To my shock, the machine wasn’t totally busted. Though I did see a spark when it hit the ground (yikes), the cord didn’t fully split. Still, a bandage of electrical tape proved only somewhat useful: I couldn’t get the mixer to run power without holding the busted cord at just the right angle. Suffice it to say I finished kneading my dough by hand, and my mixer needed to be repaired.
While I love cooking-related DIY projects (like, say, making my own dinner rolls), the idea of replacing the mixer’s cord myself was just plain intimidating. Luckily, KitchenAid offers a mail-in repair service—and though I considered trying to DIY this repair, I decided to send it in to the professionals. It’s a multi-step process, but within a month, my machine was as good as new.
The claim
For KitchenAid customers in the United States, the option exists to ship a damaged product to the factory in Greenville, Ohio. You have to contact the company by phone to request a “shipping kit,” which will be mailed to your home, and you have to pay a fee (to cover shipping and initial diagnostics). Then you need to pack up the damaged machine in the kit and FedEx it to the factory.
When I got in touch with the company this past fall, I was promised a three- to four-week turnaround—after which I’d get an invoice for the repair and a good-as-new stand mixer, shipped straight back to my home.
The good
In totality, the process was multistep yet straightforward. I started by calling the number listed on the company’s website, during business hours. (It’s open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m ET.) The representative took a quick listen to my sob story, and then she took down my name and email address. She swiftly emailed me more-detailed information.
I had to fill out my shipping information and the stand mixer’s model and serial numbers. Then I had to detail what was wrong with the machine. Not all stand mixers are suitable for repair; the company no longer repairs models that start with “KN” and “K5FF.” Yet typically, as long as the mixer has three prongs at the end of the plug, the company can repair it. Or if your mixer is still under warranty (meaning it’s less than a year old and fails), KitchenAid will send a new one to your door, free of charge.
My 10-year-old machine, unfortunately, was well past the warranty period. And before KitchenAid would send me a shipping kit—or even give me an exact estimate of how much the repair could cost—I had to pay a fee. (I did, however, get a very rough estimate that the repair usually runs between $50 and $200, which is still much cheaper than getting a new stand mixer.)
For customers on the East Coast, as well as those living in the Central Time zone, the fee is $64.35 ($35 of that is for shipping back and forth, and $25 is for the up-front diagnostic, which would ultimately count toward my repair). The fee for West Coast customers is $75.08 ($45 of that is for shipping).
The website notes it offers a reduced shipping price, considering the substantial weight of mixers, but that’s not cheap, either. The invoice was easily paid online, and it promised my shipping box would arrive in seven to 10 business days. When the factory received the mixer, it would enter a holding queue of up to two weeks.
True to the company’s word, the box arrived at my home within a week. It included two large pieces of Styrofoam to fit the mixer along with its bowl and paddle attachment (in order for the repair team to test success).
After mailing the packed box, I got an email notification that the factory had received my machine, and less than two weeks later, I was invoiced for the repair.
According to the diagnosticians at KitchenAid, the machine had the following issues: “beater height off, damaged pedestal, power cord and end cover bad.” The fee for parts was $70.22, and $72.60 for labor. Minus the diagnostic fee, covered with the first invoice, plus tax, the total was $124.42.
Once that invoice was paid, within another week, the same box returned to my building’s lobby. My machine was repaired perfectly, and it looks as good as new!
The not-so-bad (but somewhat annoying)
The main issue with shipping my stand mixer to be repaired was that I did not have access to the machine for a few weeks—not counting the month it sat in my kitchen damaged while I procrastinated the repair. Since I’m a recipe developer and tester who primarily works from home and often uses the mixer, this was a bigger issue for me than I imagine it would be for the average home cook. (I even contemplated just ordering a new mixer entirely. It is a business expense after all!) That said, if I had to do the repair myself, who knows how long it would’ve taken me to figure it out.
Shipping the mixer presented another challenge that was, again, mostly due to my personal setup. Once I packed up my mixer, I had the option to schedule a FedEx pickup or drop off the box at a shipping location. In the past I’ve had issues with FedEx pickups in my apartment building, so I opted to physically walk the 25-pound machine, in its large box, to the shipping location, three blocks away. That was generally an awkward and sweaty experience. I’d venture to guess the majority of KitchenAid customers are able to schedule FedEx pickups from their homes, or that they have access to a car in which to tote the heavy box to a shipping center.
The takeaway
Would it have been cheaper to get the machine working again myself? Yes. I found replacement cords for sale on KitchenAid’s website, as well as on Amazon. And it wasn’t hard to locate an online tutorial on how to perform the repair myself—though I cannot say how challenging (or even possible) it would’ve been for me to successfully perform the repair.
However, even if I had been able to replace the cord myself, I would not have been able to fix the dent in the back of the machine. When the mixer returned from the factory in the box, it was almost as though I’d ordered a brand new one. With the exception of some looseness at the opposite end of the speed-control lever (the result of owning the machine for a decade), which doesn’t affect its use, the replacement cord and back piece gave the overall appearance of newness. It could have easily been confused with a just-purchased machine.
And while I’m still not totally sure if the “beater height off” diagnosis outlined above was a result of the mixer’s tumble or of a decade of heavy use, I certainly wouldn’t have known to address it myself (even though it turns out it’s fairly easy to do at home). I had no idea it was an issue—and it is nice that KitchenAid diagnosed and fixed it, even though it was outside the obvious problem.
Overall, the process of shipping my machine to the KitchenAid factory was fairly seamless. The total for repairs will ultimately depend on the degree of damage. At $188.77—including the shipping and the repair—my machine’s recuperation was not cheap, but it was certainly more affordable than purchasing a new mixer. The professional repair provided me with a machine that looks great, and it comes with the peace of mind that the restoration was certainly performed by people who knew what they were doing.
This article was edited by Maxine Builder and Marguerite Preston.
