Review by Ainsley’s Mommy:

I just received these today after ordering them from another site and while they are cute and I am sure my daughter will enjoy playing with them, the quality is actually not what I was anticipating. The salt and pepper skakers don’t have a bottom and feel flimsy like they could be crushed fairly easily, the “sporks” have leftover threads of plastic stuck between all of the tines, and everything seemes a little rough and unfinished. There are also little flaws of leftover plastic from where these must have been separated from each other in production on the side of each and every piece. The plastic does seem solid (other than the shakers) and once I clean up the manufacturing ‘leftovers’ of rough plastic I am sure my daughter will love them. Just be prepared to smooth out rough edges and peel off residual plastic before giving these to your child to play with!

Review by C. Tomkiel:

I had been looking for a set that my daughter and her friends could safely use with real food & liquids. After researching and reading all of the reviews on this product and seeing the actual box cover on another site (there is milk in one of the cups), I thought this was exactly what I wanted. However, when I opened it, I noticed immediately that the cups and bowls have holes at the bottom!

Suffice it to say, I plan to buy another set now and will let her play with this one until the other one arrives (it’s not worth the shipping to return it). Since no reviewer has mentioned the holes before, I thought I should give a warning to other parents who are looking for a more realistic set for their children.

Review by A. Harrison:

Good value for the money, which is very cheap compared to other play food sets, but that is partly because the quality is not be best. You can see the seams from the molds on some foods, and the color of some of the food isn’t completely true to life, but it’s nothing a child would notice though. One thing I wish were different were the types of food – it would have been good if there were less “junk food” (potato chips, donuts, pretzels, etc.), but with the surprise exception of some foods (no chicken??), I was generally quite happy with the selection of food. I agree with another reviewer though – I wish there were an index, because I couldn’t identify some of the foods.

Review by Theresa Carroll:

I bought this for my daughter and was very pleased with the variety of food in the set. I’m GLAD tere are no boxed food anymore.. I fould those to be the ones least played with!

The bacon is flexible, the tortilla looks so real, and the sushi is adorable. I think this is a great value considering the quality, and the quantity of the pieces. I think there are a few pieces of food that I can’t identify.. so I wish it came with a list. Overall I’m very pleased !

Review by Gaylin Walli:

I’ve used this attachment more times than I ever thought I would. I’ve used it to prepare food items for my family as well as food items for crowds as large as 200 and regardless of what it is I’ve been making, this attachment has rolled through it without complaint. In combination with other pieces such as the sausage stuffer or the fruit attachments, you may well find that this single attachment stays on your machine the longest. I am absoultely stunned at how easy it is to put together and how simple it is to get wonderfully ground items out of it. I’ve had no trouble grinding any cut of meat (marbled or lean), type of meat (venison, beef, pork, chicken), or state of meat (cooked or raw). Things like chickpeas also get ground just the way I like them. The two, differently sized grinding plates give you just what you need in texture. My biggest pleasure in using this attachment is during hunting season when my husband brings home more than one deer. Venison burger meat and sausage processing never went faster. No more late nights with a hand-crank grinder!When you’re done, there’s nothing simpler in the cleanup. Nothing seems to stick to the plastic (plus, it’s dishwasher safe!) and the metal pieces wash up quickly by hand. Even the little wooden stomper cleans well (and I’ve felt lost without it when I couldn’t find it during sausage making). I think this attachment is the easiest to use of all of the ones I’ve tried.I’ll never regret the purchase of this attachment.

Review by ringo:

Given all the concerns about e-coli and mad cow, we decided last year to start grinding our own beef and lamb. This grinder does the job perfectly. We grind right into the short round Ziplock boxes (about a hamburger’s worth), which go into the basement freezer, and then we turn out the frozen “hockey pucks” onto a plate to defrost in the microwave, or right into the pot for bolognese sauce or sloppy joes. (“Honey, would you bring me up a couple of hockey pucks for dinner?)Assembly is easy and cleanup is easy (put a slice of bread through after the meat to make it even easier, or grind up an onion if you’re making meatloaf anyway). The knife and both plates store inside the screw cap, so I don’t worry about losing them (though KitchenAid sells replacements, as does goodmans-dot-net). The grinder even comes with a handy wrench-thingy to help take it apart if it tightens up.The knife and plates are not stainless (which wouldn’t hold an edge), so you do have to dry them off right after washing, but I put everything, including the wooden stomper, right in the dishwasher, and after more than a year nothing has had a problem.[...] – this isn’t an industrial tool! You can’t set the mixer speed above three or four when grinding (less if the meat is gristly), and you’ve got to cut up the meat small enough to fit in the feed tube (the instructions say one-inch cubes, but long strips work too). Treat this right and it will return the favor.About the only thing that would make this more perfect is a cylindrical brush to clean out the horizontal and vertical shafts, since the dishwasher spray can’t really completely reach both, and the horizontal shaft has a screw thread that tends to catch crud (Right now I’m using a folded sponge, and the abovementioned bread slice).

