Kenwood Chef or other Big Mixer owners

I have a lower priced Kenwood chef - I am mainly really pleased with it but there have been a handful of occasions where I wish I had a more powerful motor - making pastry and big quantities of dough it does sometimes slip. But for whisking things, making cakes etc its always been great.

This one is a bit more powerful... http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/catalogId/1500001501/partNumber/0503442.htm

For day to day use, I still use my Kenwood hand mixer but when I was making and decorating cakes regularly (and had a bigger kitchen so could keep it out all the time) I invested in a Braun Multisystem because it has a motor powerful enough to make sugar paste and other stiff doughs. It also has a whisk attachment for egg whites rather than the plastic paddles you get in some mixers which I don't think introduce enough air into the whites. Certainly not the cheapest option on the market (mine was £200 ten years ago and I see the most recent model is twice that ?) but it has a food processor and Pyrex blender too which both get used regularly. I bought it because it got top marks from Anton Mosimann in a Good Housekeeping test and haven't regretted it yet.

I've not actually got anything to compare it to, and haven't tested it to it's limits, but I have a Kenwood Chef.

This was by far the cheapest place when I was looking, but I'm not sure how it compares price-wise at the moment: http://www.theatlanticshop.co.uk/CatalogManagement/ProductDetails.aspx?productCode=44522428(Base)&category=&action=search

Mr R has always wanted a Kitchen Aid and he finally got one last year - this one

He loves it, it was about £300 I think but he has also got a couple of extra attachments for it (ice cream maker and pasta maker) which obv bumped up the price. He uses it for cakes, bread dough etc. I use it for cakes and it's fab, so easy.

The bigger the motor the better really, which is why I have a Kenwood CHef (the KM001 titanium, I think). I did consider the KitchenAid but the Artisan only has a 300W motor vs. the Kenwood Chef's 1000W motor, and the Chef came with a blender attachment as well. I've since got the mill for it, and the CHef attachments seem to be cheaper than the kitchen aid.

ALso my mum and aunties all have Chefs and they've been going strong since the 1960's so i'm hoping mine will keep going into my dotage - AFAIK if they do go wrong there are lots of people who service them.

I got a new Kenwood at Christmas and I'd never swap to another brand.

WSS, pretty much word for word ?

I really really really want one of these too. They are fab and so very pretty as well.

Hazel - i'm a total Chef evangelist, I should probably start a Facebook group ?

I'm..another..evangelist.....

Buy..the..best..Kenwood..you..can..afford,.seriously....You..will..not..regret..it...

My..mum's..is.still..working..and..it..was..a..wedding..present..from..my..dad..40..years..ago....I've..got..the..one..
that..came..just..before..the..Titanium..and..yes,.it..cost..£350..but..it's..a..long..term..investment..
and..I..don't..need..a..separate..liquidiser..(has..a..glass..one)..or..a..food..processor..(has..a..fab..one.)

Kitchen..Aids..may..look..pretty..but..Kenwood..Chefs..are..a..complete..thing..of..beauty..IMO.

Another vote for the Kenwood Chef. My Nan has given me her 50's one, which is gorgeous and still works perfectly. She used to make wedding cakes as a business and it's practically bullet-proof.

I have a chef and it's blimmin fantastic. Only thing I would say is that if you're regularly making LARGE cakes I'd have a look at the major range which has bigger bowls. I made a 12" fruit for a bottom tier of a wedding cake last year and ended up still mixing it by hand (in a washing up bowl ?) as I couldn't fit it all in the bowl.

Other thing to bear in mind that is if you want to get loads of attachments, they're not all compatible with all models. I'm afraid I can't remember what model number mine is buit it's not compatible with the standard food processor attachment - have had to buy the multimill and the slicer thing instead.

Kenwood chef everytime..

my nanna's one, my mums one and my MIL's one are still work, infact my MIL's one has been used atleast 2-3 times a week as she bakes for her work.

I got one 2 weeks ago, it was on offer in Amazon so I spent my birthday money on that instead of clothes. Its a thing of beauty imo, instantly recognisable!

I'm another with an inherited Kenwood Chef (from my Grannie) - must be years old but still going strong. Gets used at least twice a week. We have the normal attachment, the dough hook and the whisk IIRC.

We also inherited a cream maker attachment (wtf) and the glass blender attachment which we haven't tried.

We've got a Kenwood Major - one of the big ones - and it's great. We looked at the kitchen aid mixers but they weren't as big or powerful as the major, so that influenced our decision.

Just to let you know, comet online have offers on most of their mixers at the minute (you can click and collect, and still pay online price) . I bought a Chef Classic yesterday for £145 the classic is up for £195 in store, and Debenhams have them for £229, argos for £194. hth.

Hello Seraphina, I am researching a project about Kenwood Chefs and am particularly keen on finding people who come from Chef Families...which you seem to. I think this Kenwood thread is a few months old, but if you read this can you contact me on ******.*@*******.***....** blue yonder account doesnt' seem to work properly.

also I'm not really across how these threads work - so if anyone else is reading this, and you've inherited a chef from a mum or Nan, I'm keen to hear from you too...it's a kind of Chef stories project with peoples favourite recipes.

Hi there

I have a cake making business (I have 5 staff) and I will only have Kenwoods - have tried most others and none of them compare.

We have 5 kenwood chefs and 2 kenwood majors. Apart from one that I inherited from my Mum, which is itself about 25 years old, all the others are bought from Ebay and are various ages. The oldest is one of the majors and it still works fabulously. Also we find that IF something does go wrong there are people that will fix them - spares are readily available and they are machines that are designed to be worked and worked and are worth repairing. THat said, we've had 2 minor problems with 2 of ours and I would say that the combined age of all of them is probably pushing 200 years I don't think that's bad.

HTH
Catherine