From A.. eh, