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Cuisinart SM-55 5-1/2-Quart Stand Mixers | 
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| Brand: Cuisinart
Category: Kitchen
List Price: $650.00
Buy New: $249.99 - $394.35 (On sale from $475.00)
You Save: $255.65 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating: 23 reviews
MPN: 241008
ASIN: B000OY1XOO
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Product Description
The baker's pride, this sleek professional stand mixer has the power and assortment of helpful attachments to handle any baking task. A die-cast metal body is built for durability while the polished stainless steel bowl has the capacity for even the biggest baking jobs. Three-year limited product warranty. Five-year motor warranty.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Lots of Potential But a Couple of Design Issues Spoil it. November 19, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I purchased the Cuisinart SM-55 for my wife as a replacement for a Kitchenaid HD Mixer that broke after two years of use.
The Kitchenaid had problems with the gears, which is the same problem that apparently all Kitchenaids have. The plastic gear box cracks and they simply do not stand up to working with bread dough. Thus, I embarked on a quest for a mixer that would provide more power than the Kitchenaid along with reliability - all at a reasonable price.
I thought I made the perfect find when I purchased this Cuisinart mixer because it had an powerful motor and a warranty that covered everything for 3 years and the motor for 5 years - all for about $250 delivered!
The mixer is beautiful and reasonably light. It has a low profile for storing under a counter. But, The arm raises up for, which means that you have to move the mixer out to an area with high clearance. It was this arm that my wife did not like. The mixer vibrated when used. And, keep in mind, my wife likes to make bread. But, she is not doing anything really heavy duty with the mixer. The mixer vibrated and rattled and did move somewhat during use. My wife was concerned that it would work its way off of the counter if she did not watch it. I doubt that this would actually happen.
The second issue is the top of the mixer, which is designed to be removed so that you can add attachments like the food processor and grinder, etc... This top had a habit of falling off every time you touched the mixer. It was really annoying.
Overall, my wife thinks that this is a good mixer for people who need a mixer for normal use.
I returned the mixer to Amazon the day after we received it. returning to Amazon was very easy. My wife decided that she wanted the Kitchenaid Professional 600 mixer, which is more expensive - and unfortunately a Kitchenaid.
My solution was to purchase the Kitchenaid mixer and a three year service warranty from Amazon, which covers everything for an additional $29. The Kitchenaid Professional 600 will arrive today and I anticipate that it will make my wife happy because it gives her more power and a non-movable arm. I will be happy because I can get it replaced under warranty when it breaks.
So Far, So Good November 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have had this stand mixer for a few weeks, and I am very happy with it. I have used it to mix and knead heavy bread doughs and I am impressed. Unlike my prior stand mixer -- a 5 quart KitchenAid -- the Cuisinart kneads a bread dough effortlessly. The built-in timer, while not essential, is quite convenient. The Cuisinart is lighter than the KitchenAid, and the dough hook appears less substantial, but the Cusinart has a more powerful motor. Moreover, there is a shield on the Cuisinart's dough hook that keeps the dough from rising onto the mixer during the kneading process, a feature that the KitchenAid lacked. The ultimate question is whether the Cuisinart will hold up after many years of use, but it has done very well so far.
 First glance - nice machine! November 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just pulled this out of the box and I am already impressed. It's light enough to move around without trouble, the bowl and accessories seem very sturdy, and the controls are completely intuitive. The design is really sleek - nice enough to feature on our island. I decided to go with this item over the Kitchen Aids primarily due to the warranty, and because it rated as highly in Cooks Illustrated. (I hope I don't anger my mom's spirit to much over my decision....)
Two slight design flaws - the top cover as someone noted is easy to open and you have to check that it's completely latched. The splash guard does not attach as solidly as I would like, but due to its proximity to the machine that may be so that it does not suffer vibrations from the motor.
I'll report updates as I use my new toy!
So far so good! October 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have had this mixer exactly one month today, Oct. 29, 2008. The purchase went with no problems. Delivery had no problems. The set up (just taking it out of 3 protective boxes and plugging it in) had no problems. I have used the mixer 9 times. I have never used a mixer before and can't compare it to anything else. However, I do find the built in timer to be a big advantage. One simply sets if for the number of minutes and or seconds given in the recipe and the machine will stop at that exact time. There has not been any kind of problem which is why I gave it 5 stars. If any kind of problem (s) happens I will adjust the number of stars according to the type of satisfaction I receive. Since my 30 day protection from the seller, Chefs Catalog, is over it all depends upon Cuisinart itself. The title says it all, "So far, so good".
