Lots of action in the comment fields the last couple of days, keeping me busy! Some of the most interesting reader comments have had to do with professional versus home equipment. Ever since the rise of the foodie movement, a lot of home cooks have been making their home kitchens look and feel more “professional.” Appliance makers have of course complied with their wishes, producing all sorts of stainless appliances that mimic what you see in restaurants and other high production kitchens. A lot of this gear has a professional look but actually isn’t professional gear. And that’s a good thing.
Why? Because professional pieces of equipment are pretty blunt instruments, usually with nowhere near the versatility of home gear. I mentioned in the below post on mixers that my professional mixer is extremely powerful but doesn’t do small quantities. Why? Because it never occurred to the engineers who designed it that anyone would ever try to beat just three egg whites in it. It also sounds like a Harrier jet in hover mode. Professional ranges have the same problem. They’re great when it comes to turning out giant amounts of heat. That’s perfect if you’re a sauté cook on the line. But what if you’re a home cook trying to make a delicate stirred custard? Then they’re not so good. Not at all.
A close friend of mine learned about pro gear the hard way when he bought a commercial refrigerator to finish out his very, VERY expensive kitchen. Being a great cook he wanted a pro look and was ecstatic to discover that he could get twenty cubic feet of refrigerator space — all stainless — for less than a standard home refrigerator. Of course not a week later he was returning it because a.) it vibrated so much that it traveled across his hardwood floor even when the wheels were locked and b.) the compressor was so loud that it woke up everyone in the house when it kicked on at night. Plus it was unevenly cold if it wasn’t fully loaded up with at least ten cubic feet of food. His eggs froze if he didn’t keep several cases of bottled water in it.
All of which is to say that professional machines are designed for a specific environment. They’re usually very tough, they have to be. However because people working in commercial kitchens don’t really care how loud they are, how much they vibrate, what they look like, how well insulated they are or how much exhaust heat they throw off, they’re not built with, shall we say, the finer points in mind. Home kitchen machines are often maligned as “wimpy” when most of the time they’re far better engineered than their commercial counterparts. As a result they can do a lot more.
So when it comes to a major purchase like a range or mixer, I’m forever reminding friends and readers alike to think hard about how they’re going to use it. If I didn’t have a brick oven in my back yard that needed to be filled up with lots of dough every time I baked in it, I wouldn’t have any need for the Viking pro mixer at all. And my little girls wouldn’t have to plug their ears whenever daddy mixed anything.
Power. It’s loud.
Great post. This reminds me of a painful experience I have on a regular basis. My pesky younger brother has every “pro” looking cooking machine known to mankind… yet his skills and interests barely allow him to put a Swanson TV dinner into the microwave. (Yes, he nukes them rather than using an oven… as disgusting as that may be.) I stopped asking “why do you buy all of this cool stuff if you never use it” a long time ago because his answer was always teh same, “one day I’ll learn to cook and bake like you”. But he never does and it is obvious that his intent is different. His intent is to have a well-equipped state-of-the-art kitchen to impress friends, family and guests. Impress them with the appearacne, not the products produced for using such equipment. I’m OK with that except when he comes to my house on holidays for a feast and says in a snarky tone (which is pretty much expected from a younger brother, don’t you think), “hey… too bad your oven is so old… and so small. etc, etc, etc.” There are days (Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving primarily) when I think about divorcing him as a brother if I could… but there is no alimony possible in that kind of deal always seem to decide that I’ll keep him. At least he always brings a couple of bottles really fine wine!
All I have is a twin sister and she treats me pretty well. However having friends with kid brothers I completely get what you’re saying. A long as the wine keep flowing there’s no need to do anything drastic I suppose!
- Joe
Me again on the high-end KitchenAid mixers. Are the 600-level mixers really “pro” models, or do they just name it that to make it look better to the home-chef-wannabes? I know they have a higher wattage, so they can handle heavier doughs (and longer mixing times) without burning out, which looks good to me; some of what I do might benefit from that. But I don’t have a brick oven!
Hey Sandra!
I’d say they really are professional machines to a large extent. Most kitchens, especially smaller bakeries and pastry shops, have at least a few applications for a small mixer. Icings, fillings, toppings, those sorts of things. You can get small, ultra-durable commercial mixers for those jobs, but I think a Hobart N50 five quart retails for something like two thousand dollars (and they never, ever come up used). When you consider that a KitchenAid six quart professional can be had for $450, you can see why Hobart sells very few of those relative to their larger models. Sure, a hard working kitchen will reduce even a KitchenAid Pro to a pile of clattering junk in a few years’s time, but then you just get another one. So I think to a large extent the description of “pro” is pretty apt.
