My first post

[Bill Pudim]

While we are on mixers, it is also worth noting that the difference between a $300 consumer model and a $3000 commercial model that looks the same is not just the "beefy"ness, metal parts, and low end torque. Regulatory compliance is a major thing. All commercial mixers must have for example various guards to keep you out of the moving parts, and layers of interlocks to make sure that you don't defeat any of the guards.

And NSF certification, so it doesn’t hide cracks and crevices where bacteria laden food particles can lay in wait.

 

[Larry D.]

Welcome, Scott! I never got bit by the gas grill restoration bug (repainting and replacing burners on a Jacuzzi grill surely doesn't count - when its cast aluminum body gave out I replaced it with a Broilmaster), but since Hobart got mixed into this thread I think a restoration of an N50 would be an interesting project.

 

[LMichaels]

I always assumed mine was probably Chinese since it's only a little more than twenty years old.

Actually no. Even most of the KA handheld machines are still made here in Troy OH as are all the stand mixers except (I think) the Artisan Mini 3.5qt machine though I could be wrong there as I have never seen one in the flesh.

All commercial mixers must have for example various guards to keep you out of the moving parts

Actually not true. We own an actual Commercial 8qt NSF rated machine sitting on my kitchen counter right now. No guard on it. Put your hand in it and it will keep going until either your hand rips off your wrist or the thermal limiter trips. I have sold the same model that comes both ways with/without the drop down guard and interlock. It's really only the duty cycle (in addition to the NSF) that certifies the commercial rating.
And oddly many of the commercial entities I have as customers don't even bother with commercial rated machines. The most popular models I find is the good old K5ss and the Professional 600. Both offer very good "bang for the buck" Being as much as 50% of the cost of the actual KA Commercial unit. Plus more common and easier to get accessories for like extra bowls, beaters and such. For example the bowl on my Commercial is about $100. The bowl on a K5ss can be had 2 for $65 (depending on the distributor).
Many times a commercial kitchen uses a counter top mixer for small batch experimenting before they put it in the giant floor standing model so they're rarely used for actual hard production use. But sometimes they are.

 

[Scott Smith]

I always assumed mine was probably Chinese since it's only a little more than twenty years old.

Actually no. Even most of the KA handheld machines are still made here in Troy OH as are all the stand mixers except (I think) the Artisan Mini 3.5qt machine though I could be wrong there as I have never seen one in the flesh.

All commercial mixers must have for example various guards to keep you out of the moving parts

Actually not true. We own an actual Commercial 8qt NSF rated machine sitting on my kitchen counter right now. No guard on it. Put your hand in it and it will keep going until either your hand rips off your wrist or the thermal limiter trips. I have sold the same model that comes both ways with/without the drop down guard and interlock. It's really only the duty cycle (in addition to the NSF) that certifies the commercial rating.
And oddly many of the commercial entities I have as customers don't even bother with commercial rated machines. The most popular models I find is the good old K5ss and the Professional 600. Both offer very good "bang for the buck" Being as much as 50% of the cost of the actual KA Commercial unit. Plus more common and easier to get accessories for like extra bowls, beaters and such. For example the bowl on my Commercial is about $100. The bowl on a K5ss can be had 2 for $65 (depending on the distributor).
Many times a commercial kitchen uses a counter top mixer for small batch experimenting before they put it in the giant floor standing model so they're rarely used for actual hard production use. But sometimes they are.

OSHA enforcement policy on vertical food mixers. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

 

[LMichaels]

OK not wanting to get into a who's is bigger with you but, I have been working on these things nearly 20 years. So here ya go. This is a photo of MY OWN KA COMMERCIAL machine. Note the lack of a guard over the bowl. Note the NSF classification and note the "Commercial" classification. This is the machine currently sitting on my counter. IIRC it's only about 3 years old as well. It comes in 2 versions one with the flip down guard and one without. I recently sold one with, (I cannot find the photos of it) that has the guard with electrical lockout. Understand these are counter top machines and the reason they're sold both ways is in some installations (low hanging cabinet for example) the guard interlock is impractical. I don't mean to come off "testy" but I don't like it when someone tries to tell me my business I have been doing for almost 20 years.

