The KitchenAid Espresso Pro Line—delivering 15 bars of pressure with a separate steam unit pump. Just holding it in my hands at the store convinced me. Solid weight, no rattle. Cast iron and proper machining, no plastic cheats anywhere. I was tempted to take the lid off and peek inside but didn’t. Given what would follow I should have pulled out an Umbraco-set and given it a go.
The steamer didn’t steam. Didn’t matter what setting I used. Water came out of the nozzle, but nothing you’d call steam. Dreams of frothy Cappuccinos were postponed, and I returned the unit. Got a phone call the same day telling me to come by and pick up a new one. Apparently, the problem was a well known one, and dismantling my Pro Line to fix it was too much bother.
I didn’t mind. Have never had the misfortune to get a true lemon from a car dealer, but as I understand it, you have to threaten them with abducting their closest relatives before they’ll even dream of letting you have a new replacement.
The Pro Line now delivered a fine jet of steam, and I was shooting Cappuccinos with the dexterity of a Milanese barista.
Until a few weeks in when the 15-bar pressure dropped to a trickle. I checked the metallic filter but it wasn’t clogged nor were the five feeder tubes. But the pressure wouldn’t have kept Costeau alive in the kids-only end of a pool.
I returned to the store. This time, the phone call came after a week. KitchenAid were pleased to offer me a replacement unit, “would I like the same color?” By now I had developed buyer’s remorse. When first wondering about which espresso-maker to buy, I had checked out a few. The exterior design of the KitchenAid, as well as the build, had lured me—but I had been thisclose to buying an Italian one. I knew that if I requested a switch they’d go along . . .
Couldn’t possibly be so unlucky that I’d get a third red lemon?
You bet I could. This one also developed a leak. A different symptom this time around. 15 atmospheres builds pressure, and if the hoses and tubing are not doing what they’re supposed to, liquid under pressure finds ways of escaping. The two dials fogged up from the excess moisture. I kept on making espressos that weekend. By Sunday evening the leak had developed into a spill, with water seeping out onto the kitchen bench. When I lifted the Pro Line the seep became a splash. Submerged electrics. Great.
I returned the unit. And got a new one. If you check Amazon and other sellers, you’ll find there are “remanufactured” Pro Line Espresso makers. These have been returned to Kitchenaid for a bionic redo. Bad initial design has its cost, and for Kitchenaid it must have been substantial. Someone had screwed up when spec’ing this espresso maker.
At this point I knew I’d never buy anything from KitchenAid again, another side effect of bad design. Disappoint a customer once too often, and you’ll find bagging them again just about impossible.
The fourth unit lasted six months before it blew a gasket, literally. This time it was the steamer unit, bringing me full cycle. Turned out that the seal of the top entry valve would burn off when the steam heater was left on. By now I was really longing for that Italian espresso maker—I knew it could be left on from now until 2012 without any trouble. A friend had one at work and always had it ready to go.
I didn’t return the clunker. Took it apart. What the heck. Even if they offered me another replacement it was just too much pain. I wanted an espresso maker that heated quickly (check), that had the proper pressure (check) and that was reliable (uncheck). The Pro Line was not it.
Disassembling was fun, though I can understand why they’re offering customers new ones. Fixing this unit is at least a day’s job, even with replacement parts handy. I’ve located the cause of the pressure loss, why leaks develop, and why the design makes the steamer moody. They haven’t been on a GM cost-cutting binge when putting it together. The parts are good, but the pressure and the heat build up is overwhelming the tubing and seals, which can’t keep up with repeated use.
I feel like the owner of a 2001 Land Rover Freelander, who finds out that LR effed up a whole engine design and that your only hope is a new engine under warranty.
Building a consumer product requires experience-based initial design, good prototyping, and some proper testing before you release it. KitchenAid, like quite a few car makers, are doing their testing in the field. Not recommended.
107 Comments on “Editorial: Stein X. Leikanger’s Metaphorical Journey into KitchenAid Hell...”
Back to TopLeave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You can also login using Facebook Connect.
If you are willing to drop 3.5k, go with the Capresso Z6.
It is a beautiful, simple, highly effective machine.
After the first hint of a crap product I give up. I don’t have the time to do what you did, but I have always wanted to go through this process. Thank you for writing this.