Review by :

I have had every kind of pasta roller – the chrome manual kind, the one that does everything (mixes, extrudes) and now this. I LOVE it. I love having my hands free to hold the dough going in and coming out and not having the manual roller shift all over the place. I am amazed how thin I can make the dough – tissue paper-thin. My only complaint, and I make it for the sake of completeness, is the fact that it took SEVERAL batches of dough (the first of which I was willing to sacrifice) to “clean” it out. I noticed what looked like metallic deposits all over my dough, especially on the edges. This was very distressing to me. I tried wiping the roller with a towel (for about an hour), I tried rubbing it with olive oil and I tried dusting it with flour, all of which helped, but it was ridiculous how much time I had to spend and how many batches of dough I had to waste (about four)! Overall, however, I am very pleased, but I think they should include in the instructions a statement to the effect that you should expect to see the deposits and how to clean it, or they should make sure it’s cleaner before sending it out!

Review by :

I decided to purchase this attachment instead of the other Kitchenaid pasta attachment (plates + food grinder) because I wanted to be able to make any kind of pasta: spinach, semolina, whole wheat, egg-free etc, and not be confined to a small number of recipes that were sure to work well with the plates. It has worked like a charm. Even the egg-free spinach pasta, which was very dry and crumbly to start, came out perfect.The widest setting on the roller works to knead/roll the dough until its pliable enough to continue. Its amazing how such flaky dough can become so evenly mixed with minimal effort. From this point, its just a few more settings until you’ve got angel-hair thin dough. It is important to use the cutter before the ends of your dough dry out, lest they will clog the cutter.Pasta is my favorite food, and this contraption makes it possible to make my own healthy, delicious pasta recipes at home, quickly!

Review by Not my real name:

I bought this after reading a lot of reviews. My choice was based on a number of factors. I have owned a hand-crank, ice-and-salt ice cream maker in the past – it made great ice cream but was messy; I didn’t want yet another appliance that I had to find where to store; and I have owned and liked my KitchenAid stand mixer for a number of years.

This is basically a double-walled, sealed mixing bowl, with the space inside the walls filled with some liquid (presumably like the refreezable ice packs). It comes with plastic paddle. The basic steps are:

1 Freeze the bowl (I keep mine in the freezer)

2 Make and cool an ice cream custard, or a fruit mix for sorbet

3 Assemble the frozen bowl and the plastic paddle on the stand mixer

4 Switch the mixer on lowest speed, add the custard

5 Let the mixer stir the mix until it freezes (to a “soft serve” consistency)

6 Transfer the ice cream to a bowl with a lid, and freeze until firm

Here are my comments:

First, take a black marker and obliterate all the nutritional information about the recipes in the instruction book. We know that ice cream is full of fat and sugar — that’s why we like it! We don’t need reminding.

* Try a dry run to assemble the bowl and paddle. This is designed to fit many models of KitchenAid mixers, and it’s not obvious. You don’t want to be figuring this out when you are ready to make your first batch.

* Freeze the bowl for longer than the suggested 18 hours

* MAKE HALF QUANTITIES: the two-quart recipes fill the bowl, and I had a couple of overflows as the ice cream expands as it cools.

* Also, filling the bowl means that the ice cream takes longer to freeze. The first time I tried this, it didn’t freeze as the bowl had not been frozen long enough to handle the two quarts.

* Get a good recipe to use up the egg whites. I make meringue from the New York Times Cook book. I guess an omelet would be good too.

* There’s mistake in the instruction book. In one place it suggests adding the fruit, nuts etc half way through the freezing process, and in another place it suggests adding these ingredients at the end of the mixing cycle.

* Use enough mix (custard or fruit puree) to at least fill half of the bowl — this way the paddle will mix the entire batch.

