refurbished Kitchenaid Mixers

[Gaz3376]

Kitchenaid are selling refurbished mixers at the moment for £249, seems to be a good saving and comes with a 12 month warranty. The Mrs has always wanted one so thinking of grabbing one. Anyone any experience of buying refurbished items/mixers?

[21TonyK]

I would assume if they are offering a warranty all mechanical parts would have been checked for wear and replaced if necessary so for domestic use probably more than ok.

Normal warranty on smaller mixers if 5 years.

[pushthebutton]

I've been looking at these as well.

The only thing I've noticed with Kitchenaid products is that the review sections seem to have their fair share of warranty claims. I like the look of the kettle and toaster (yup, I know) so I'd be prepared to put up with reliability issues if they had a 5 year warranty.

I'm not sure if the mixers are the same?

[21TonyK]

The only real issues I have experienced with KA mixers is that the worm drive in the mixing head is plastic. If you stress the machine (dough mixing for example) the worm will wear and eventually shear.

It's designed to do this though to protect the expensive bits. Replacing isn't difficult and they only cost £10-15, just a bit of a messy job and you have to repack the head with grease.

Also the speed controllers can arc over time making selecting speed a little hit and miss.

All of the above was on two machines that were used commercially all day every day which is not what they were designed for. Still lasted 4-5 years before ending up being replaced with proper commercial kit.

For domestic use, especially occasional, I suspect they would last a very long time.

[Vaud]

21TonyK said:

The only real issues I have experienced with KA mixers is that the worm drive in the mixing head is plastic. If you stress the machine (dough mixing for example) the worm will wear and eventually shear.

It's designed to do this though to protect the expensive bits. Replacing isn't difficult and they only cost £10-15, just a bit of a messy job and you have to repack the head with grease.

Also the speed controllers can arc over time making selecting speed a little hit and miss.

All of the above was on two machines that were used commercially all day every day which is not what they were designed for. Still lasted 4-5 years before ending up being replaced with proper commercial kit.

For domestic use, especially occasional, I suspect they would last a very long time.

Exactly what has happened to mine, twice in 3 years, but domestic use (mostly bread)

[21TonyK]

Vaud said:

Exactly what has happened to mine, twice in 3 years, but domestic use (mostly bread)

You must make some bread!

In the end I dumped the KA's and bought a second hand floor standing Hobart. Not something you want in your home LOL!

[GCH]

Can't speak for kitchenaid, but my vitamix was indistinguishable from new, aside from the phenomenal saving.
Only the motor was reconditioned, everything else was brand new, and it came from vitamix direct so definitely wasn't a scam.