This week we’ve been testing the KitchenAid Professional Series 600 Lift Stand Mixer (in onyx black). I may not be a professional baker, but I’m no stranger to flour. Most months I bake at least 16 loaves of bread, 4-6 quick breads and unreasonable amounts of cookies and brownies. Crazy yes, but with four kids and lots of drop in neighbors, I like to keep my kitchen stocked with something freshly baked. After 20 years of baking, I know the feel of a well kneaded bread dough. So needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to testing the current crop of mixers.
The KitchenAid Professional Series 600 Lift Stand Mixer is an extremely powerful machine. Although the manual warns that the motor can get hot, I had it knead 13 cups of bread flour without it even breaking a sweat. The new PowerKnead dough hook plowed through close to 5 pounds of flour easily. Using the wire whip, I was able to bring 12 egg whites to stiff peaks in under 4 minutes on my way to a pretty decent chocolate angel food cake. I made a large batch of chocolate chip cookies without having to soften the butter. Just as suggested in the manual, I used the flat beater to cream it with the sugar.
The Professional Series 600 gets its strength from its old style construction. It is a durable metal machine with solid steel gears, an industrial strength motor and no plastic in sight. This is a machine your grandkids just might inherit from you.
But with power comes size. The mixer is over 17 inches tall, with a 16 by 12 footprint. The standard bowl holds six quarts. That six quart bowl carrying a full load of bread dough can reach 10 pounds or more. To handle the load, the Professional Series 600 has a bowl lift mechanism that will lever the bowl and its contents up to the mixer blade or dough hook. Unfortunately, when you lower it to empty the bowl, you still need to wrestle 10 pounds of dough up and out of the bowl for rising. Even with smaller loads, it’s a cumbersome operation to scrape batters from the 6 quart bowl.
Because the mixer is so large and powerful, I wouldn’t recommend it for making one loaf of banana bread. If you’re planning on outfitting the school bake sale, or doing your christmas baking, you could produce 8 loaves or abundant cookies with ease.
One of the things this mixer does do, is morph beyond a standard stand mixer. You can add a sausage stuffer, pasta maker, ice cream maker, citrus juicer, grain mill, food grinder, rotary slicer/shredder. That powerful motor doesn’t have to sit idly on your counter waiting for your next birthday cake.
In the final analysis, the professional series 600 stand mixer is exactly that. It’s a professional piece of equipment. This big, powerful tool is a great addition to a catering kitchen, although overwhelming and a bit unwieldy for daily use in a typical family kitchen. But, if you want to be able to make 3 pounds of fudge, hundreds of cookies, or a big pile of bread at the drop of a hat, this is the machine to get it done.
If you want to see a demonstration video, there are two nice ones on this product page
CAPACITY:
KitchenAid’s marketing liturature identifies The Professional 600 Series as the most powerful stand mixer in their product line. It is able to churn through 14 cups of flour per batch. Enough to make 8 Loaves of White Bread, 13 Dozen Cookies, or 8 Pounds of Mashed Potatoes. It features a 10-speed slide control ranging from a very fast whip to a very slow stir. New with this model is the PowerKnead™ spiral dough hook that replicates hand-kneading to handle 20% more dough than previous models.
DESIGN
- Stand Mixer – Removable bowl on a permanent stand
- Bowl-lift Mixer Style -A lever raises bowl into mixing position, or lowers it for removal
- Multi-purpose Attachment Hub – Attach pasta maker, grinder etc. to connector on the mixer’s front
- All-Metal Construction, direct drive transmission, steel gears, and commercial motor protection for lifelong reliability
PERFORMANCE
575 Motor Wattage
14 Cups Flour Power
6 Quart Mixing Bowl Capacity
67 Point Planetary Mixing Action
Electronic Speed Sensor – 10 Mixing Speeds
INCLUDES
Professional Wire Whip
Burnished Flat Beater
Clear Pouring Shield
6 Qt. Stainless Steel Bowl w/Handle
Burnished PowerKnead™ Spiral Hook
Available for $399, with lots of 50 dollar rebates.
Stay tuned for our review of the 5 quart KitchenAid Artisan Series Stand Mixer.