* Remember that freezing enhances the sweet taste — so do not over sweeten the mix before you freeze, otherwise the ice cream or sorbet will be too sweet.

* If you’re making a fruit puree for sorbet, a blender makes a *MUCH* smoother puree than a food processor. I think this makes a difference in the texture of the final sorbet.

* After preparation, you need to cool the custard or puree in the fridge for a few hours. Use a jug that has a decent pouring lip: this will make it much easier to pour into the freezer bowl than if you just use a regular mixing bowl.

* There is very little space between the edge of the bowl and the paddle — this can mean a mess when you fill the bowl. It **really** needs a pouring spout designed to fit

* Getting the semi-frozen desert out of the bowl can be messy – there is no handle on the bowl and it has smooth, slippery sides.

* Use a container for the final freezing that has a little air space after you fill with the semi-frozen ice cream — this allows for additional expansion of the desert, and prevents the need to squash the final product into the bowl.

* I’ve used recipes from The New York Times Cookbook and Fine Cooking magazine — all delicious, better than store bought, and slightly different than the regular recipes for vanilla, cookies and cream, etc.

* Use the freshest eggs you can find — not the ones that have been sitting in the fridge door for a month

Update February 2008

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Thanks very much to all the kind comments that folks have left. For those of you who haven’t read the comments on this review: it’s worthwhile taking a few minutes to do so as some of the commenters have additional suggestions and ideas.

Update December 2009

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A couple of the recent comments have asked whether the inside of the bowl is aluminum or non-stick. It *appears* to be metallic, but with plastics these days, it’s anybody’s guess. It is light gray so could be aluminum, but I’d wager that it is some sort of alloy. It is definitely NOT the type of non-stick found in Teflon-type frying pans.

BTW – I’ve had this for nearly four years and am still loving it. Long term durability seems to be good.

Review by Michael Trotman:

I think my wife is trying to murder me with this KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment! She bought this for me for Christmas along with the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Recipe book knowing full well that I would become obsessed with trying all of the recipes. I’m on the third batch (Cherry Garcia, Coffee Chip, Chocolate Chocolate Chip) and I can already feel my heart slowing down. I can hardly make it to the mailbox without becoming winded. Luckily I realized her dastardly plot before having an ice cream overdose induced myocardial infarction. She almost got away with it as nobody would have suspected her. The paramedics would have just thought I was another fat pig who overdosed on ice cream.

This is so easy to use you may also find yourself overstocked with fresh quarts of the best ice cream you ever tasted. Follow the recipes in Ben and Jerry’s book and carefully follow the directions that come with the churn and you’ll make great ice cream every time. As the other reviewers have mentioned, it is essential to allow the ice cream to “ripen” before serving. This is not a requirement that is unique to this churn by the way. This is necessary with other churns as well. So be patient, plan ahead, get creative, and enjoy.

Review by Gaylin Walli:

In combination with the food grinding attachment, this accessory for the Kitchen Aid mixer makes short work of any sausage making task you set before it. I’ve helped friends cook feasts for 200+ people with this attachment and everyone eating was stunned at the short amount of time it took us to make their fresh, homemade sausage. This attachment beats a hand-crank grinder and extruder easily. And because it attaches to the mixer itself, I’ve found it far more stable and easy to access than the grinder-extruder combinations that mount to the countertop. With precious little in terms of countertop space, the mixer takes up more room, but the ease of use more than makes up for that. In combination with the food grinder, I can process an entire deer’s worth of meat in an evening with this attachment.Meat sausage isn’t the only thing you can process with this fine attachment. Fruit sausages work equally well and the opening in the extruder is wide enough even for larger items. For the more creative among us, you can use the extruder to fill things like balloons and other awkward items much more easily than with a funnel and an extra pair of hands. You’d be surprised at exactly how many things you’ll find you can use this attachment for.The cleanup of this attachment is a breeze. Nothing sticks to the plastic and soapy hot water makes short work of a dishwashing task that would otherwise be onerous on the hand-crank machines. Better yet, throw it in the dishwasher. For the work I’ve put mine through, this attachment paid for itself based on ease of use alone before I was done with my first batch of sausage.

Review by K. Lowther:

I started learning about sausage stuffing in order to make a good andouille for jambalaya, gumbo, etc. Most decent equipment out there will run anywhere from $[...]-$[...] for a decent stuffer. Double that total and you can get a grinder as well. If you’re going to make consistently large batches (25 lbs or more at a time) then you’re probably going to want to invest in those.

