This is a KitchenAid stand mixer, the Artisan series five-quart tilt-head stand mixer, to be exact.
It's iconic.
That mid-century design is just, it's sleek, it's beautiful, it's sensual in
its softness.
And it hasn't changed in years.
I love those vintage machines.
They are just, they're workhorses.
They're amazing. My KitchenAid and I are best friends at this point.
Yes, it is more expensive, but it is the last mixer you will ever buy.
Runaway sensations "The Great British Bake Off" and "Nailed It" have gotten millennials pumped about baking, not to mention the
pandemic-induced baking boom.
But America's love affair with the KitchenAid stand mixer is much deeper than that.
The KitchenAid is the go-to for professionals and home cooks alike.
From Julia Child, Martha Stewart and Molly Yeh to America's Test Kitchen and Duff Goldman, it seems everyone
uses a KitchenAid.
Here's how the KitchenAid mixer took over America's counter space.
This is Suddenly Obsessed.
All in, the U.S.
mixer market brought in just shy of $1 billion in 2020.
KitchenAid is responsible for about 28% of that revenue.
Whirlpool has sold over 31 million KitchenAid mixers since 2008, which means it's producing over 2.5
million mixers annually out of its 476,200-square-foot facility in Greenville, Ohio.
KitchenAid has been helping bakers mix their ingredients for over a century.
In 1914, the Hobart Manufacturing Company introduced the Model A-80, an 80-quart commercial bakery mixing
machine. The name KitchenAid was coined by the wife of an executive on the team.
In 1919, it created a smaller five-quart version called the H-5 intended for at-home use.
But let's just say the design was heavy and clunky.
So in 1937, the company hired an outside designer to revamp its mixer.
The Model K was born.
In 1955, the company introduced five colors and became a mainstay in American kitchens.
In 1986, Whirlpool Corporation bought KitchenAid for a reported $150 million.
That would be over $356 million today.
Prices range from $199 for the miniature version, $220 for its base tilt-head model, to over $1,000
for the top-of-the-line bowl-lift model.
They are probably the most trustworthy, sturdy machines on the market at that price
point. Throughout the decades, plenty of other stand mixers hit the market, but there are two reasons KitchenAid became a household name.
First is the way the KitchenAid mixer uses planetary motion to fold in the ingredients.
Planetary motion means it runs in two orbital operating directions.
The head spins one way and the tool spins the other way.
This helps both whip and fold the ingredients.
An engineer for the company put this in an email, "If you were just to spin the beaters in one direction, you only stirred the
mix." The second reason for its lasting appeal is durability.
KitchenAid fanatic and repairman, Mr.
Mixer, says with proper care, your KitchenAid can outlive you.
It's a machine they need to be tended to, taken care of.
You know, they're expensive.
And to just have them serviced every couple of years is one way to make sure that they run indefinitely.
Old faithful, old faithful.
That's what I would call them, you know?
It's a household name like, you know, the Ford pickup.
The average age of a stand mixer in a U.S.
household is somewhere between six and 10 years old.
That's ancient by today's appliance standard.
Other than adding new colors, the KitchenAid is essentially the same today as it was in 1969.
Even the attachments from those older models fit today's machines.
The company replaced one internal metal component with a Kevlar-reinforceddesign in 1997, but even that
was met with praise.
KitchenAid says the Kevlar-reinforced gear is engineered to improve internal durability.
Layne Townsend, who's been fixing mixers for four years, says this.
What it does is if you're overloading your motor on your KitchenAid, it will deliberately break.
So you save your motor.
It doesn't push through like a metal one will.
To say KitchenAid has built a strong fan base is a bit of an understatement.
My relationship with KitchenAid is honestly pretty deep.
She and I are definitely in a committed relationship.
My KitchenAid and I are best friends at this point.
I have at least 30, probably closer to 40.
But that number is constantly changing.
Dan Valenti, vice president of KitchenAid small appliances, says he was taken by surprise by the deep connection people have with the kitchen
appliance when he joined the team seven years ago.
I couldn't understand the passion and just the pure love and joy that consumers get out of the KitchenAid stand
mixer. They tattoo the stand mixer to their bodies.
Some folks will even pay to get their mixers custom painted.
The long lifespan of a KitchenAid mixer is one reason for that deep emotional connection.
The longer a KitchenAid is in someone's home, the more memories are tied to it.
It's one of the more popular hand-me-down gifts.
Think of products that you actually desire to have a hand-me-down, a usedstand mixer within your family.
They pass from generation to generation.
The KitchenAid mixer has also become a sort of rite of passage into adulthood.
I, like most people, grew up with that iconic white KitchenAid on the kitchen counter in my
home. To me, it always really symbolized a stepping up or like a leveling up in both
like culinary skill and also life goals.
While KitchenAid mixers make great wedding gifts and housewarming presents, many entrepreneurial bakers have built profitable businesses
around them. After receiving her KitchenAid as a Christmas gift five years ago, Emily Nejad opened a bakery called
Bon Vivant Cakes in Chicago.
KitchenAid literally gave me my career, you know?
It like set me on a different trajectory.
I didn't even know that I wanted to do it.
I didn't even know that I was good at it.
It gave me the tools to envision a whole new wonderful life for myself.
After upgrading from a hand mixer to a KitchenAid stand mixer this summer, Lisa Graye was able to expand her baking operation,
Little Graye Bakery, in New York City.
At this point, I am sold out for my December cookies, so I have 20 to 30 orders per week for the next
three weeks. So, just me and this KitchenAid are making about 300 cookies every
three days in order to fulfill the amount of orders that I have.
She has been getting a major workout.
This KitchenAid has been going 24/7, three times a day, three times a week.
We've had such a boost from just the Covid demand.
Small appliances overall typically grows at a couple points per year.
So the jump in the category is sizable.
As the pandemic forced us all indoors, folks are turning to homemade baked goods like sourdough bread and cookies for comfort
and to kill time.
And with millions of recipes and tutorials on YouTube, anyone can bake regardless of skill.
I'm a self-taught baker.
I have no formal training.
I went to YouTube University and just taught myself everything that I know.
And without that KitchenAid mixer, like that, that was it.
Like that was the whole first step for me.
There are cheaper stand mixers out there, but few, if any, have as a devoted following as KitchenAid.
It comes down to one simple thing.
Great design.
I tell people, too.
When you buy a KitchenAid, yes, it is more expensive, but it is the last mixer you will ever buy.
I tell people to put them in their wills because they will outlive you.
You don't want your kids fighting over your mixer.