I have a kitchen aid stand mixer and I love it. I don't use it very often, even thought I probably should. I haven't ever used the dough hook - might have to think about makin' bread before long (I would eat only bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I try not to keep homemade bread around).

I use it most for mixing meatloaf and the tons of cookies and goodies I make during the holidays.

gosh - I have a hand held mixer - I blew the motor on my big one (no dough hooks with it though) and the only power mixer I have is my famous "lefty" and "righty"...........and muscle power - that's how I make bread -

I would like to try making bread using a dough hook - but knowing me - it would be like going from the wringer washer to the automatic - I had to keep opening it and checking it to see if it was washing properly - I just didn't trust it! LOL and when they came out with the automatic locking mechanism as a safety feature (so that you wouldn't get your arm caught in the agitator) I had to figure out how to break the lock so I could still check on the wash -

yeah - I'm old................

My KitchenAid was expensive but well worth the money. I use it constantly and it will last a lifetime. They have great attachments like a sausage grinder and even an ice cream maker, so it is a very versatile appliance.

Does your Kitchen aid also have the pasta attachment? I might be thinking of another type of mixer but a friend of mine was telling me about one that has the ice cream attachmetns as well as the pasta attachments.

Mama, you seem to love and have lots of patience and fun doing a lot of things by hand. God bless you for your incredible strength!!

I could not even mix a cake batter by hand! And since I'm a leftie, I couldn't do it anyway, since my left shoulder hurts very badly at times, so I know that beating cake batters and doughs by hand, or even whipping egg whites or making whipped cream by hand is out of the question!

I truly commend you on your endurance to take on lots of tasks by hand. You're truly one of a kind!