However, if you’re just learning and starting out and already have a KitchenAid and the associated grinder, then the stuffing attachment for less than is a no-brainer. I’ve used it a couple of times now and I can say that it makes high-quality sausage without a problem.

I have noted a couple of negative reviews for this product. Not knowing the specifics of how those people used the product, I can note some things I learned on my own, and from a site. That is an excellent site about andouille and sausage stuffing in general (especially with a KitchenAid).

1. When grinding, make sure the blade is in. I forgot to do this on my first batch and it turned the meat into paste and was impossible to get the grinder to work properly (which is why they include it).

2. Make sure you keep the meat very cold. I haven’t had to cool the attachments, although that might help, especially when the meat isn’t the coldest.

3. Use the coarse grind plate for sausage. You can the fine grind plate (for hot dogs for example), but I would recommend just using the coarse plate and running the meat through multiple times for a finer grind on your sausage. The grinder can get some tissue wrapped around the feeder and it could require some disassembly and cleaning (might take 3-5 minutes), especially with the fine grind plate. After the first grind, the mixture moves through the grinder pretty quickly anyway.

4. Make sure the screw cap is tight. Meat can escape through the cap if you’re not careful. It shouldn’t in most cases though. If it is, this is a sign something else is probably wrong.

5. I bought the KitchenAid FT Food Tray Attachment for Stand Mixers as well. It’s fairly handy for larger batches and I recommend it, but it’s not necessary. I ground 15 lbs the other night and it was helpful in holding the larger amounts.

6. You’ll see this other places, but I’ll reiterate that natural casings are worth the extra (minimal) effort. There’s not much to it once you’ve used them. Collagen is ok and are less likely to break, but natural aren’t as fragile as you might think and they look and taste way better. I was a little leery of natural and bought collagen initially, but haven’t used them since my first batch. I don’t think I’ll go back if I don’t have to.

I’ve stuffed andouille and Italian sausage both with the larger of the two stuffer attachments. If I make some breakfast sausage, I imagine the smaller one will come in handy. If you’re like me and you’ve gotten to this point, next on your list will probably be a smoker. I haven’t taken that plunge yet, but it’s coming soon.

Good luck and happy stuffing!

Review by Joanna Daneman:

I have a KitchenAid and I must say, they are as good as their high reputation. I bought the mixer mainly to make bread, but what makes it even better are the accessories. These convert the stand mixer/dough maker into a vegetable processor, grinder and sausage maker. There is also a grain grinder that really works quite well. Here are the pros and cons of this set, as I see it:Pros:
You get a decent meat grinder with two blades, coarse and fine. This means you can make ground turkey with no additives, ground chicken without added fat, or fresh ground beef. You can also grind meat for sausage (about which, later.)You get a slicer similar to those hand-turned cone types that make cole slaw or waffled carrot slices.Cons:
The sausage nozzle for filling the casings is not included. This is, in my opinion, really dumb. It’s just a couple of pieces of molded plastic. For heaven’s sake, include it. The slicer is a bit clunky. If you don’t put the bowl to catch the shreds just right, you get slaw all over. And sometimes it is hard to get the cone off the flanges of the connecting pin that fits into the mixer attachment point. But screwing it into the mixer and grabbing with a rubber mat usually works for me. I prefer a mandoline, a food processor or even a big board and a really sharp chef’s knife to the slicer, but it does save on counter space. So, this is a good thing to have as an addition to your KitchenAid if you do any kind of prep cooking, such as canning, salads, baby foods, venison processing, or sausages. It’s very good quality plastic and metal, though the cone blade finish seems a bit crude to me. I can recommend it, with the reservations I mentioned.

Review by Eugene Mah:

I use this with my Kitchenaid Epicurean and really enjoy it. Used it to grind our own beef and pork for meatloaf and shredded plenty of cheese for mac and cheese. The motor provides plenty of power to grind and shred through just about anything, and the shredding/grinding blades seem to keep their edge quite nicely.There are a lot of bits to keep track of though, and some of them can be a little difficult to clean properly. I also wish the hopper for the grinder attachment was a little bit bigger.It’s not going to replace my food processor, but when I have a large volume of stuff to do, or for things my food processor’s motor just can’t handle, this certainly does the trick.