 

[Joan]

Note the beautiful RED color!!!!

(mine is white, I have had nothing but KitchenAid all my life)

 

[LMichaels]

Oh, yeah I LOVE that color! When I got that machine it had been in a commercial kitchen and was beat to all get out BUT not scratched up. So all it needed was a full disassembly, (including the gear boxes), a complete detail and sterilization, fresh lube in the gearboxes and when I looked at it I just could not bring myself to sell it. So I took the 6 qt professional off the counter (it was gray and actually also quite attractive) did a quick refresh on it, sold it for more than I paid my distributor for this unit and could not be happier. Funny thing, the person who bought my gray 6qt ended up buying 3 machines from me and having me rebuild 2 more for friends and relatives and the gray machine she bought from me she gave to her son and bought a black Commercial identical to my red one from me.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Barb has had her KA for 37 years and it's still going strong that thing has made at least a bazillion cookies (She used to do 100 dozen cookies every Christmas), countless loafs of bread and now is our meat grinder also. It's fondly referred to as the Binford 2000.
The only thing that's changed on it is it's getting heavier every year now.

 

[Jon Tofte]

We have a KitchenAid Professional 600. Not up to the Commercial level you all are showing, but very nice. I got a great deal on it because it is a strange color - eggplant, I believe. Very, very dark purple, but in anything other than bright light is looks black. Fine with us. Truthfully, our lazy and not well-versed cooking style doesn't give rise to using it all that often. I do know it can whip through chocolate chip cookie dough well enough that my wife is more willing to make some now and then !

 

[LMichaels]

The only thing that's changed on it is it's getting heavier every year now

Oh believe me Rich, in the close to 20 years I have been working on them in my basement shop schlepping those beasts up and down the stairs (especially the larger units) is getting harder. Especially because the old knees have been carrying 50lbs of excess "me" than add in another 40lbs of mixer and they protest A LOT. Thankfully I am down about 10lbs now, my A1c is behaving (stress is eating into my BP readings BIG time) but hopefully as weight continues down maybe BP will become more in control

 

[Mark Foreman]

I refurbed my KA 600 and my daughter is using it now. Must be 10 years old. My KSM90 is over 25 years old (Hobart made). Use it a lot more due to being empty nesters (whoo hoo).

Couple of years ago I bought a KSM7586 7 quart pro series stand mixer. I use it mostly for bread dough. Looked into a Hobart N50 mixer (countertop) but $3300 was out of my price range….

 

[LMichaels]

You may not be aware Mark the only difference between the 7qt pro and the 8qt Commercial is the cord and the lack of NSF rating. Internally they have the same motor, gear train, planetary and everything. But they come with the short 18ga cord as opposed to a long orange colored 14ga cord. The KSM90 was introduced after Hobart sold the division. Though on the older red stripe machines there was a little Xover in the factory but they were all truly under the Whirlpool umbrella. However the ones with the old red band had the slightly more robust gear housing. Since they were still using the older Hobart castings. The 600 is powerful but not very "strong". Very weak gear train. But with a really high quality EP type of grease (not the crap KA uses) they can be quite serviceable.. I have quite a few out in commercial settings and really never hear a peep out of them. But that 7 and 8 qt unit is "da bomb". Strong, very quiet and capable.

 

[Mark Foreman]

Thanks! I did not know that.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Oh believe me Rich, in the close to 20 years I have been working on them in my basement shop schlepping those beasts up and down the stairs (especially the larger units) is getting harder. Especially because the old knees have been carrying 50lbs of excess "me" than add in another 40lbs of mixer and they protest A LOT. Thankfully I am down about 10lbs now, my A1c is behaving (stress is eating into my BP readings BIG time) but hopefully as weight continues down maybe BP will become more in control

Yep, I hear you. I take 12 pills in the morning and 3 at night to keep my sorry butt going. It took me a year and a half, but I was able to drop 65 pounds and now below 200 for the first time in about 40 years. It ain't fun and it ain't easy but it sure made a difference in my BP, and a host of other things. I was able to cut my dosage down on almost everything I take.

