I recently stripped the gears in my Artisan. Probably could have gotten it fixed but instead used it as an excuse to upgrade to the Pro 600 and would encourage you to do the same, particularly if you ever intend to make bread. The Pro 600 cures pretty much every problem mojavean wrote about. It comes with a plastic chute/splash guard that makes it much easier to add ingredients to the running mixer. You've got the bowl lift, so no hinge pin to "walk" anywhere - although in my experience that was never more than a minor annoyance on the Artisan anyway. The Pro 600 comes with the new spiral dough hook, so no more bread dough climbing up the C-shaped hook that comes with the Artisan and all smaller KA's (the new dough hook also caused Cook's Illustrated to move the KA back to "Highly Recommended", tied with Cuisinart if I remember right). It really was an awful problem. For a regular bread baker, I think the dough hook alone would be worth the extra $. And the Pro 600 at 600 watts has almost twice the power of the Artisan at 325, also an asset when making bread. The capacity is neither here nor there - 5 quarts is plenty big enough for most things, I think. The only downside of the Pro 600 is that it is a little noisier, or at least there's a different quality to the sound. I'm guessing that has to do with more metal parts in the drive train but maybe that means I won't strip out the gearbox in this one. Bottom line: if you plan to make bread, pop for the Pro 600; you'll be glad you did. If you'll never make bread, I'd probably save the cash and go with the Artisan.

Steve777: You are wonderfully brave to take apart a mixer gearbox! I am in awe. The only question I have concerns the material of the gearbox case. Is it a steel case, or is it plastic? If it is a plastic case, then the problem could be caused by heating up due to the load, followed by distortion due to softening of the warm case. Several reviewers on another site encountered plastic gearbox cases in the newer mixers. But with a bit of luck, you might have one of the golden-oldies with a steel case. best regards, Peter-A

I went through a KitchenAid Artisan in three years, which disappointed me. I did some research, found a local store carrying the DeLonghi (now with as much badge engineering as GM: Kenwood, DeLonghi, Cuisinart, Viking). I talked with them, bought it, brought it home and started a batch of Oatmeal Raisin cookies; it blew a circuit halfway through the batch, where the puny KA would just keep mixing. I called the store (their solution? "Let the mixer rest for 30 minutes and resume." My response, "Mix for five minutes, rest for 30? Really?"), and cleaned the mixer, returned it, and got a refund (after much wrangling). Instead, I bought the KitchenAid 600 Professional, which ran for three years before grinding gears off this morning on a batch of PeanutButter cookies.... My mixer gets used twice a week, usually on desserts, and never get close to bowl capacity, so they're not abused. All of which to say: you can spend $400 for three years of mixing with a KA, or the same for a DeLonghi that shuts down in ten minutes.... The earlier comment about wattage ratings is accurate: it's not about output, but usage. Based on experience, I'd buy the Hobart (KA is a spinoff of Hobart), but based on budget, I'll either repair the KA or replace it with another.

I have an old (30+ years) KA-Hobart 4.5, which has been a real workhorse. The only limit has been the capacity of the bowl. I also have a KA Pro 6, which DH got for a Christmas gift in 2006. With a special offer from Amazon and a rebate from KA, he ended up paying $275.00. I haven't had any problem with this machine laboring with anything, including heavy whole-grain doughs. Nor have I experienced the loudness some have mentioned. Maybe it differs from machine to machine? Wattage can't be trusted. Most wattage figures only list the amount the machine pulls from the outlet, not the wattage it puts out. For example, the $1500 5-quart Hobart now available for home use actually has a very low wattage. So what? Wattage doesn't indicate power, at least not as the number is commonly used. Here's a quote from Cooks Illustrated's last review of mixers regarding the wattage issue: "If I hadn't included the Hobart in the lineup, I might never have discovered the sneaky truth behind wattage ratings. Most mixers list their power in watts; Hobart is the only one to use horsepower. When I learned that 1/6 HP equals a mere 124 watts, I scratched my head in puzzlement. How could this quiet, powerful workhorse have the lowest wattage rating in such a hacking, shuddering group (from 250 watts to 1,000 watts)? Turns out Hobart is the only mixer to list output power rather than input power. What's the difference? Output wattage is the amount of power the motor actually produces--which flows out of the motor, moves through the mixer arm, and, ultimately, smacks the ingredients around. Every other mixer lists input wattage, which is simply the power that flows from the electrical outlet into the mixer's motor. What does input wattage tell you about the power of a mixer? Absolutely nothing--it's purely a marketing gimmick. To wit, the six models that failed the bread dough test (our initial round) had power ratings ranging from low to high, mostly high (275, 350, 400, 450, 700, 700). In addition, every other test showed absolutely no correlation between mixer performance and wattage. (If manufacturers were willing to provide output wattage figures, comparison would be easy, but this key bit of data is never offered.)" So apparently, whatever mixer you decide to buy, wattage shouldn't be the criterion. Carol