
KitchenAid’s Key Ingredient: Investing in Workers - CaliforniaKarl
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-kitchenaid-recipe-for-a-tight-job-market-11550840415
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zaptheimpaler
Companies more likely to treat workers better during a talent shortage.
Executives shocked to unearth a little-known ability called "learning",
allowing untrained employees to gain skills persists well into adulthood. More
breaking news soon.

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indigodaddy
You should write for n-gate

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preommr
I firmly maintain that the KA stand mixer is pretty overrated. People praise
it for being long lasting, but it's a mixer... just a motor and some gears.
I've still got my grandmother's sewing machine, and electronic devices that
are older than I am still in working condition. It's not like it's a
particularly cheap product. It's pretty high up there, so quality should be
somewhat expected.

That said, it's not abuse proof either. I've got the pro, and there were a few
times in the beginning when I was making stiff doughs that I could see it
struggling with. I imagine with bigger batches that it could probably crap
out. From what I've read online, there are definitely better quality mixers
out there in the price range.

The attachments aren't really worth it either. They're horribly expensive if
you don't buy it on sale or as part of a bigger package and now you're locked
in with your machine. For things like meat grinding, I would much rather get a
dedicated all steel grinder.

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dragonwriter
> The attachments aren't really worth it either. They're horribly expensive if
> you don't buy it on sale or as part of a bigger package and now you're
> locked in with your machine. For things like meat grinding, I would much
> rather get a dedicated all steel grinder.

Sure, dedicated tools are superior, however each of the attachments has
significantly less marginal space cost they a dedicated powered tool that
would replace it, because the motor is shared (as, often, are other parts
between attachments, e.g., there are a number of attachments for the grinder
attachment.) If you aren't doing heavy volume use on any one attachment, and
you don't have a gargantuan kitchen (or even if you are, but you have a small
kitchen), space efficiency can be quite compelling.

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TeMPOraL
Until your motor unit craps out, and then it turns out that particular system
isn't produced anymore, so you have to throw out all your attachments too.

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austhrow743
KitchenAid has an all attachments fit all mixers guarantee. Combined with the
company being pretty old and not looking like it's going anywhere, that's a
huge part of the appeal of the brand. Being fairly confident the scenario
you're proposing wont be an issue.

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garyrichardson
Also the parts are pretty universal too. We got one as a wedding present. I
use it at least once a week and my wife makes bread dough in it. After about
13 years of hard use we stripped a nylon gear (designed to protect the rest of
the unit). The replacement gear was available on amazon for a few bucks. That
was a few years ago.

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woofie11
Perhaps the other piece of the equation is making cheap junk and selling it at
premium prices.

At some point in the past few years, KitchenAid products replaced steel
internals with plastic ones. You still have a big honkin' powerful-looking
mixer or blender, but it breaks just around when the warranty expires.

On the other hand, they still have a reputation for products which last
forever, as their products did until a few years ago. That allows for obscene
markups and short-term profits.

I'm not sure when the change happened. You can see it in Amazon reviews,
though (and my own products; I have a broken mixer and, stupidly, two broken
blenders, both with powerful-looking steel or cast-iron externals).

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Bombthecat
The same thing happens everywhere. My kitchen was!fully Miele. So, after
around 3,5 years or so. The dishwasher broke. So I thought: call a specialist,
get repaired. It is is Miele at least! (you can get replacement parts even
after years) so, guy came, saw the brand. Checked, said, something with the
heater. Several models have that problem. And it is super expensive.. I should
just buy a new one. Asked him what I should buy, you know what he said? It is
not worth anymore.just buy 2 or 3 cheap dishwashers in 10 years then just one
expensive, which brakes anyway after 3 to 5 years....

I have a 15 years old Miele washing machine I bought used. Still running like
a champ...

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neonate
[https://outline.com/kjXw4M](https://outline.com/kjXw4M)

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miguelmota
Saved me a click, thank you

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pmorici
Ave on Youtube has a nice tear down video with commentary on the classic
Kitchen Aid mixer.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKp-0h9P18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKp-0h9P18)

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MrTonyD
Bought a KitchenAid stand mixer - the motor made a loud "aircraft landing"
sound. When I called the number in the instructions they told me that their
warranty doesn't cover sounds, and that they couldn't do anything for me. I
tried to explain that I had worked with motors a lot, and this wasn't a normal
sound, and asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor told me the same
thing - no warranty for that type of problem. I haven't bought anything from
KitchenAid since then.

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contingencies
NB. Taking it meta: investing in processes and methods for training workers
(or robots) is better than investing in workers. Investing in managers who can
do that for you is even better.

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Krasnol
I'd say their other key ingredient is the fact that this is a perfect product.
It does what it should do perfectly and it will still do it in 50 years and
more.

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war1025
We got one for our wedding 6 years ago and hardly ever use the thing. Growing
up, my mom had a Sunbeam mixer where the bowl spins and the beaters stay in
place. Maybe just bias because that's what I grew up with, but I liked the way
that mixer incorporated ingredients a lot better. Unfortunately, Sunbeam only
makes super cheap products now, so I don't know that you can even buy such a
thing anymore.

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bsr203
see the videos in one of the tabs.
[https://www.ankarsrumoriginalusa.com/store/pc/Ankarsrum-
Orig...](https://www.ankarsrumoriginalusa.com/store/pc/Ankarsrum-Original-
Mixer-AKM-6230-2p53.htm)

~~~
war1025
That thing looks really wild. Never seen one like that before.

This is the kind my mom had:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgSd59Z4Yo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgSd59Z4Yo)

The lady in the video seems to not really understand how it works though, and
is only making jello mix, which seems like a poor demonstration...

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mongol
The other one is the latest generation of the original Electrolux Assistent,
introduced in 1940.

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kwhitefoot
I have an Electrolux Assistant that I use principally for bread making. Much
better than the Kenwood and Kitchen Aid style stand mixers.

Mine looks like this:
[https://cbsethumb.blob.core.windows.net/534x389/69/97/90/ele...](https://cbsethumb.blob.core.windows.net/534x389/69/97/90/electrolux-
assistent-rattvik-6352757.jpg)

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jacobush
These are HEAVY duty. Sometimes the power switch can crap out, but that can be
fixed.

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droithomme
The article isn't about KitchenAid Mixers. It's about KitchenAid/Whirlpool
investing in its workers through programs such as paying for further education
and training.

Please stop talking about your personal opinions regarding the quality,
utility, or value of their mixers and other kitchen appliances, and please
stop upvoting these posts. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the point of
the article and is noise. The article is about the value of a company
financially investing in their employees.

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war1025
The point of HackerNews is to spark interesting conversation as much as
anything. Often that involves going off on a tangent. At least that's why I
come here, and I'd guess I'm not alone.

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BoiledCabbage
I think it's more people who don't read the article, pattern match on a
keyword in the title, and go off on a tangent on that keyword.

Article comments should be relevant to the article posted, not any unrelated
topic that simply mentions the word.

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war1025
Well yes, I think that's how the tangents get started. If the article itself
is sufficiently interesting or the tangent is particularly off-topic, those
conversations get quashed pretty quickly. There were only a couple top-level
comments about the mixers, it just happened that there weren't many comments
about the article itself to counter-balance them.