With these machines I think that they count on people only using them once. Mean time to failure is often very low for consumer products. This is why your retailer probably tried to sell you an extended warranty, also on the assumption that you would never really use the machine.
Hmmm…this combined with the Segway announcement makes me wonder if everyone is rattled about the future of the automobile. I sure am.
What is a good analogy? The obliteration of 35mm film in cameras? The impracticality of private aircraft except for hobbyists and highly specialized tasks? The utter devastation of local newspapers due to the Internet? Now the automobile and the automobile industry…hmm…deep thoughts when I need to be working.
So Kitchen Aid is screwing up its espresso machines? They can’t make a reliable coffee maker either. I splurged on a Kitchen Aid coffeemaker, spending about 4 times what I could have spent on something from Sears. What I got for me efforts was a machine that lasted about two years. Note, mine could not be taken apart due to the fastener used. So, into the garbage it goes, and off to Sears I go for something that might last. More crap surviving on its brand equity…for now.
Shame, really, because KitchenAid is one of the few decent makers of affordable full-sized appliances. (Before you ask, I personally rock a Sub-Z fridge, mais bien sur.)
Here’s the problem as I see it. The pace of change keeps accelerating, but manufacturing and design processes have some intrinsic bottlenecks in ‘em.
I have a small computer repair business but I’ve just about given up on it. Three hours of labor, which is what it takes to fix major issues, costs my clients $235. A new computer is $299-399. Most of the time they’d rather switch than fight.
Estro Vapores are not bad from my experience.
I love getting great deals, but stay away from “remanufactured” items for anything that has electric, mechanic, or electronic components (i.e. anything but books, models, or other objects for which the term simply means “returned because the customer didn’t like the color”).
I have a Gaggia Classic, which has been trouble- free. Anyone contemplating a home machine should check out the reviews at Coffeegeek.com.
Hobart (professional restaurant equipment) sold KitchenAid to Whirlpool in 1986. The mixers are still metal, but the new ones don’t look quite as well made.
They sure have been whoring out the brand recently. I just saw a KitchenAid brand manual can opener at Target.
Unfortunately, Kitchenaid is now a division of Whirlpool. This appliance conglomerate is working hard to become the GM of appliance makers. About five years ago we remodeled our kitchen, replacing in the process a 25 year old Sears wall oven and microwave, GE electric range, GE refrigerator and a Kitchenaid dishwasher, with new top-of-the line Kitchenaid appliances. The halogen range is outstanding. The refrigerator is inferior to the old GE. The oven is passable, but the microwave has far less power than the $129 Sanyo from Costco which is in my office. And the dishwasher is ok, but recently needed to have the mechanism which keeps the door from falling open replaced. The 25-year old Kitchenaid never required a single repair. We still have a 30-year old Kitchenaid mixer which soldiers on year after year.
Whirlpool has taken a once-proud brand and turned it to crap. How soon before they’re asking for a federal bailout. Who could have seen it coming?
Just holding it in my hands at the store convinced me. Solid weight, no rattle. Cast iron and proper machining, no plastic cheats anywhere.
Interestingly, people buy Mercedes and Volkswagens for exactly the same reason, and often with the same results.
Me, I’m a Lucky Goldstar/Samsung/Panasonic fan. Translate that how you will.
Maybe this is a bit off-topic, but I have to share this: Our family has been on a steady diet of IKEA’s Billy bookshelf/-case for the past twenty years or so. They’re great for storing all kinds of stuff like my collection of Car and Driver from the seventies and up, and other “useful” stuff.
Imagine my dismay when we picked up two copies of said furniture yesterday, and with my battery-powered B&D in hand, I prepared myself for final assembly, only to notice that Kamprad’s beancounters had counted their beans and found the metal “claw” fasteners to be prohibitively expensive! What, I pray, is then more natural than to replace them with copies made from brittle plastic? No surprises were encountered, the first “claw” broke with the sorry sound that only cheap plastic has! But, there’s more: the backing used to come in an acceptably stiff material that was folded once in a halfway cut, and it used to slide nicely into the grooves in the sides.
No more! They took out another 25 cents worth by shipping some seriously flimsy cardboard, folded three ways. This crappy thing did nothing to strengthen the structure, and will only intermittently stay in the grooves!So, Billy, I guess we are at the end of the line as far as storage furniture is concerned. Another great example of how “de-contentment” is pissing consumers off!
