FAO Kenwood Chef owners ..... accessories

[Saracen]

Well, finally bit the bullet and upgraded my ancient (c.1975 or earlier) A701a for a shiny new Chef Titanium.

So ... Chef owners .... have you bought any optional accessories? If so, or if you've just researched it, do you have any good (service and price) sources?

In particular I'm interested in the shaped pasta cutter (not the sheet roller, though may do that later) and the individual optional dies.

Kenwood do the extruder/cutter (around £100+) but don't mention the extra dies.


TIA.

[GoNz0]

I have the mincer attachment, use it to make my own lamb kebab meat for the hairy dieter fakeaway recipe, I need to get sausage skins to give those a go next.

[Saracen]

I still have the mincer attachment from my old machine, and it works pretty well. I do know the drive linkage has changed, and older accessories can be used with an adapter, but I have a feeling mine is just aa little too old even for the adapter. If so, I might well end up replacing the mincer, though to be fair, I can get a pretty good result with either the food processor or blender (separate machines, not Kenwood acccessories). Having said that, I have the old blender/liquidiser for my old Chef too.

[GoNz0]

Yes I also have the blender and food processor as I got the big KM020 model when they sold it, I use everything and think it is worth every penny as it is one hell of a machine,
I would like the mill attachment to grind coffee beans so I can take some on holiday as I like my bean to cup machine.
If I ever see the spud peeler reduced to clear I will buy it just to be a lazy git.

I do want the pasta maker but again I am waiting for it to come up on offer somewhere, you only get the macaroni bronze die with it though, additional ones are between £40 and £50

[Saracen]

Yeah, the price of the dies did come as a shock, but .... I like fresh pasta. i'd probably end up with 2 or 3, as justifying more would be a stretch.

Coffee I solve a different way. I have an old Krups coffee grinder, a bit like a miniature blender, that I bought when I went to Uni in the 70s. It's fine for enough coffee for half a dozen cups. If I need more than that (rare, TBH) the "dry goods" container on a Vitamix blender will do a couple of lb at a time. I don't recommend doing that with most blenders as it blunts the blades, fir anyone thinking of trying that) but Vitamix (and a few others) are designed with blunt blades, and ruddy great motors, with exactly that in mind.

Mind you, with Magimix processor, Vitamix blender, Kenwood Chef and Panasonic bread machine, I think my next purchase is gonna have to be a house with a bigger kitchin.

Back to dies, initially I think penne and fusilli. I'm happy ti do tag, etc, with sheets from a hand machine and a knife, and those, with ravioli, is about 95% of our pasta usage. The odd Orzo, etc, will just have to still be dried.

[Saracen]

Oh, what I really fancy is one of those fully automated contraptions where you put a kilo or two of flour andca dozen eggs in one end, puck the die, set the cutting distance and several Kg of fresh whatever comes out the other end.

Two problems. We'd never eat it still fresh, and second, the £2.5k to £4K required.

Oh well. Another toy foregone.

[Saracen]

Oh, what I really fancy is one of those fully automated contraptions where you put a kilo or two of flour and a dozen eggs in one end, pick the die, set the cutting distance and several Kg of fresh whatever pasta comes out the other end.

Two problems. We'd never eat it still fresh, and second, the £2.5k to £4K required.

Oh well. Another great toy foregone.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Bloody eck,my parents recently ditched their A701A for a KMC515. The old mixer still works too!

[Saracen]

Bloody eck,my parents recently ditched their A701A for a KMC515. The old mixer still works too!

So did mine, though my guess is getting towards last legs. It was, I have to say, a reluctant upgrade but, having done it, the new one is .... well, .... it's like comparing a mid-range 1975 Ford to a modern BMW. The new machine is quieter, smoother, more luxurious. For example, the 'splashguard', and LED lighting for the bowl.

Both the old and new one work, and you get a cake mix (or whatever) from both, but the new one is just so much nicer to use.

But critically, a couple of years ago Kenwood stopped supporting the very old ones. Until then, you could get new motors, new gearboxes, etc. Now, you can't. And mine was starting to sound .... 'graunchy' like the gears weren't running smoothly. Maybe I could've stripped it and lubricated it. But also, the motor was giving off that faintly electric smell. And finally, the old original ceramic bowl got broken about 30 years ago and the replacement nasty plastic one was, well, nasty. Rough surfaced, very hard to clean.

So, the £399 new one had £100 trade-in, so was £299. There's a Kenwood course thrown-in, normally £115, so arguably the upgrade is now £184. And, a 2new stainless steel bowl was about £80, so I can convince myself upgrading cost about £100. Even if I could still get a replacement motor and gearbox regreasing done, it'd cost that or more.

So, reluctantly, though it feels a bit like betraying an old family friend, the A701a was due for a change. And the new one is so much nicer to use that I'm feeling less guilty day by day.

Put it this way. I still feel nostalgic about 1970's Escort RS2000's, but you aren't gertting me out of a modern M3 for one. I'm not that nostalgic.

[shaithis]

Mincer/sausage maker.....although I find it can clog with fat and be a pain sometimes.

Got the food processor and blender as well, although they haven't been used since getting the Vitamix

[TheAnimus]

So I'm in a slightly similar boat.

I've got a Bosch MUM series food processor, I have pasta roller attachments.

However, for the shaped stuff you just can't get near the Marcato stuff. So I have the normal roller, because ultimately that's the one that is going to be passed through the machine two dozen times. Then I simply hand crank the shape cutter, as ultimately that's just a single pass only, so if 95% of it is electric, that's enough for lazy me! The price premium that Kenwood/KitchenAid/Bosch all charge for electric rollers is simply too high. Not to mention they don't have the range of designs. My ravioli attachment is great, about ten times faster than stamping them out. You can get so much more for your money that way.

