
How KitchenAid and Le Creuset Took over Kitchens - occamschainsaw
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/01/kitchenaid-le-creuset-peak-domesticity/605716/
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graphicsRat
We put a kitchen Aid blender on our wedding list almost 4 years ago. It's
costly but rock solid, near if not industrial grade. I only wish I'd bought
one years ago instead of buying and disposing of cheaper brands that don't
last. (Penny-wise pound foolish I was.)

~~~
michaelt
When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy something
basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that _this is
something I will use_

After all, sometimes you'll buy a guitar then realise although you like the
idea of knowing how to play, you don't much like the idea of practising.
Better to figure that out with a $300 guitar than a $3000 guitar.

And hell, often cheap devices last years anyway under home use, if you know
how to look after them; my $7 electric whisk and $45 electric hammer drill are
still working just fine after 10 years!

(Of course, you don't want to go so cheap it becomes
dangerous/difficult/underpowered and artificially makes you not use it - I've
mostly had the judgement or luck to avoid that)

~~~
ethbro
> _When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy
> something basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that this
> is something I will use_

Believe it was popularized by Adam Savage, re: tool purchases.

Essentially, current price segmentation means the optimal approach is buying
cheapest (e.g. Harbor Freight), seeing how much you _actually_ use it, then if
you use it (or use it hard enough it breaks) buy something premium for your
second purchase.

You'll save enough on all the things you don't _really_ use to more than make
up for replacement costs.

~~~
Steltek
Except tools may not themselves break but cheap tools can break other things.
Cheap wrenches will strip hex bolts on bikes, for instance. Buy Wera hex-plus
at a premium but do the job right right.

~~~
ethbro
This feels like a relatively rare scenario masquerading as a common
occurrence, which is part of the point.

Of people with wrenches, how many use them on engines or high-end bicycles?

And so it's relatively easy for tool companies to convince people "You know
what? You may only have thought about working on an engine a few times, and
have no idea where the valve cover is, but by god you're a _mechanic_. Not
like those weekend warrior types. You deserve the good stuff. A full set of
Snap-On!"

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teekert
I like my KitchenAid but I think they took the simplicity to far, you can very
easily turn it on accidentally when there is no bowl or when the "head" is in
the up position (because of a lack of safety switches but also because the
"change head position" switch is almost exactly the same as the start switch).
This can easily break your fingers. I feel that that could improve. Also, the
default white bread dough kneader is not so good, the more expensive one works
better. Moreover the default "stirrer", without the rubber flap, is near
useless. Still, it looks and feels premium.

"What I didn’t expect, though, is how much having a few high-quality tools
would improve my experience of cooking overall—so much so that any aesthetic
payoff now feels incidental."

I certainly agree with that, I can just trow in some bananas, some oats,
almond flour (optionally), let it mix, add some walnuts, pour into a cake
shape and bake a nice breakfast cake. Also, pancakes, just start with the milk
and you will have no lumps. Self made fresh whipped cream, also hard to beat.
I like using it, perhaps it's a nerd thing, I read more since my fancy kindle,
I bake more since my fancy kitchenaid.

~~~
GrumpyNl
Same here, im very disappointed those features are not there. Mixer running,
move the mixer part up, no problem.

~~~
teekert
Yeah, and it would be very easy to make a mechanical (or electrical) switch
that detects whether the bowl is present and switches that stop the machine
when it is tilted backwards. Not doing it is borderline negligence imho.

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konart
That's interesting. I guess KitchenAid have different products for different
markets. In Russia they are considered an expensive but crappy product. Great
number of colors, but underpowered, not well designed (engineering wise) and
easily broken.

I was thinking of buying Le Creuset after my Woll Diamond left me unsatisfied
after two years of use.

~~~
kls
The old US KitchenAid mixers where of better quality than the newer ones. It
seems to be one of the last products Whirlpool Corporation touched after their
acquisition of KitchenAid in the 80's but by the mid 90's the mixers where
just not as good as the originals.

It's sad because KitchenAid (everything they made) had a reputation for
lasting a lifetime at a reasonable price tag. Maytag was the same way for
larger appliances. Nowadays you have to step up to the semi-pro or even
commercial items to get lifetime quality such as Viking or Wolf and the prices
are anything but reasonable. I tend to buy used for appliances due to this
fact as I would rather have the quality rebuild-able items than the low
quality items mostly being sold today. I just bought and rebuilt a Viking
stove it was easy, the components are fairly robust and it will last me a
lifetime.