The insides of that thing look awful. I’d think about getting an e-61 machine. I have an Isomac Rituale. Thing is built like a tank, and has commercial components that you can actually replace. It’s a bit bigger than the Kitchen Aid, but will make a far better espresso.
Check out Chris’ Coffee in New York. They have a good like of semi-commercial home machines. But they’ll calibrate the machine, and have exceptional customer service.
I drive past a Seattle Coffee Gear every morning. Very inviting name, sign, storefront, and good parking.
Last Thursday I stopped in. Machines from many different manufacturers, all lined up in rows arranged by cost from house payment to minor kitchen remodel. Great sales staff member explained the features and limitations of each.
Passed over at the time but now, due to TTAC, on radar was the comment, repeated several times, that “If there is a problem, you bring it back here instead of shipping it somewhere and waiting to see if it will be repaired or not.”
OUCH!
edgett, we too bought a KitchenAid fridge also replacing an old GE. Man is it a piece of crap. I wish we got the LG instead. The thing is, they just lost another customer. It is amazing how many people here have recently bought a KitchenAid product with bad results. In a couple of years nobody will buy anything from this brand.
Great KitchenAid story and I have another one to share.
A few years back I bought my wife a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas that she always wanted. Last summer I was using it to grate cheese. I admit I put too much pressure on it thinking it was tougher then it was, and a barring broke. I took it to a small repair shop (which was an hour round trip drive). They took it part and said that either they could make the mixer work but it’s days of grating cheese were over, or replace the entire top piece of the mixer (KitchenAid doesn’t sell just a replacement barring). I said let’s fix it for $150 (half of the cost of a new one) as I broke my wife’s mixer… And I didn’t want the blame for something not working.
So two weeks later I go to pick it up. After looking it over, it had two large scratches running down the new top piece. I asked the guy about it, and I was told that the new case was shipped to them like that and that it was covered with a plastic film that they didn’t remove until after they put the thing back together. I was shocked! Some jerk at KitchenAid had this scratched top piece, covered it with the plastic film and shipped it out! “Screw the customer!”
The repair shop spent a lot of time taking it apart and putting it back together and that was all they were willing to do. So it was take it or leave it.
I was ticked! I threw the guy the cash and walked out with it. On the way home I was wondering how I would explain my wife’s mixer looking worse then before the repair? I actually thought about throwing it in the trash and just buying her a new one that she’d never know about? But lets see; I already just spent $150 and a new one would $300 more! So I just took it home and I’d explain the story and hope she understood.
Well arriving home I plugged it in and checked it to make sure it was working fine; which I should have done at the store as I hear this “CLUNK CLUNK” as the speed lever will not stay in place as it wasn’t put together correctly. “Oh &^%$!” I yelled.
So I took it back to the shop the next day and left it again to have them at least put it back together correctly!
Now every time I look at that KitchenAid mixer, I see those big scratches running across the top and I hate them for it. I should have just bought her a new one as it would have been less of a headache.
A Kitchen Aid espresso/capuccino machine?
Breville makes a good machine for espresso/capuccino and if you get it a Williams Sonoma they replace it on the spot no questions asked if something goes wrong.
Appliances no longer have the traditional life expectancy, nor do TV sets, and so on. Its geared for consumers that get tired after a few years.
There are only 2-3 appliance makers after several rounds of consolidation that make all the different brands of appliances.
Is the automotive industry headed in the same direction?
Kitchen Aid, like so many brands, isn’t the premium product line it once was. Marketers count of the memories of great former products to sell the mediocre new ones. Yet another case of the MBAs ruining everything IMO.
Much of the stuff sold in Ikea, Target, Kohls and just about everywhere else is marginal stuff which isn’t expected to last. Just try to get more than ten washings out of most of the women’s clothing sold these days. Some time ago I happened to visit the local dump and then a WalMart later on the same day. It was weird walking through the store visualizing what all of that junk was going to look like in a year or two.
tsofting is touching upon the crux of the problem here. The fact that spreadsheet engineering is de-spec’ing what was once reliable products, from reliable brands. We don’t really know what to trust anymore – and have to remain skeptical for at least a year after purchase.
