Delonghi Stand Mixer - DSM 700 5 Quart

Is anyone familiar with this appliance? I'm in the market for a standing mixer, and I found a very good price on this model, but not much information about how it compares to the KitchenAid standing mixers.

More broadly, does anyone really love their standing mixer, and feel it was worth every penny? And if so, care to share the make and model?

Hi,

You will want to check this resource. The appliance web link is a forum where the people are as obsessed about their kitchen appliances as we are about the Chicago restaurant scene.

I am also a fan of Consumer Reports, which may have some information on your deLonghi.

I own two 5-quart KitchenAid Stand Mixers. One I bought new 25 years ago, which required one repair about 15 years ago. It has metal gears, an important feature not found on all KitchenAid stand mixers today.

My second 5-quart KitchenAid is considerably younger and inherited from a friend. This model has plastic gears, which were stripped when she kneaded bread on too high a speed. The cost of the repair is $89 and the repair station is in Hoffman Estates. Since old reliable works, I have yet to bother to fix this one.

It is my understanding the 'Professional' labeled KitchenAid mixers have the metal gears. Other KA models have plastic gears. When I bought my older mixer years ago, all KitchenAid mixers had metal gears.

If I were in the market today, I would either buy the Professional KA or wait until I found an older model, which are always available on e-Bay. I have given my three sisters all 4.5 quart older models. The avocado green colored KA got the quilted cover for aesthetic reasons only.

I just took a look at your suggested model, it looks like the Kenwood I was considering long ago. Back then, the Kenwood was made in England and somewhat more expensive than a KA. In one auction on ebay, they referred to the Kenwood as having the same lineage as the Delonghi. When it comes time to repair, I will suggest the KitchenAid parts will be easier to obtain. Plus the KA has a lot of interesting accessories, which you may want later on.

Regards,

I bought that Delonghi mixer when I broke my Kitchenaid (newer) mixer making a bread recipe with 6 cups of flour - the Kitchenaid couldn't knead it and some stupid plastic part broker before I had a clue anything was wrong with the mixer.

The Delonghi can handle that recipe just fine, and it really has a nicely shaped kneading hook, seems to do a better job.

The only problem is that the Delonghi is SO noisy we put it in another room behind closed doors while kneading so it doesn't drive us crazy. Still, we do use it for any time we're kneading, only really using the now repaired Kitchenaid for the meat grinder and such...

I'm sure the problem with the Kitchenaid is the plastic parts, so the idea of trying to find an old one is a good suggestion. They do have a nice array of attachments. (But beware the plastic parts in the pasta roller).

Hope this helps.

Nancy

I picked up a Viking branded version of this mixer off ebay. It's tough, probably tougher than most newer KitchenAid models, though it is rather noisy. There's usually a glut of attachments available on ebay -- use this url or this search string to find them: "(delonghi, viking, kenwood) mixer"