# Which attachments?



## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Family surprised me for Christmas w/a brand new Kitchenaid stand mixer! I was looking at the various attachments that are available and have a few in mind I'd like to have. I'm curious as to what attachments others have, and which ones they like, and if there's any that they feel aren't worth buying.


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

I have a meat grinder. It was used a lot when I was a child. LOL 

Plan on using it this weekend we process up the cow we butchered last week.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

Meat Grinder-- I use it for making hamburger, but also for grinding ham for ham salad, and sweet pickles for relish.

Slicer-- I really love this thing when it's time to put up kraut. I have a food processor and a mandolin, but this is what I reach for. It's so easy to use.

Strainer-- This is simply a Must-Have for applesauce and tomato sauce. I got the bigger tray to slide on top too; it saves the little ones from hearing bad words. 

Pasta Maker-- Years ago, I got this when the only option was extruded pasta. I used it a few times and shoved it back in the drawer. It just seemed, well, _weird._ I guess I'd rather make it by hand, or buy it.

Grain Mill-- I considered this one briefly, but discarded it. Some people really complained about it's ability to make fine flour, and about it's ability to make a decent amount of flour in a reasonable time. I compared the price of the KA grain mill to a NutriMill, and opted to do the latter. No doubt there are folks who just love this attachment, and one of them might be you; it just wasn't for me. BTW, I adore my NutriMill. 

There might be more attachments in the drawer that I've forgotten about, but those are the ones that come to mind. If I've forgotten them, I must not use them much, right?


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Meat grinder.
Love it, used it often!!


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

The strainer is what I use the most. The pasta maker is too expensive in my opinion and the opening on the meat grinder is so small that the meat needs to be chunked pretty small, time consuming. Do get the strainer if you make applesauce or can tomatoes.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

The strainer is great (only one I've ever had so I can't compare). I use the meat grinder sporadically. The grinder works fine if the meat doesn't have too much gristle. We have the sausage maker tubes but haven't used them. 

I also researched the grain mill attachment and I doubt it's heavy duty enough or can process enough for us. Doesn't look like it's really for flour, but other grains that don't have to be so fine. 

I would love a juicer attachment! 

Enjoy your KA!


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

I'll add one to the list of don't waste time or money...

The Ice cream maker attachment. The one I had came free as a Mother's day gift with purchase.
Kept it stored in the freezer as it takes a significant amount of time to get it cold enough to use for ice cream. Opened the freezer one day to find this blue frozen gunk dribbled all down across packages of meat inside my freezer.
It had cracked and the liquid leaked out everywhere.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

We use the grinder and separator/strainer all the time. The grinder will work on more than just meat -- we use it on nuts and vegetables, too (ground instead of chopped for meat loaf, for example).

Since we can tomatoes only as puree besides putting up applesauce and the like, the separator gets lots of use, too.

I have the slicer but never use it.


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## Adirondackgal (Aug 8, 2013)

I use my meat grinder the most. I love. As posted by someone else, you must cut the chunks into live 2 x 2 inches at the most for it to work properly. As I don't have a farm, I will buy a cheaper cut of beef and make my own hamburger. 

I also have the sausage maker. We have made sausage a few times too. It is a little time consuming but it is awesome to make your own sausage.


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Not so much an attachment, but I find I use the splash guard a LOT! When you are making bread, it sure keeps the flour from flying!


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Right now, the attachments that I'm looking at are the strainer (I make my own tomato sauce and applesauce), the sausage stuffer kit, and possibly the grain mill, the slicer/shredder and some of the pasta attachments. I was looking at the food grinder, but that looks like it's included w/the strainer. 

I had thought about the ice cream attachment, but sounds like I don't want to mess w/it. And, if the grain mill doesn't grind stuff small enough, I might not want that. Ground beef is so expensive now, that I rarely buy it, but have often noticed that when beef is on sale, it's cheaper than the ground beef, and I have seriously thought about getting it and making my own. And, I've also thought about making my own sausage since they'll frequently have pork loins on sale for $1.99/lb-much cheaper than buying sausage. I guess I could even make it into sausage patties if I don't want to stuff it.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

At one point I'd buy briskets and use for my own ground meat...getting the ones that are not trimmed was pretty inexpensive per pound..and it had plenty of fat to make a decent grind mix.


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## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I also vote for the meat grinder and the strainer. Mine came as a package. I love them.