Imagine the surprise of the Land Rover Freelander customers who got engines that actually pretty much blew themselves apart; or Audio Allroad owners from the same period who found out their crankshafts were made of buttermetal (if there is such a thing, soft it was).
KitchenAid stands (stood) for absolute quality, but no more. The Pro Line had gotten good reviews, and I tried one in the store, which they had on to demo making coffee, when I made the initial purchase.
But it really is a messy design, and can’t have brought KitchenAid anything but disappointed customers and a serious dent in the accounts.
De-spec’ing “to make money” has become a mantra among the people in charge of manufacturing. Spreadsheet managers who don’t really care about the quality of what they are turning out, but are more preoccupied with meeting their budgets, in order to feed their options packages.
And yes, as such, this story also illustrates what has gone seriously wrong with car manufacturing, where you have brands speculating in the repairs putting them over the top as far as profits are concerned, while offering the cars at a loss …
I prefer the simplicity of a Bialetti stove top pressure vessel for home espresso production.
Add a handheld bodum frother (the type that looks like a french press) and you can make capuccinos without the need for electricity.
I gotta wonder if we’re not better off buying old stuff from e-bay or garage sales. I’ve got a Hamilton-Beach mixer from the early ’50′s (it was mom’s) still working perfectly, never needed repairs. A Sunbeam electric frying pan from the mid-60′s (mom’s)) — works perfectly.
Bought a Norelco shaver back in the ’80′s. Dad broke it. Took it in for repairs. Cost about $50. I thought maybe I should just buy a new one. Guy at the shop (who also sells new ones) said don’t– new ones are cheaper, motors aren’t as strong, and the batteries don’t hold a charge as long.
And while I’m at it (hey, I got lotsa time on my hands… lost my auto related job…) my 30 year old GE refrigerator has a freezer the maintains -8 degrees below zero F!
Wish I had my ’78 Scirocco back!
psarhjinian:
“Just holding it in my hands at the store convinced me. Solid weight, no rattle. Cast iron and proper machining, no plastic cheats anywhere.
Interestingly, people buy Mercedes and Volkswagens for exactly the same reason, and often with the same results.”
Hey, are you accusing KitchenAid of filling its products with foam sound deadener (like German cars) to make the metal sound more substantial than it really is?
tsofting:
“. . .I prepared myself for final assembly, only to notice that Kamprad’s beancounters had counted their beans and found the metal “claw” fasteners to be prohibitively expensive! What, I pray, is then more natural than to replace them with copies made from brittle plastic?”
Are you talking about the cam locks? There is a special place in hell for the person that invented flat pack furniture cam locks. Even with pot metal cam locks I can’t put together flat pack kits without breaking a couple of cam locks. If I saw plastic cam locks whatever I bought would be going straight back.
VerbalKint :
April 7th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I gotta wonder if we’re not better off buying old stuff from e-bay or garage sales.
My personal theory is that smart car buyers will buy older cars for about the next ten years, until Carmageddon is sorted out, and the car makers are in profit without de-spec’ing their products.
Tying this nicely into cars, is my last experience with Acura back in 1997. I’d been out of the country for 4 years, and needed to buy a car upon my return. Since I’d had 3 Acura Integras prior to leaving the states (87,89,92) and had been very happy with them, I took a taxi from the airport straight to an Acura dealership. Cheaper than renting a car for a month while shopping around, and I can take care of myself in negotiations.
Bought a 97 Integra without even test-driving it because if 3 of them have been good quality machines, how can #4 be bad?
Well, it can be bad if the @#%$#@$!!!’s making the car de-content it to the point of turning it into crap. So many places to save money! One horn instead of two. Cheaper radio that won’t pick up a signal where the old car’s radio will…. cheaper upholstry that started to show wear at 10K miles. Cheaper digital clock that consistently lost a minute a week… dozens of places. I dumped the car and bought a BMW instead. Wrote them a letter, and told them if I’d wanted a cheap car I’d have bought a Hyundai, and goodbye and good luck.
As with your KitchenAid, I was willing to pay more for quality…. and I guess I should have recognized that they’d cut quality to keep price down…. but they misread their customer. I’d have cheerfully paid a couple of $K more for a small car that I enjoyed. However, the company was more worried about making a price line than maintaining the reputation of the company.
