Hiya Faron! If you or your honey are bakers, the four shield is nice. That's the only add on I have. I know some really like the pasta maker, but I've never tried it.

What's a "Four shield"???

Faron

Kitchenaid ice cream maker. Love it! You can keep the bowl in the freezer & it is so easy to make ice cream!

I think she meant a pouring shield. She may have meant to type FLOUR shield because that is mostly what it shields from flying out of the bowl....they are definitely worth the $15-20 they cost.

We bought our Kitchenaid in 1974 and I hope your family enjoys yours as much as we love ours.

Did your mixer come with a beater blade? It was developed a few years ago because the beaters on the original mixers sometimes failed to get everything on the bottom of the bowl, especially if it was a thicker mix. Mine wasn't made by kitchenaide but perhaps they're now making them too. You might not need one because they've changed the shape of the bowl on the newer machines.

We have a few attachments. We have the food grinder and sausage stuffer. DH likes to buy whole tenderloins and trims them at home. He cuts them into individual filets, or sometimes leaves them as a roast. But he also puts the flat, tail portion into the grinder and we make our own hamburgers. If you buy the tenderloin on sale we can make filets and filet burgers for less money than buying ground round. It's the only time we can actually cook them to our preference of medium rare without risking illness from foodborne pathogens.

He also makes his own sausages.

We have an Atlas pasta roller and cutter but if we didn't have that we would definitely buy the pasta attachments for the mixer.

Here is a link that might be useful: beater blade

DH bought me an Ice blue KA mixer a couple of years ago for Christmas. It came with the pour/flour shield. We have the grinder, the sausage stuffer, and a vegetable chopper.

I use the dough hook to make my own pizza dough. Just use the recipe that came in the manual. I buy Fleishman's pizza yeast which does not have to sit to rise. Comes out great and is inexpensive, though it makes a bit of a mess. If the dough turns out sticky, just add a little more flour before you roll it.

Mashed potatoes also come out super creamy with the standard beater.

Love using it for meringue for pies, using the whip attachment.

I thought this was going to be a thread about cocktails, Lol!

My only suggestion is to make sure and buy the larger watt ones. Do not get a 275 or 345 watt one, they are not strong enough. I got my motor smoking making marshmallows a few years ago and it struggles to mix chocolate chip cookie dough.

About three years ago I was having trouble with my hands, so purchased the KA can opener attachment. What a waste of money. I had to hold the cans as they were turning, if I didn't the cans just fell. Also, it skipped so many spots on the can lids that I ended up using a handheld opener to finish opening nearly every can.

Maire-Cate-
Yeah...in our stores kitchen area, we've had that scraper-blade for years. I have heard it mentioned that it drags quite a bit on the motor. Others however LOVE using it!

Kswl- LOL! You should start a cocktail thread though...;-)

Redcurls-
Oh yes...we did get a "Pour-shield" included with this mixer.

Rnmomof2-
Oh my! Ours IS a 325-Watt version... It seems SO much beefier than our older Sunbeam though!? I'm sure it'll do fine with what's usually made in our house though!

The pasta-access. do intrigue me though!

Faron

I went over to my friends house and we made pasta using her new KA pasta attachment....too much fun! I have a hand crank one, but it really takes two people to effectively make ravioli and sheet pastas - the KA attachment is so easy for one person to use.
First b'day or holiday after we're not pouring $ into our new build I'm getting a pasta attachment for my old KA mixer.

I have the flour guard, have the meat grinder, use it a lot - which BTW works great for grinding cranberries for relish, and probably a couple of more attachments that I've never used.

Indeed I did, Redcurls. See what happens when I post before enough caffeine, LOL?