My mil and sil both say the citrus juicer is excellent. I don't juice enough citrus for it to be worth it for me.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

And I don't juice citrus at all!


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## StaceyS (Nov 19, 2003)

We have the meat grinder and love it. Got sick off store ground beef haven't eaten it since. We grind our own beef, pork, chicken and turkey now


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

We have:

~Meat Grinder: I love this and use it frequently
~Slicer/Shredder: This comes in handy with all those zucchini  I also use it for shredding large amounts of cheese
~Sausage Stuffer: We used this for the first time a month ago and it worked great.
~Pasta Maker: I don't use, I think I would also rather make by hand


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

I've never made pasta, so don't know if I'd prefer to make it by hand or not.


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## mamasky (Jan 21, 2013)

I have the slicer/shredder and I use it fairly often. It's great for when I make something like zucchini bread.
I just got the ice cream maker for Christmas but I haven't been able to use it yet and I think I'm going to get myself the meat grinder/sausage stuffer with money I got for Christmas. 
And I'd love the pasta maker but with how cheap pasta is, I can't justify the cost of it.
I love my KA mixer! I splurged on a great deal for the 6qt. size 2 years ago and I've used it several times per week since. It makes so many things so much easier! Enjoy your new toy


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

Meat grinder and grain mill. I grind wheat every week and also corn.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

We have the ice-cream bowl, we use it regularly during the summer, really love it! We store it in our freezer.


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## Savrens (Jun 23, 2007)

For those who had unsatisfactory performance from their grain grinder perhaps you could try grinding the first grind a second time at a finer setting.

I did that with a Corona hand grinder I used for puppies. When my Jack Russel had more puppies than she had faucets. I ground Max puppy food pellets and mixed it with condensed milk to supplement their nursing. I wasn't getting it very fine so I tried this method. It came out very fine. 

If some one could try double grinding, I would appreciate knowing how it turns out. I was considering getting the attachment for my K. A. mixer, but am reluctant with the reports given.


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## Mulegirl (Oct 6, 2010)

We have the grinder, which is pretty good, and a grain mill--the Family Grain Mill, not the actual KitchenAid one--which we use at least twice a month, depending on how much baking I'm doing. It doesn't grind incredibly fine the first time through, but since I always mix whole-grain and white flour, it doesn't bother me at all. It did grind more finely the few times we did a second run-through.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

FarmChix said:


> Not so much an attachment, but I find I use the splash guard a LOT! When you are making bread, it sure keeps the flour from flying!


I think this is going to be the first thing I get. Made bread today, and had flour going all over!


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## gimpy (Sep 18, 2007)

Not to be a downer but...

Actually Kitchenaid discontinued their, "meat grinder," many years ago. If you want one, check amazon and ebay for vintage kitchenaid meat grinders. Those are all metal and won't burst if you inadvertently drop a bone down in it. What they now have are, "food grinders," which are made of plastic and not nearly as sturdy.

Also there are about a dozen different kitchenaid stand mixers. They all fit the same attachments but vary greatly in power and where they were constructed. If you got one that was on sale at a department store it's probably a 250 or 300 made in china and using that with their food grinder it will take you an hour to an hour and a half to do a single grind of 10-12 pounds of meat and then the motor will get rather hot and will need to cool off for a few hours while you chill the meat again before the second grind because the metal pin in the screw (the only other metal parts being the blade and grinding plate) will transfer heat from the motor and start to melt the fat in the meat making it more difficult to grind.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Reading that makes me want to keep my old mixer-even though it's more than 30 yo. (It's an Oster Kitchen Center.)


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

The only things I have or want are the paddle, paddle with scraper, and whisk attachments. When making applesauce, I cut up pieces and cook them down. I used to use a strainer until a fellow HTer told me an easier way all you need to do is cut up the tomatoes and put them in the blender. You don't even have to remove skins or seeds.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

WildernesFamily said:


> We have the ice-cream bowl, we use it regularly during the summer, really love it! We store it in our freezer.


I wanted to update this since my opinion on the ice-cream bowl has changed - after cleaning out the freezer and leaving the bowl out of the freezer for a while it started oozing blue stuff.. after closer inspection I saw it had a fine crack.

So I agree - don't bother with that attachment.

I have recently received the paddle with the scraper as a gift, it's pretty neat!


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