Acura has finally recovered and is making fine cars (if ugly cars this year) but I’ll never go back. I’d always be wondering if I got the model year where they decided to cut costs and ride their reputation again.
Why don’t companies understand that there’s still a market for quality goods?
Oh, oh, my turn!
I too used to think KitchenAid was some sort of quality brand.
Then a few years ago, I bought a top of the line stainless KitchenAid convection gas range. It was pricey, but beautiful and felt hefty.
It was utter crap.
The oven door locked itself and wouldn’t open like some sort or frikken NORAD WMD defense shelter in Cheyenne. When I finally got a tech to come out and open the door (a week later), I half expected Dick Cheney to pop out.
But that was just the start. The “infinite” gas controls were either too hot or too cool. The top was completely impossible to keep clean from one of the most bizarre design choices I’ve ever seen that was a total triumph of form over function.
Then one day, the glass behind the burners exploded, sending piece of broken glass showering into the food I was cooking and all over the kitchen.
I sent them a detailed complaint letter and a follow-up and received NOTHING back from them.
Last weekend, I was staying at a really expensive house in the mountains for a ski vacation (owned by a friend of a friend). It had brand new KitchenAid appliances. And they were even worse. The heft was gone. Now, they aren’t just junk, but they feel like junk too. The main burner on the stove sputtered and was unusable, the dishwasher door creaked and groaned liked it was going to break off and it didn’t properly clean the dishes (in spite of the flashy stainless steel tub). In fact, my 12-year-old Whirlpool at home did a much better job cleaning.
Whew, I feel better now, thanks.
I gotta wonder if we’re not better off buying old stuff from e-bay or garage sales.
Possibly. What we’re witnessing is a race to the bottom when it comes to longevity engineering. And we, as consumers, have to shoulder some of the blame.
We stopped buying quality goods some time ago, and this puts cost pressure on manufacturers to meet a price point. There’s very few ways you can do this without compromising quality, and eventually you will because your competitors will otherwise beat you on volume.
Now, consumers aren’t entirely at fault: median income has been plunging for decades, putting real cost pressure on the average household, and thusly on the producers of goods. It’s not nearly as easy to buy quality as it once was, even when you’re talking about basics like food**. The wage pressure we’ve been feeling that fueled some of the press for credit is finally coming home to roost, and a lot of companies are going to find out that, if you don’t pay people much, they won’t buy much, either.
Case in point: I own a very rugged, premium laptop (an early IBM ThinkPad T30, the Volvo 240DL of laptops). I’ve had this computer for years and it’s never faulted, and it certainly cost a mint compared to it’s competition at the time, but it’s also outlived the generally wretched commodity competition by virtue of sheer stoutness. But the current ThinkPads, even the T-Series, aren’t nearly so robust, and the lower-trim models are deplorably bad because people aren’t willing or able to pay the price, and even if they were, Dell et al would eat their lunch.
** Don’t believe me? Price local, fresh (and especially organic) food versus canned, packaged, low-nutrient crap and then spend a little time wondering why poor people aren’t as thin as the rich.
@psarhjinian :
Interestingly, people buy Mercedes and Volkswagens for exactly the same reason, and often with the same results.
I have a VW (made in Mexico) and a Mercedes (made in Alabama), both 11 years old, both with around 190K miles. The Merc is holding up much better I’d say.
My remanufactured Kitchen Aid coffee grinder is holding up well, though the lid came without a gasket, but when the espresso machine fails I won’t be looking at KA.
And this has what to do with cars?
Anyone care to hear my wife’s angst about her Singer Sewing Machine. And I have issues with my Accu-Chek blood meter. Also I have a complaint about the person who delivers my morning paper.
@psarhjinian
“…and we as consumers have to shoulder some of the blame.”