- Joe
… or in other words… how long have you been friends with my brother? Ha ha ha.
Hey watch it, buster!
- Joe
Oh, how interesting! Was aware of the issues of pro gear not dealing with smaller quantities, but had never thought about things like fridges etc. in terms of their noise, moving about and so on. Yes, home appliances must be really heavily engineered for many additional characteristics that home use prioritises but restaurants just don’t care about. Eye opening.
Glad you liked it, Kavey. Lovely site! I’ll enjoy reading it and remembering my old days in London!
- Joe
It seems to me that people (or maybe just me) often chase after “Pro” gear because, as you say, they are tough and built to soldier on through the tough jobs. The constant push for cheapening manufacturing in the home/consumer market makes one wary of taking that dive, especially on an expensive machine like a stand mixer. You often hear of people talking about their family’s still running 30 or 40-year-old appliance, whereas the more recent product might be lucky to last 5 years, and almost certainly won’t have that sort of durability.
Is it just the amount of voices out there now vs. back then making the bad eggs seem all the more prominent, or can you truly not find that sort of craftsmanship at the consumer level now?
You do see a lot of people complaining about KitchenAid these days, but you also have to factor in just how many there are out there. Millions. In my grandmother’s day there were probably only tens of thousands of home stand mixers. Far more women used hand mixers. It’s true that those oldies were made by Hobart and truly were built to last. However there are still some great machines out there. KitchenAid seemed to take a tumble when it was acquired by Whirlpool but it’s clear that the demands of foodie types like us have strongly influenced them on product quality. While their mixers probably still aren’t as good as they once were in the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s I think most people get three hundred dollars worth of use out of them over the course the product’s life.
- Joe
Your story about loud appliances reminds me of week when I stayed at small rural guest house which usually is used for events like weddings or similar parties, and they offer catering as well. It was beautiful and silent place… except for the big, professional fridge, which noise could be heard even outside of the building!
And I’m happy to read from your readers good reviews about Kenwood Chef stand mixers, because KitchenAid, when it comes to my country retailers, costs literally two times more than in USA, whereas Kenwood price is quite reasonable. I hope, one day I will reorder my tiny kitchen around stand mixer and start a new era in baking (though first I should have at least two kids, otherwise – who will eat all that amount of pastries?).
That’s what I did, Antuanete, but they don’t eat as much of my baking as I’d prefer. Graduate students are another matter completely. They’re like bottomless pits for sweets, so ai send everything to the university with my wife!
- Joe
Is a Vitamix blender considered a “pro” tool because it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools. It can take a beating too. And it’s light years more useful than my old waring blender which it replaced.
Hi Mic!
The difference between professional and home is blurry when it gets to small appliances. Most commercial kitchens don’t have too many, but when you see them you see all sorts of things. Whatever will do the job. I have seen Vitmixes in restaurant kitchens. In fact I used one in my first restaurant job to blend sauces!
- Joe
What a good post. Thanks, Joe. I never thought about the noise factor of pro appliances at home. My mom was an early adopter of the commercial range for a home kitchen, though Garland offered an insulated version already, so we didn’t have to alter any of our plans. We just plopped it in place. Well, once we were able to get it in the house. By removing the front door and all the trim. But she’s a beaut and it’s a pleasure to cook on. KitchenAids, though. I need to replace mine. Mom is on her second machine and that one’s on its way out. You’re right that we’ve gotten a lot of use out of them, but it’s a bit sad to listen to them fade. My cousins are still using the machine their mom used for a million years.
I love my Kitchen Aid. I only have the Artisan series but it was purchased before the Artisan series’ metal gears were replaced with plastic. However, the more I am baking lately, the more I would love to have the Pro 600 (metal gears
)or even the Commercial!
Also, as much as I would love to have a $4000 Robot Coupe, which might possibly reduce a cinder block to powder, my K.A. processor does just fine.
Keep up the great work, Joe!
I didn’t know they made a food processor that was that expensive! Whew! You could do your own series of those “Will it Blend?” commercials!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko
I love those. Thanks for the comment and kudos, Brad! I appreciate it!
- Joe
Hah, never thought about the noise, I recently bought a new hand mixer (the “on its death bed” one we got off a friends mum 3 years ago NOW feels likes its gonna die)
I was surprised by the silence of it compared to the other, the dying one is a measly 200something watt and the new is 450w ( bosch mfq4020)
I absolutely love it. No idea where it ranks consumer vs pro but I don’t regret it (and it was half off!)