 

[LMichaels]

Yep, I hear you. I take 12 pills in the morning and 3 at night to keep my sorry butt going. It took me a year and a half, but I was able to drop 65 pounds and now below 200 for the first time in about 40 years. It ain't fun and it ain't easy but it sure made a difference in my BP, and a host of other things. I was able to cut my dosage down on almost everything I take.

Yeah, workin on that weight loss as well. Endocrinologist told me if I dropped 50lbs I would likely need no meds at all or very few. Down about 10 now. We shall see.

 

[Scott Smith]

I get it - everybody here likes pictures so I made it happen as best as I could.

Exhibit A - PIles of Weber Genesis Silver A parts. Hard to make out because of little light and no flash. Two summers ago I decided to make sure that I was 20 years ahead on Silver A parts before they went out of style. By then I will be 67 and still able to keep one running by cannibalizing the other.



Exhibit B - The deck. This looks much worse in person in my opinion as the grills are green/stainless, black, and a color I call maroon. The black Genesis Silver A in the middle started my interest in Weber when I bought it for $240 with a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath back in 2002. I wheeled home the green one on the left from the curb, thinking at the time that it was parts. Turned out to be a nicer grill than the one I had. I you look real closely, I put my rotisserie on that green grill. The maroon grill is like a Genesis silver B/C. Also from the curb. It is bigger and nicer still and that makes it my unwanted stepchild. Neither my rotisserie nor any of the parts I have stashed (except the igniters) fit it. It works great, but the grates and flavorizer bars are like 50%. I don't need it, so I don't want to spend a dime on it. However, it is too nice to pitch. I need to find it a good home.


Exhibit C - The Franken-Hobart mixer. Definitely not a looker either. I rub it with mineral oil so it has some shine to it. The mixer is from the curb and got the daddy-did-it rebuilt. I stole the bowl, attachments, and various parts from my KitchenAid to make this thing go. Even those are not the actual brand-name parts. Also new grease and spring that holds the attachment in place. Sometimes the mixer stalls at power on and you have to power off, jog the shaft a bit, and then power back up. The other issue is that my made in Korea attachments don't very well reach the bottom of my made in Korea bowl on this mixer. They fit better on the KitchenAid. Actual Hobart attachments and/or a bowl would fix that problem but that is pro-level money.

 

[DanHoo]

The green one looks like a 2005? +/- Silver A

You know the history of the black Silver A.

The maroon lid grill looks like a 2000 or 2001 Silver B. Solid, plentiful and great to cook on.

 

[LMichaels]

That is quite the beast. I have never laid hands on one. Came close but no cigar. Gone through the way I do it would be indistinguishable from new. But good find. I don't ever use non OEM accessories. I had a customer think something was terribly wrong with their machine I had rebuilt. I obliged them took it back in pulled it completely down found nothing wrong. He then told me the grinding noise happened with the beater that had the silicone wiper on it. I asked him to bring it with when he came to pick up the machine. Sure enough it was some POC foreign thing made out of plastic no less. It did not fit on the planetary shaft correctly went cockeyed jamming the silicone wiper into the bowl. If he'd wrecked the gear train I would have had to charge him for the repairs. Thankfully he didn't and all I was out was a couple hours from stripping it down, inspecting the gears and gear case and some new grease (though the stuff I use costs $25 a tube and only yields 2 machines). But, good will means more than $12

 

[Scott Smith]

My wife (who has no idea I post pictures of her mixer on the internet) is making a quadruple batch of rolls right now. She didn't use the beast. In my house dough kneading is a job for small hands. Mixers are the opposite of kid friendly anyway.