I think we have to shoulder a great deal of the blame; if we measure success or failure only on money, perhaps we miss things like substance. Flying on commercial airlines has become a horrible ordeal, not because there is anything intrinsically wrong with flying, but because of price wars that we demanded, there is no longer enough profit in the business to make it anything like a pleasant experience. Crap appliances are here because we buy solely on price and not on real value. We are fortunate that cars have been nearly as touched by this as other consumer products, but both GM and Chrysler are failing because they were testing Lincoln’s (Abe) adage that “you can fool some of the people all the time…”
I, too will think long and hard before ever buying another Kitchenaid product, and this is a sad event. Thousands of people spent their lives making Kitchenaid a truly well engineered product and in the span of a few years, MBA’s from Whirlpool have soiled a reputation built by all of these folks. But they did it in the name of the consumer, ‘cuz that’s what we asked for…
@Colinpolyps
And this has what to do with cars?
Fair question. When taking it apart, I felt as if I was working on the cooling system of my (a while ago) E-type or (now) Cherokee Jeep. There’s a heft and solidity to the apparent build that says “car parts.” And it is a closed-loop pressurised system, with pumps, conduits and heating elements.
Heck, even the outer body gives associations to Studebaker heyday – though the body paintjob is sub-par, with lots of flaking.
But the greatest relevance is that it is a perfect instance of the kind of endemic de-spec’ing, or de-contenting – if you will, that has become the scourge of product development and manufacturing, and that is going to destroy once venerable and reliable brands that once worked to earn our respect, and that now believe that marketing will solve the credibility gap.
And as such I do think it is relevant to cars. I’ve run pressure tests, replaced hoses and up-spec’d parts. It’s like being in the garage, my friend!
The land where marketing and branding has taken over. “Hey guys, we just picked up a great old brand with a fantastic reputation for quality. Quick, get engineering on the phone. We need a new line that is cheap as hell but looks expensive. Nobody will ever know and we’ll make a bundle.” Reminds me of my Maytag washing machine story. Paid a fortune, but everybody’s mom still had one that was 20 or 30 years old and working fine. Mine lasted 5 yrs and the transmission went out. Sounds like a Chrysler.
This is why most of my cars are 10-15 years old when I buy them. By then, everybody knows what the problems are and you avoid the worst ones.
Example – if it were 1996 again, I would never have bought that underpowered 4 cyl Honda Odyssey. The Grand Caravan or the Windstar seemed a much better choice. Now we all know about transmissions and head gaskets and everything else, and I am happily (albeit slowly) cruising around in my “new” 96 Odyssey.
Are the new Odysseys 300k mile cars? Lets get back to that question in 2022.
Everything is built to a price point now, not for quality. Look at how WalMart keeps expanding, and not a damn one is ever empty. People want cheap goods, and unfortunately that’s the call that the manufacturers answer. For a company like KitchenAid to build things to their former quality, their goods would undoubtedly cost quite a bit more, putting them out of reach for a lot of people. Instead, they build them cheaper, price them lower, and make the money off of volume. The people buying them are just happy that they can finally afford to buy the KitchenAid appliance that they’ve always wanted, and since most of the stand mixers and cappucino machines don’t see daily use, it’s a while before they figure out that KA doesn’t stand for the quality it once did. The down side is that once they do come to that realization, the name is ruined and they’ve lost a customer. But hey, who cares? They made years of profits on that business model!
This was fascinating and surprising, both the editorial and the comments. It is also useful to me since I need an espresso maker. Damn. And as a kid, I used to tell peole that drinking espresso was begun by some mechanics in an auto shop ont he left bank in Paris, during WWII because “espressoing” coffee beans concentrated the energy in them, just like coaking coal or cracking oil, and that there had been so little gasoline in France during the war that drinking coffee had been banned so that the beans could all be used to make espresso for the cars. The mechanics at this shop–in my story–became fed up with not having their coffee, so they tried the espresso, loved it, and it spread. I think I got the idea for this story because I used to tell my parents they were drinking diesel fuel.
i use a stovetop espresso maker. No moving parts. Gasket replacement every year, costs 25 cents. Made of cast aluminum.
I also use a stove top milk steamer. No moving parts, gasket replacement every year, 25 cents. Made of cast aluminum.
I like the “no moving parts” stuff. Good coffee, too.
I find that simple is best. Even with cars.
My La Pavoni lever machine is 20 years old (auto related content: I traded a brake job on an Element for it) and has had one seal replacement in that time.
Fast and easy to use it is not, but espresso shouldn’t be easy. If you’re too busy to spend 20 minutes pulling a shot, you should probably change your lifestyle.
