The Kenwood is dead - long live the Kenwood!

My Kenwood mixer.

I love it. 

I must confess to secret fantasies of other mixers. The pretty, retro (and, ahem, uber-expensive) ones. But I stay faithful.

Once I left home, despite wheedling and pleading, I could never make my mum do the decent thing and pass on her old one to me. It did eventually give up the ghost, after many many years of stirling service, and she replaced it with a newer one.

I found one on Ebay. If I remember it was £47.00. It worked for a few years, and then started smoking in an alarming manner and making some even more alarming noises.

Salavation came in Ross on Wye, where there's a little electical shop, like electrical shops used to be. We took it in while visiting the Husband's family one weekend.

My father in law called a couple of weeks' later with the verdict. "He says it's no good except for parts - but he'll give you one in exchange". So I get a 'new' (reconditioned) one and he keeps my old knackered one for parts? That sort of thing doesn't happen in Basing-grad (or 'Amazing-stoke' as more generous hearted folks occasionally refer to it). And because it was a man in a little electrical shop like little electrical shops used to be, and because I am a trusting soul, I trusted that the exchanged Kenwood would be as good.

It was.

And then - disaster! entirely of my own making. I was in a rush, put too much bread dough in the bowl to knead (I usually do it by hand) and the plate which holds the attachments split.

Bereft doesn't even begin to cover it - and the fact that it was my own fault made it even worse.

Is there a sadder thing than a broken Kenwood chef? Redundant in the corner of the kitchen, desperate to help out while it's owner gives herself whiplash beating up cake batter by hand....? The Kenwood is a kitchen workhorse, and I could almost hear her weeping in the corner.


I stopped making cake - certainly nothing that required vigorous beating. Flapjack and brownie became the order of the day. When I had to make proper cake, and some meringues to use up some egg whites, I raised the red flag on Facebook and borrowed a handheld beater.  




I was offered a Kenwood Chef, quite coincidentally, by a PR working for a big retailer. They wanted a blog post but didn't want me to say that I had been given the mixer - only that the post was written 'in association with' said retailer. I was torn, but mindful of useful advice that I'd read recently, I felt I could not accept. May be I was too scrupulous. 

But my friends, there is a happy ending to this tale. The Kenwood injury wasn't fatal. The Husband and a bit of to'ing and fro'ing with Espares, a rather fabulous internet company that can provide spare parts it seems for pretty much anything. We ordered the wrong thing first - no problem, helpful customer service, and advice about which part we should have ordered. Marvellous.

So I have my Kenwood back, I didn't have to compromise anything, and the family have cake again. 

We all win.

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and just to be completely clear, this post was written entirely off my own back, and not for any payment or 'in Association' with either Kenwood or Espares. Just saying.