip if you push the motor too hard, and which requires professional replacing at an authorized service center, most likely at cost to you. I'm hearing reports of them breaking within between a few months and 2 years, so use your mixer with great caution and prepare yourself for this eventual breakdown.

This mixer can't mix everything. It's not going to revolutionize your life. In fact, you can't even really whip egg whites too well with it, because it pools at the bottom. I have to scrape the sides of the bowl down to incorporate my mixes constantly, and of course you need to stop the mixer to do this. So I'm not really moving as fast as I'd like to when using this mixer, which was supposed to make things more convenient. While my arms may not be as tired afterwards, it probably took me almost the same amount of time after cleanup to use this mixer to make cookies as with a hand mixer, with identical results. I'll admit that once scraped down, the consistency of the end result is very uniform, so the machine does a very good job, but it does need your help almost as much as you think you need its help.


Overall

In the end, I still really like this mixer. It does a very good job at mixing doughs and batters, and a phenomenal job as a meat grinder, and doesn't seem to overheat at all. I'm frustrated by having to fiddle with the bowl to get ingredients in, and slightly concerned that one day soon I'll have to figure out how to change that plastic gear or the motor will die. However, I have no reason to complain just yet, so I'll just keep following the directions and not pushing the limits on what can go into the mixer. As I said, though, I've ground many pounds of meat in one sitting, as well as made double batches of cake doughs, all with no problems. I'd say the ultimate test is a 10 cup batch of wheat bread dough, but I'll let you test your mixer, not mine.