“or Audio Allroad owners from the same period who found out their crankshafts were made of buttermetal (if there is such a thing…)”
Mercury?
Aside from that, the mention of Panasonic above as a reliable brand reminded me that a sometimes helpful metric for buying actual quality products is whether or not the same company (not a subsidiary or distant parent) also makes professional versions of the same product, and if they do, to try to buy the very top of the consumer line, or even better, the bottom of the pro or prosumer lines; or, best of all, actual professional, if it’s still at all affordable.
Unfortunately, the analogue to all this in the car world are cars that are simply too expensive for anyone but the wealthy to super rich.
I think people forget that most cars these days are mass market consumer items. That is, products roughly analagous to the products you might find on discout at Target or WalMart or Ikea; the kind of stuff that fills what I imagine to be the average middle-income American home.
Well I’ll throw my 2 cents in. I have a Kitchen-aid mixer/blender from the 50′s that was a Christmas gift to my grandmother back when my mom was knee high to a grasshopper. Nice glass blender, good seals, and metal bottom. No problems with the motor, it’s still going strong. I also have a GE Upright Freezer from the same time period that was also originally bought by my grandfather. The thing has never needed a recharge of freon and works wonderfully, although I’m sure not all that efficiently. The fact that the cooling system is so tight that even 50+ years later it still is charged amazes me. I just stripped and painted it at the end of last summer, and now it looks great again as well.
On the other end of the scale are the two NSFW lawn mowers I’ve bought in the last 10 years. Integrated design and plastic parts make failure assured and repair nearly impossible. The current mower is out due to a leak in the plastic gas tank which is not replaceable as a separate unit. I’m going to try an epoxy this weekend and see how it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll need to replace a lawn mower simply because of a leaking gas tank that probably costs about $1 to produce and $5 to buy. Ridiculous.
By the way, it was awesome being able to use Hobart equipment when I was working in a restaurant. I always wished that I could get something smaller but just as solid for my own kitchen. It looks like that was what Kitchenaid used to be.
15 Atmospheres? That’s around 220PSI!
I’d think if that were on my kitchen counter, it would need an endorsement from the US Navy :-)
But you should keep it, as it matches your breadbox.
A second thumbs up on the Gaggia Classic. Ours has given us consistent shots for almost two years now, even with our marginal – but cheap – grinder. If only I had taken my time to research things instead of just walking into a Williams-Sonoma, I would have avoided my first espresso machine attempt, the FrancisFrancis X1 which was both more expensive and didn’t reach the shot quality of the Gaggia. It did last for a few years though – in fact it’s only decommissioned, a “standby” if you will, after the dead heating element turned out to be just a broken thermostat.
We don’t do frothed milk drinks, but I think any single-boiler machine would be a pain due to the need to wait for the boiler to switch between espresso and steam temperatures. Anyway, why devirginize good coffee with sugar/milk/whatever?
For my ideal espresso setup, I’d stay away from the fully automatics. Instead, I dream of this little combo.
Leikanger, is that Kitchenaid unit manufactured in America?
I recently up-fitted my kitchen with Kitchenaid appliances; they’re one of the very few companies that manufacture in America.
So many appliances are now from China. You have to look for the manufacture label to be sure.
Funny how Korean made Bosch refrigerators try to hide their manufacture label.
@Ferrygeist
Who knows what they added to the alloy of the crankshafts in those Audis. They did turn out buttery soft, with cuts as deep as 2-3mm not being uncommon.
@Shaker
15 bars is what they claim, though the two pumps are each rated at >10bars, though they do add to the same flowpath. Yup, it’s a lot of pressure!
9 is the minimum that an Italian barista will demand for good espressos.
John Horner:
“Kitchen Aid, like so many brands, isn’t the premium product line it once was. Marketers count of the memories of great former products to sell the mediocre new ones.”
Sounds like you’re talking about Toyota as much as Kitchenaid.
psarhjinian :
April 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am
We stopped buying quality goods some time ago, and this puts cost pressure on manufacturers to meet a price point. There’s very few ways you can do this without compromising quality, and eventually you will because your competitors will otherwise beat you on volume.
———————————————-
Very good reasoning.
During peace time, wealth tends to flow to those who have access to policy making (i.e. Paulson’s friends at G.S. and M.L.).
