KitchenAid Renewed RKSM6573ER 6-Qt. Professional Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer - Empire Red

We have had our 6000HD for over three years and it is an absolute BEAST! This is the first model in the top tier (pro/commercial) of KitchenAid mixers and a steal of a value. The primary thing which sets this tier apart from the ones below it is the DC motor.KitchenAid mixers from the most budget models up the upper-mid tier Pro 600 utilize AC motors. The top tier prosumer/commercial models, such as the Pro 6000HD or Pro 6500Design, use DC motors instead. AC motors are super cheap and easy to control using a simple dimmer circuit. They have a major problem in a mixer though; their maximum torque (strength) is at some specific operating speed notably far from zero (when mixing, this is the last thing you want). Conversely, this where DC motors excel; their torque increases the slower it goes! So if a thick dough begins to bog down the motor and it slows down, an AC motor gets weaker and slows down more, while a DC motor gains torque allowing it to bust through the hardest parts and get back up to speed. This is far from the only benefit, DC motors also run far quieter and far more efficient (cooler) than AC motors. The major downside to DC motors and the main reason why they are not used in lower tiers is cost. DC motors are typically more expensive than AC motors and they also require additional electronics (electronic motor controller) further adding to the cost. As an aside, the electronic motor controller also allows for TRUE soft start, unlike the lower tier models.Before digging further, let's correct a common myth: Despite what everyone says, the plastic gear was not a relatively recent Whirlpool invention. The sacrificial plastic gear was first introduced into KitchenAid mixers by Hobart in the 1960s (it is hard to track down an exact year) as a means of motor protection and by the early 70s was present in almost all of their mixers. Due to the physical characteristics of AC motors (discussed above) they are very easy to overload/stall. A stalled/overloaded motor can rapidly burn itself out. The plastic gear protects the AC motor under extremely heavy loads by sacrificing itself rather than the motor burning out. As such, it was a solid design move to incorporate a cheap (<$10) and easy to replace sacrificial plastic gear, rather than burn out the costly (>$100) and hard to replace AC motor. Recently, KitchenAid has been converting to all metal gearboxes (good) and all metal gears (bad – for the reasons just stated).The top tier models like the 6000 are immune to this entire discussion because of the aforementioned electronic motor controller. Because it is constantly monitoring the motor speed and power delivered it can detect when the motor is becoming overloaded and shut it down electronically. This allowed KitchenAid to incorporate an all new gearbox design in the DC motor models. This gearbox is all metal housing using an all-metal dual planetary reduction gear set with direct drive. This gearbox is designed to handle the high amounts of torque generated by the mixer. Since it has the motor controller, it can be all metal without it being a compromise. It is also a far more reliable design in high torque settings due to how the forces are transmitted in the gears.

The best mixer there is! I had a Sunbeam and it broke after trying to make bread dough :( This mixer has a super-powerful motor that never has an issue with bread dough, cookie dough, or other heavy mixes. It whips up everything fast and perfectly. I love that you can just raise the head up instead of tipping it back. Everything is of superior quality. It's so heavy, it never moves across the counter while you're mixing, and it doesn't get hot or smell funny if you need to mix something for a long time (like marshmallows or egg whites). I've used one with the regular bowl, but there's not really much of a difference in how you use it between it and this one with the flared top. The one without the flare may be slightly easier to pour out of, but not enough to make that big of a difference to me.Overall, this is the mixer of all mixers and you won't get anything better unless you go professional. I use mine several times a week and it's never had a single issue. I still kick myself for settling for a Sunbeam a few years ago because I didn't want to spend the extra money on the Kitchenaid. If you are going to use it often, it is SO SO SO worth the extra cost. Be sure you get the one with the bigger motor if you plan on making bread or other heavy doughs. This particular one is perfectly powerful enough to mix heavy things but I don't know about the smaller motor.

I bought this mixer a Valentine's day gift to replace an Artisan model. First, it's important to note this a refurbishment of a model 6000 HD produced exclusively for Costco. That being said, this is the narrow 6 qt. bowl and regular model 6 qt. accessories don't fit. That's not as big a deal as it sound like since it in fact a lot of the 5 qt. accessories are what it uses, you just have to do a little research to figure out what they are. There are really 2 big positives to this machine, the taller slimmer bowl and the powerful DC motor. One of the gripes with the artisan we had was that the paddle attachments didn't do a good job of scraping the edge of the bowl so you had to go in periodically with a spatula and sweep the bowl to make sure you got a thorough mix. No a big deal most of the time, but could difficulty or failure of certain delicate mixes. This is not a problem with this model the taller narrower bowl brings things to the middle more efficiently and the attachments do a great job of getting all the way to the edge of the bowl. Now, the biggest deal, the motor. This unit has a 1 hp DC motor as opposed to the 525 watt AC motor of the current Costco model (600 HD). What does that mean to you? Well, a couple of significant things. First, this unit is really quite compared to the AC models. There's just a low hum, as oppose to the high pitched whine the AC motors generate. Second, this motor is not going struggle and overheat like the AC models. We've put this thing to some tougher than usual challenges. I'm a hunter and I have a really nice Smokehouse Chef grinder attachment (highly recommended) to process the fall harvest. That is a lot of strain on the motor and the Artisan just wasn't up to the task. Recently, we were in a hurry making a meal and decided to use the mixer to shred the chicken. I was skeptical, but we popped the boneless breasts in the bowl and viola, instant shredded chicken and the motor didn't strain or heat up at all. Brilliant!!! We also bough the spiralizer attachment and that has been a dream. As you may have noted, I'm not the baker in the family, but the performance in the category has been outstanding as well. We've made cakes, pies, muffins and bread and she who runs the oven has done nothing but rave about her new helper. If you need a heavy duty mixer at a good price point (less than half what a 6500 or 7000HD costs), this is it. It blows the doors off the Artisan and based on the DC motor is a better mixer than the current 600 HD offering.