Review by David Wihowski:

Having an extra bowl (or two) is a good thing. So many recipes call for beaten egg yolks and whipped egg whites to be folded together. Without two bowls you have to take the time to pour the one you whip first into another bowl, clean the Kitchenaid bowl, and then whip the next ingredient.I often make a couple of batches of bread at once. The extra bowl allows me to mix the batches of bread and leave them rise right in the Kitchenaid bowls.Some cakes have a separate filling and a frosting. Two bowls makes that “a piece if cake.”The handle is especially good when the bowl is wet or greasy.I cook a lot. The extra bowl I have is well worth the price. I’ll be buying another (3rd bowl) soon.

Review by ringo:

If you already own a kitchenaid mixer, you know what this bowl looks like. (If you don’t own a kitchenaid mixer, why are you ordering this?) If you’re considering this versus the 3 quart spare bowl: the 3-quart nests in the original 4.5 bowl that comes with the mixer, which this one doesn’t. This one has a handle though, which matters more than you may think when you’re twisting the bowl out of the socket. If you’re considering this for storage, consider also the plastic storage lid, also available from Amazon[.com]. (They conveniently come two to a package).

Review by Momof 3:

After reading these reviews, it seems that many people do not check their beater to bowl clearance. If a beater is chipping on the bottom, it means that it is too low. Sometimes, if the beater chips on the top, it means that the beater is actually too high, and the head can not lock properly, which can cause bouncing and chipping. You can look in your use and care guide, or go to kitchenaid.com to watch a video on how to locate the adjustment screw. If the mixer doesn’t incorporate the ingredients in the bottom of the bowl, then the beater is too far away from the bowl. If you have a tilt-head mixer, the adjustment screw is located in the neck of the mixer-in the hinge-when you lift up the head, you’ll see it. You can place a dime in the bottom of the bowl, and turn the mixer to “stir”. If the dime moves around continuously, it is too low. If it doesn’t move at all, it is too high and can’t reach everything. It should scoot the dime around the bowl 1/4-1/2″ at a time. I’ve had my beater, which is used a lot, for about 5 years, and it has no chips. If you have a bowl lift mixer, the adjustment screw is behind the bowl clip. If it’s adjusted properly, you get the best mixing and the least wear and tear on your beater and bowl. The adjustment can change slightly over time.

Review by JAB:

Who would’ve thought that these things wear out and must be discarded so often!?

I’ve previously purchased two of these as replacement beaters for our Mixer. They have each worked well for a year or so but then the plastic coating starts to wear away and falls off into your cookies/rolls/bread/whatever.

I honestly thought that the first time was a fluke but now that the second beater has shown the same problem I’d call it a flaw. I’m wondering if there is some other option for beaters that will NOT fall apart into my food after a year of mild to moderate use. I don’t want to spend every year on a stupid beater!

Review by delicateflower152:

I purchased the Beater Blade to use with my Viking 7-Qt. mixer; my primary use of that machine is making artisan breads.

I love my Viking mixer for bread making, but occasionally use it to make cookies which contain a high proportion of oatmeal. Thus, the dry ingredients are prone to gathering along the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl and require that I stop the mixer, lift the head and move the ingredients using a spatula. While that isn’t exactly a Herculean task, it is annoying. However, due to a stubborn streak and a less than industrious attitude on the particular day, I tried scraping the side of the bowl while the mixer was down and moving – even though I know better. The result was a broken spatula – just as one would expect.

When I saw this Beater Blade, I thought it might solve the problem. Once you have adjusted the Beater Blade, it does an excellent job of clearing the sides and bottom of the bowl. If you mix a lot of cookie dough or batter-type foods, then this item is well worth the money you will spend for it. The Beater Blade doesn’t generate heat like the metal beaters, and, as a result, shortenings do not melt during creaming. The final product is much less “soupy” than when making cookie doughs using a metal beater. However, if you use your mixer primarily for breads, as I do, then the the Beater Blade is probably something you can live without.

I rated this item four stars because its utility is questionable in relation to the cost. Further, I have some concern about the longevity of the blade itself and whether it will wear quickly or whether it will become brittle if washed in the dishwasher.

Review by baker lady:

To put it in simple terms this thing is amazing!

I used it the day it arrived due to my curiousity

and I was thrilled with it’s performance. It mixed my

cake batter so well that I didn’t have to even stir

once to incorporate the ingredients. It was just

wonderful!