For the average Joe, there is no way his salary can keep up with the inflation tax. So, Joe cannot afford quality products any more. If a manufacture keeps on increasing price (to hold up quality), it will have a hard time surviving.
This trend of wealth flow will continue, until there is another violent resetting of social hierarchy.
I bought a KitchenAid slide-in range and a KitchenAid counter-depth fridge last year.
No major problems so far. But there are a couple “inconvenience”:
1) It’s extremely hard to take off and put on the warming drawer of the range. The user’s guide had a very simple illustration that’s totally useless. I would like to see how Whirlpool’s CEO and CFO can put it on in 10 minutes. My wife commented that we should never buy KitchenAid again.
2) The new fridge is way more noisier than our old Kenmore. Even though the new one looks large (36″wide), the interior storage space is smaller than the old seemingly small Kenmore.
This is a good analogy for the American auto industry. Except one bad design became dozens, even beyond the mediocrity and tedium of the 70′s and 80′s. Most of the foiables come from GM: the Olds Diesel, the Vega, the V-8-6-4, etc., but the money lost from all of Detroit’s failed projects to win back buyers forced them to cut costs, which led to cheap AND mediocre products, losing more customers. Now that their products have FINALLY become acceptable, the companies are on the verge of collapse. Bummer.
I second (or third, haven’t read all the comments) Seattle Coffee Gear. I bought my Solis Crema there and though it hasn’t given me any problems—knock on knock box—their customer service is prompt and helpful.
My next machine will be the one baristas use at home: Rancilio Silvia. And CoffeeGeek.com is worth a look.
I have very much enjoyed “The Truth About Kitchen Appliances”…
As a teen, I was a dishwasher in a restaurant which had ancient “Hobart Bros.” equipment which still worked like new … remember being really impressed and being fascinated by “Kitchen Aid by Hobart”… thinking this would be my brand someday…
At the time of the Whirlpool take-over, and the man who kept my mom’s 25 y/o Norge dryer alive commented “well, before long K/A will be no better than Whirlpool”… it took them 20 years to wreck the brand…
On the other hand, I find it funny, because at the time, Whirlpool was trumpeting the premium and commercial quality aspect of the K/A brand … and it seemed to me they made the acquisition to add a brand above Whirlpool … like so many times, the acquirer wrecks that which they aspired to own because they only understood the reputation, not how it came to be, or how to sustain it…
Finally, bought a Bosch dishwasher for my sister, installed it at Christmas 3 years ago, worked so perfectly (on a well with softened water), it cleaned blueberry stains off a pie dish that had been in the finish for like 20 years, that my mom didn’t recognize it when it was returned … the Bosch got the moniker “Magic Dishwasher” … next Christmas, I installed a Magic DW for my mom (with the nifty little light that shines on the floor to let her know – she is hard of hearing – it is running…)
Oh, and what does she have for an Oven/Range Unit? A stainless steel, 1955 “Frigidare – Division of General Motors” unit that is so retro, it looks cool, and aside from the analogue clock, works like new…)
http://easterkiwi.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/frigidaire-flair.jpg (far as I know, my mom has never worn a crown while using it though…)
In response to Dyn88, mom has a Maytag fridge, and it is ok but some of the plastic bits seem under engineered and the seal crapped out when it was 5 years old … (and she lives alone)…
I live in Switzerland and have Electrolux appliances in my apartment, and I appreciate the fact that the builder may not have put premium units in the building, but these units are so Schiesse… (the dishwasher is also a magic dishwasher (but designed by an evil and sadistic troll.)
I have no faith in GE either … Hot-Point is lousy, and the GE brand seems to have declined to match its cheaper stable-mate (anybody remember all those GE-made refrigerators that were recalled because of lousy compressors?)
Oh, and I had a friend that after getting fed-up working at Ford about 10 years ago, went and interviewed at GE Appliance Park, OH, for an engineering job … they were giving him a plant tour, and were showing him the dishwashers on the end of the line getting QC checks … just as he walks by, some hose slipped off some fitting, and he got soaked … he decided to go work for Lexmark instead…
I’ll just add this – Do not buy a Maytag refrigerator.
OK, enough about what not to buy. So, the question is: which ones are still good?
In term of appearance, Thermador looks really nice. Is it any good? How about Electrolux?