Now if you mean extruders, that's a different game altogether. The mincer attachment type ones just aren't as good as the specifically designed kind, they tend to waste a lot of dough by comparison. If you want an extruder that can make hollow noodles, I'd recommend something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marcato-Reg.../dp/B00123REBM

Or if you want something super lazy, check out Philips offerings, however they mostly target the EU market:
https://www.amazon.de/Philips-HR2333...=philips+pasta
Hence my amazon de link. A friend of mine has one and it's frankly brilliant, easy to clean, very simple to use, my only complaint would be a lack of integrated weighing scales as I rely on that in my Kenwood to balance my egg, semolina, 00 duran mix. The only thing stopping me getting one is it's a unitasker and I have a small kitchen, actually that's a lie, it's big by London 2bed standards, I've just too many kitchen toys to have space for unitaskers.

[Zak33]

I've got the clear pastic top mounted food processor. It leaks flour when I make pastry in it, from the entire upper edge where the lid sits "tight". Which is a real surprise from Kenwood.

So if you didn't get one, don't bother.

[Saracen]

So I'm in a slightly similar boat.

I've got a Bosch MUM series food processor, I have pasta roller attachments.

However, for the shaped stuff you just can't get near the Marcato stuff. So I have the normal roller, because ultimately that's the one that is going to be passed through the machine two dozen times. Then I simply hand crank the shape cutter, as ultimately that's just a single pass only, so if 95% of it is electric, that's enough for lazy me! The price premium that Kenwood/KitchenAid/Bosch all charge for electric rollers is simply too high. Not to mention they don't have the range of designs. My ravioli attachment is great, about ten times faster than stamping them out. You can get so much more for your money that way.

Now if you mean extruders, that's a different game altogether. The mincer attachment type ones just aren't as good as the specifically designed kind, they tend to waste a lot of dough by comparison. If you want an extruder that can make hollow noodles, I'd recommend something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marcato-Reg.../dp/B00123REBM

Or if you want something super lazy, check out Philips offerings, however they mostly target the EU market:
https://www.amazon.de/Philips-HR2333...=philips+pasta
Hence my amazon de link. A friend of mine has one and it's frankly brilliant, easy to clean, very simple to use, my only complaint would be a lack of integrated weighing scales as I rely on that in my Kenwood to balance my egg, semolina, 00 duran mix. The only thing stopping me getting one is it's a unitasker and I have a small kitchen, actually that's a lie, it's big by London 2bed standards, I've just too many kitchen toys to have space for unitaskers.

Interesting, but it's specifically the Kenwood attachment (and yes, it's the extruder I'm primarily interested in, though they don't call it that). Specifically, KAX910ME

I'm surprised they you don't think they have the range of designs. There's about a dozen different bronze) dies, and at around £40-£50 EACH I'm not sure how many you'd want. After all, that's up to around £600 for the full set, plus the £130-ish for the attachment. Which is why I 'd probably stick to the 2 or 3 I'd use most (mainly, boring old fusili and penne.

[Saracen]

I've got the clear pastic top mounted food processor. It leaks flour when I make pastry in it, from the entire upper edge where the lid sits "tight". Which is a real surprise from Kenwood.

So if you didn't get one, don't bother.

I presume that's the bundled one when they did a good bundle deal a couple of years ago? Nah, I wouldn't, mainly because I have big Magimix (5200XL) processor, and of course the Vitamix blender. By the time you consider the Panasonic breadmaker, Cuisinart sandwich toaster and coffee machine, I have a similar problem with kitchentop space as Animus.

Mainly, it's the pasta 'extruder' I'm looking at, and maybe replacing the mincer I had (still have) for the old Kenwood, and primarily where people get their accessories, like those additional extruder dies.

[GoNz0]

I set price alerts on the 3camels site so it alerts me when Amazon drop the price.

[TheAnimus]

Interesting, but it's specifically the Kenwood attachment (and yes, it's the extruder I'm primarily interested in, though they don't call it that). Specifically, KAX910ME

I'm surprised they you don't think they have the range of designs. There's about a dozen different brass or bronze) dies, and at around £40-£50 EACH I'm not sure how many you'd want. After all, that's up to around £600 for the full set, plus the £130-ish for the attachment. Which is why I 'd probably stick to the 2 or 3 I'd use most (mainly, boring old fusili and penne.

Ah, I miss understood, by cutter I thought you meant the roller style cutters that you use for different shapes, such as Mafaldine or Reginette etc. Those were the ones I was talking about the lack of designs available for primarily. As someone who has both rollers and extruders I can tell you I much prefer the rollers to the extruder I've got due to cleaning effort. The Spaghetti I get from the rollers is slightly more like a squashed hexagon on it's cross section but it is a lot less faf. As you know I'm a bit of a weird nut those so that might just be my effort preference as normally when I'm rolling out / extruding it's going straight into the pan and I'm eating two minutes later so I hate things that get dirty just at the end as I can't clean them whilst something is cooking.

That said the shapes you can make with an extruder are great fun! There is a company that make many compatible dies:
https://pastidea.it/gb/3-kenwood
Which might save you a few quid as Kenwood charge quite a lot for their dies, which are just a small CNC task and a bit of bronze.

Also if you don't own a roller, I'd definitely get a Cannelloni or even a Fiore Di Loto die as you can make your own stuffed pasta that way with a piping bag.