Well, I've done the deed - have ordered a Magimix 4200 through L V Martin.I decided it was the best compromise between size and cost, it will apparently easily handle 3lbs of short pastry at a time, which is about my limit for one batch.Also, himself won't squeak about the price to the same extent he would for the 5200, which is probably too big for my bench anyway.
katalin2,
Aug 25, 10:36am
You won't regret it annie- it is a pleasure to use it. Mine is only the 3200 but it handles everything I throw at it including hard cheese.
donnabeth,
Aug 30, 9:13am
annie.nz, I'm interested in your comment about your new Kenwood mixer. My Chef gave out after 39 years(I just started a new thread about it) and now I'm unsure about replacing it with a possibly inferior new model or paying to repair it. Does the Kmix take a big family size cake! e.g 500gms butter.
Something to think about when replacing appliances it the noise factor. Last year I had to replace my food processor and bought a Russell Hobbs. It is so noisy it hurts my ears, I'm sure the decibel level is unsafe, even though it does an excellent job of the processing.
annie.nz,
Aug 30, 8:25pm
donnabeth -
1.Yes the Kenwood kMix takes a big cake - slightly bigger bowl in fact than my 1970s Kenwood Chef.And in fact it mixes a bit beter, and faster.
2.I'm not sure about the noise - I couldn't do a head to head comparison with the old Chef since it had passed on before I bought the kMix.However my impression is that it's a little quieter than the Chef.I found the chef annoyingly noisy, but this one doesn't bother me - I think the noise lacks the slightly high underlying whine the chef had.
I have to say I love the thing.The Chef did a pavlova fine, but this does it a bit fluffier and a lot faster - in fact you have to get the sugar in fairly quick to allow it to dissolve, and turn the mixer off at 7-8 mins or you risk collapse from overbeating.I do pavlovas about 2 below maximum for that reason.
The beaters reach the bottom of the bowl, and I have to scrape the sides less - it still needs doing twice for a big cake, more if there is a very small mix.The fold setting is brilliant, I didn't trust it at first, but now use it all the time to fold in dry ingredients.
It doesn't have the variety of attachments the chef does, but I never had those anyway so don't miss them.It does have an optional mincer attachment.Not sure what others.
And it's red!
annie.nz,
Aug 30, 8:28pm
katalin2 - thanks.It's sitting on my bench, but I haven't used it yet.I'm going to try with 3c of scones x 2 mixes on Sunday, when the hordes all come around for cheese scones.3c of scone mix including cheese comes to just under a kilo, so if it handles that I'll be happy.
donnabeth,
Aug 30, 9:15pm
Ohhh sigh, Annie.nz, I want to go out right now to buy one. We have a big appliance expo on this weekend so there should be some good deals at the moment. Do you have the 400w motor, or the larger motor!
annie.nz,
Aug 30, 9:47pm
.let me look.
annie.nz,
Aug 30, 9:57pm
It says 500W on the bottom.
There are specials around on appliances at the moment, for instance L V Martin have it on sale this weekend for $550, and an extra $20 shipping Ingll.Also, they do have sales quite often.
Got it sitting on my bench now, ready to try a pav tomorrrow. It was hard to decide on a model, but I got a great deal at Harvey Norman on the KM330 classic, 4.6L bowl and 800 watt motor. $297.00. While I was there, i bought a stick mixer with 23 functions and a new iron. I tried phoning Noel Leemings for a cost comparison, but the girl on the phone said they don't have any mixers called 'Chef'. When I went into the shop, there they were on the shelf. I was seriously studying the various models, and so were another couple. we watched 3 staff members standing around and two were chatting, not at all interested in the customers on this busy annual Expo weekend. I would have liked the Flybuys, but in the end, the girls at Harvey Normans was quick to help and went out of her way to get more information for me.
annie.nz,
Aug 31, 1:24am
Oh, awesome!Well done.I'm sure you'll enjoy using it.
carlosjackal,
Aug 31, 4:11am
I have a Magimix 5200 - absolutely brilliant machine. Highly recommend!
It also has an attachment to whip cream and meringue.my meringues are amazing when I use the Magimix! Love it, love it, love it! Magimix's are expensive, but as always you get what you pay for.
annie.nz,
Oct 21, 9:14pm
UPDATE - I got a Magimix 4200, and it really is a good processor.The wide feed tube is awesome and the processor is really powerful.However, I am more than a little peeved by the misleading information in the brochure.
The brochure says the parts can be washed in a dishwasher - but the instruction book expands on this to say you should use a non-heated drying cycle, which is a real pain since all the other dishes end up wet, too, and drying the parts is fiddly.I''ve basically just gone ahead and done it in the top shelf, on a china/crockery cycle, and may have to replace parts in 10 years or so.
The brochure also says the 4200 capacity is, for example, 1300g of pastry, but the recipe book gives quantities of 900g for this model.And in fact, 900g is about the quantity of dough (pastry, scones, shortbread.) that the processor can readily mix.For larger quantities you have to haul out the blade and finish by hand or turn out onto the bench and finish by hand.
Also, washing by hand is fiddly, the processor has all sorts of little bits.
The upshot is that I would buy another one, but it would be a good idea to go one size up from the one you think you would need, from the brochure.For the 4200 this means going to the 5200 if you want the wide feed tube.The 5200 is disproportionately more expensive, at least at LV Martin and Moore Wilson, presumably because it comes with a citrus juicer as standard.
annie.nz,
Oct 21, 9:14pm
UPDATE - I got a Magimix 4200, and it really is a good processor.The wide feed tube is awesome and the processor is really powerful.However, I am more than a little peeved by the misleading information in the brochure.
The brochure says the parts can be washed in a dishwasher - but the instruction book expands on this to say you should use a non-heated drying cycle, which is a real pain since all the other dishes end up wet, too, and drying the parts is fiddly.I''ve basically just gone ahead and done it in the top shelf, on a china/crockery cycle, and may have to replace parts in 10 years or so.
The brochure also says the 4200 capacity is, for example, 1300g of pastry, but the recipe book gives quantities of 900g for this model.And in fact, 900g is about the quantity of dough (pastry, scones, shortbread.) that the processor can readily mix.For larger quantities you have to haul out the blade and finish by hand or turn out onto the bench and finish by hand.
Also, washing by hand is fiddly, the processor has all sorts of little bits.
The upshot is that I would buy another one, but it would be a good idea to go one size up from the one you think you would need, since the brochure lies.For the 4200 this means going to the 5200 if you want the wide feed tube.The 5200 is disproportionately more expensive, at least at LV Martin and Moore Wilson, presumably because it comes with a citrus juicer as standard.
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