I’m leaning towards getting a Kenwood of sorts after I get a job and can afford it, here in Sweden the Kitchenaids cost an arm and a leg and while I dreamed of one before, I no longer do. I feel I can get better quality elsewhere.
You just might be able to find it, Kitty. And as a new hand mixer owner I’m amazed at everything they can do!
- Joe
Calling something “pro” does not make it so and pro equipment is usually not at all suitable for home use.
Let’s look at mixers. At the shop I have 2, Hobart 20qt, a Chinese Hobart20 clone, a Hobart 4oqt, and a Hobart 80qt with a 60qt knock-down kit. We also have 3 KitchenAid Artisan 5qt, 2 KA Pro 6qt, and a KA Pro 7qt.
Many people worry a lot about the maximum capacity of their mixers, but the true limitation is its minimum capacity. Even a 7qt won’t whip 3 egg whites… forget about the 20qt. You need at least a few wires in there to get a good whip.
For most people, a 5qt is ample. If you plan to make bread, make sure it has a spiral dough hook not a “C” shaped one. Apart from that, I’d look at a tilt-head over a bowl-lift. All our little mixers have tilt-heads except for the KA 7. No one likes it. Professional mixers all have bowl lifts, not because it’s better, but because the head is waaaaay too heavy to lift. In comparison, the KA 7′s bowl lifts, the lever action is opposite to what we’re used to, and the difference between up and down is not enough to easily get my big hands in there to scrape the bowl.
Cheers
Great comment, Paul, and very much in line with my own experience where the big machines are Hobarts and the little ones are KitchenAids. I kept my 20 quart in my home kitchen for a little while after my own little bake shop closed (right before I started this blog) but I hardly ever used it. Finally the nostalgia wore off and I just got rid of it. Never thought about the tilt head versus bowl lift physics but that strikes me as absolutely right. Very, very nice. Thanks for weighing in!
- Joe
LOL, a hobart 20 at home???
I’m fine with the KA Artisan5 that I have at home. Mind you, baking is pretty much the last thing I do when at home. 10 hours a day, six days a week at the shop is plenty.
Cheers
What can I say…I took it hard when my bake shop closed. I didn’t want to let it go. It was handy for making tea breads at Christmas.
- Joe
Thanks for making me feel better for not having a KitchenAid! Baking in a college apartment with just a hand blender forces me to be much more creative and put more care into things…or so I tell myself when I whip eggs by hand. Or, as you mentioned in your earlier post, I could focus on the fact that I do have an excellent kitchen gadget – a younger brother who will probably do anything if the result is pastry.
However you can get the job done, Sue! I remember my college apartment kitchen. Much of the time things were pretty pretty primitive in there, but I manage to get a few things of some refinement done. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
- Joe
This is true. I have a restaurant and the functions of commercial equipment are different. They are bigger, stronger, and can take more abuse, but the home versions are much more pleasant to use and be around.
I do have one of the mixers(in my home) from when KA was owned by Hobart. I will never give that up, the modern kitchen aids just don’t compare.
I’m very sure, that’s true, Louisa. I wish I had my grandmother’s. it’s still running, but a cousin of mine owns it now. Sigh.
- Joe
This mixer is older than I am! It was a wedding present to my parents in 1983. My mom bought a new mixer a few years ago and gave me this one. She has since tried to trade me the new one for the old one. NOPE! It’s mine now!
I am in the middle of the home vs pro right now… I have a 1939 Wedgwood range – 40″er with double oven. I LOVE it! But it needs work. I am a part time pastry chef, work a lot at home and I would so love to have a bit more oomph in my range. But there just isn’t much out there… a 30″ wide stove with one oven?! Pulllleasssse! The darned companies charge so much for their “pro” series it is crazy and homeowner’s insurance is void if you have a “commercial” range in your kitchen.
Really wish there was more in between out there.
Each day the more I look around I lean towards having my Wedgwood refurbished.
Hi Holly!
I didn’t know that about insurance, Holly, very interesting to know. BUt yeah, anything for the home is going to be more expensive since so much more engineering has gone into it. I wish I know more about stoves so I could give you some good advice. But perhaps another reader does!
Best of luck,
- Joe
Great comments on appliciances, but does this extend to ovens? Are domestic ovens a match for pro-ovens in terms of tempertaure swings and speed of pre-heat?
My experience after moving to the US is that the mixers/ food processors etc. were underpowered compared to Europe and an electrician suggested that it was the voltage difference that was the underlying reason for this.