I'm a satisfied Cuisinart convert! October 11, 2008
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
I've been a long-time fan of the KitchenAid mixer. My grandmother has been using the same KitchenAid mixer since the late 50s, and it's still going strong. I was thrilled to get a KitchenAid "Ultra-Power" mixer as a gift about seven years ago, and it worked great for occasional use. Over the past couple of years I've been doing more and more baking, and about a year ago I began making my own bread. After about six months of using my KitchenAid to knead two loaves of whole-wheat bread every week or so, it made a terrible grinding noise, and stopped working. I decided I'd better buy a new KitchenAid with a more powerful motor, and went online to see which was recommended. Much to my surprise, the reviews for the KitchenAid were no longer as positive as they had been. People were complaining about a decrease in quality and customer service. The biggest complaint was that some metal parts had been replaced by plastic, and while it sounded as if the company had recently started making the parts out of metal again, people were giving tips on how to determine if the model you were purchasing had the metal or plastic gearboxes. On top of that, Cooks Illustrated ranked the Cuisinart mixer above KitchenAid in a March 2008 review.
I did more research and found that the warranty was much better on the Cuisinart than on the KitchenAid. So, nervously, I decided to switch from what I had always considered to be the top brand, and I bought the Cuisinart.
My first impressions were mixed. I immediately liked the way the mixer looked, but I was nervous about it, because the body and the mixing paddles are much lighter in weight than on the KitchenAid. It lacks the solid, all-metal feel of the KitchenAid. Since the KitchenAid jittered all over the counter when I was using it to knead bread or even whip butter and sugar together for cookies, I figured the Cuisinart would probably fly off the counter. I decided to use it pretty hard for six months, and then write my review.
I've used it every seven to ten days to make two loaves of heavy, whole-grain bread, have made many batches of cookies and several cakes and I'm very happy to write that this is a GREAT mixer.
Much to my surprise, It doesn't jitter at all, not even when I'm using it to knead bread. Ingredients are more thoroughly mixed, and I don't need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula nearly as often as I needed to with my KitchenAid. Counter space in my kitchen is limited, so I keep the mixer in a cupboard, and the lighter weight means that it's much easier to move around. In my experience, the lighter weight has NOT affected, in any way, the performance.
Once, when I was keading some heavy dough on speed #4 for about twice as long as the usual seven or eight minutes (I'd forgotten to add salt to the bread and was trying to knead it in) the mixer overheated and shut itself down. It hasn't done that since, and frankly, I'd rather that happen than have the gears freeze up and completely destroy the gearbox, as happened with my KitchenAid. Another greatly appreciated feature is that some clever person designed the bowl so that it's easy to remove, even after I've used the mixer to knead dough. The bowl on the KitchenAid would lock so tightly after kneading bread that I'd have to wrench it free, usually skinning my knuckles in the process. Some reviewers complain that the bread dough "climbs" the kneading hook, making a mess. I find that the dough actually climbs a lot less than it did when I used my KitchenAid. One reviewer mentioned that she finds the splash guard mostly useless, but I love it -- I find it truly useful, unlike the awkward, two-piece splash guard that came with my KitchenAid.
The timer function is nice, especially now that I don't need to stand over the mixer while it's kneading, worrying that it'll jitter its way onto the floor. I don't leave the room, but now I set the timer and let the mixer do its thing while I prep other ingredients or grease the baking pans. I really like the slow-start feature -- no more cloud of flour when I turn on the mixer.
Basically, this mixer does everything my KitchenAid did, and does it better. The performance has been highly satisfactory, and if it breaks down any time in the next five years, it will still be under warranty ... unlike my KitchenAid, which was only covered for a year.
I don't hate KitchenAid -- I think the mixers are probably still a good product, overall. I know that I was using mine for more than it was designed to handle. However, I am happier with the Cuisinart and have recommended it highly to several friends.
This is still a relatively early review. I expect stand mixers to last for at least a decade, and ideally for much longer. Six months after my purchase, I'm very happy with this machine. If anything happens to change that, I'll update this review.
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