~~~
HelloMcFly
KitchenAid is also confusing on their line of mixers. Some are heavier-duty
than others, but without doing the research it's very hard to tell as they all
look similar on the outside.

~~~
kls
I eventually upgraded to a used Hobart would not trade it for the world. I
make a lot of bread so it was worth it for my household, it was only about
$100 more than a top of the line KitchenAid.

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apawloski
While I don’t have Instagram or Twitter, another area you see this phenomenon
is YouTube. Channels like Bon Appetit have quietly become huge.

Also, while the author is correct on the status symbol nature of these two
brands, they only very quickly note that both KitchenAid and Le Creuset are
historically “buy it for life” tools in a world of planned obsolescence.

That being said, I use a $40 Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven, and it works
just as well. I’m curious about cheaper KitchenAid alternatives.

~~~
inferiorhuman
_That being said, I use a $40 Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven, and it
works just as well._

What you're paying for with Le Creuset is the enamel. Lodge makes all of their
enameled stuff in China and the it's pretty well documented that their enamel
doesn't hold up as well.

Cast iron is cast iron is cast iron but with the KitchenAid mixers you're also
paying for design. America's Test Kitchen has some decent stand mixer videos
on youtube. Some of the other brands (like Bosch) have their loyalists but
overall there are reasons beyond longevity to go for the expensive mixers.

~~~
apawloski
That’s interesting, regarding Lodge, but I could replace this 6 times and
still spend less than the cost of one Le Creuset. (I appreciate irony of this
point in contrast with my “buy it for life” point above.)

America’s Test Kitchen is another service that’s interesting in the context of
the article. They aren’t a sexy Instagram brand, but are a service that should
thrive in this space. I’m wondering if they’re getting the adjacent bump from
all of this.

~~~
inferiorhuman
_America’s Test Kitchen is another service that’s interesting in the context
of the article. They aren’t a sexy Instagram brand, but are a service that
should thrive in this space. I’m wondering if they’re getting the adjacent
bump from all of this._

ATK is a pretty well established brand, it's been around for twenty years more
or less as an offshoot of the Cook's Illustrated magazine.

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jdkee
Modern KitchenAide appliances (fridges, stoves, microwaves)are garbage. Cheap
exteriors that dent easily, poor engineering of critical parts and lousy
ability to repair broken parts in a cost-efficient manner.

Simply more evidence of decontented America.

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mech1234
I really don't understand the appeal of dutch ovens for most home cooks. How
is it better than a cheap roasting pan?

ie. [https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Ware-18-Inch-Covered-
Roaster/...](https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Ware-18-Inch-Covered-
Roaster/dp/B000050AVC/ref=sr_1_42?keywords=roasting+pan&qid=1583329832&sr=8-42)

I understand that you can bury a dutch oven in a pile of coals, but I figure
hardly nobody is doing that.

~~~
mumblemumble
Dutch ovens can go both in the oven and on the range, so they're a fair bit
more versatile than a cheap roasting pan and allow you to get by with fewer
pieces of cookware cluttering up your kitchen.

They also tend to be more durable. Our Granite Ware stuff inevitably has the
enamel chipping off after a few years. By contrast, my mother in law's dutch
oven is at least 50 years old and still going strong. You don't have to go
full Le Creuset, either - there are plenty of quality cast iron dutch ovens
that only have to last twice as long in order to be cheaper than the cheap
roasting pan.

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rob74
This article has me scratching my head honestly. "I decided I wanted to become
a person who makes soup" \- isn't soup one of the easiest things to cook? I'm
not really into cooking myself, but even I could throw together one given a
recipe and some time. I'm not sure what kind of soup she was thinking about
though, if you first need to buy articles worth hundreds of dollars to cook
one...

~~~
lincolnq
That’s the point of the article. You don’t need it. The soup is an excuse to
buy the status symbol.

~~~
vwcx
I’ve noticed amongst my peers in their 30’s that the action of trying new
things is intrinsically linked with buying new things. Maybe it’s a product of
being raised in 1980s USA, but it isn’t enough to just try to put new soup
ingredients in the pot you have. You must buy something that ‘sparks joy’ or
‘inspires’ the action. Value isn’t derived from the practice of something new
unless accompanied by the dopamine bump of status symbol acquisition (and
perhaps peer reaction to display of such symbol).

Want to start exercising? Gotta buy new $140 Lululemon tights to help inspire
the action, because willpower isn’t enough.

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dsfyu404ed
When a brand becomes a target is ceases to be a good brand.

Kitchen-aid has been slapping their name on all sorts of value engineered hand
mixers, blenders and other kitchen appliances for a few years not. It's only a
matter of time until they succumb to the urge to cheap out on their core
product line and rake in the profits for a decade or so while perception
catches up with reality.

~~~
kls
It is the business model of Whirlpool corp. KitchenAid's destiny was fixed
when Whirlpool bought them, they buy brands with stellar reputations and
cheapen the products over time, miking them into the ground. They did this to
Maytag as well. Sadly as of lately Electrolux seems to be following the model
of Whirlpool and GE of acquiring and ruining brands.

