Mixing it up

For a while now, my stand mixer has started making wonky noises. As in motor-related wonky noises. In the normal scheme of things, I’d look up KitchenAid repair people and see about getting it fixed. But what with me using it at least once a week and the COVID19 shutdown, I just went online shopping.

First of all, that mixer was a birthday gift while I was in grad school; I’ve had it for 30 years and it owes me nothing. Second, I reckoned that once this lockdown is over, I could still get it repaired and use it as backup.

Interestingly, it was on sale at Amazon, but only in really garish colors—Empire Red was featured. But also colors out of a 1950s kitchen. My question was: why would you want a stand mixer in a color that shows up every grain of flour that sticks to it? (Pretty sure that 30 years ago, it only came in white.) A lot of people, apparently. Then it turned out that many of the colors cost $499, as opposed to the sale price of $329; and several of them weren’t even available. Maybe it’s the end of the model year?

So I mooched around the web and found it for the $329 on KitchenAid.com, including some colors I didn’t have a problem with; I went with Nickel Pearl. Free shipping and everything. Plus, with the Honey browser extension, I got a few bucks off, so it turned out to be less than Amazon.

Well, it arrived yesterday, and my plan for using my old one as backup with interchangeable bowls and beaters went down the tubes.

The new one’s got the same footprint, but a larger bowl, with concomitant larger beaters. (Also, there’s a warning on the whisk not to put it in the dishwasher because the color will change. What’s up with that? I’ve been washing my current whisk in the dishwasher for 30 years.)

Oh, well—times change; I’ll just have to get on with it.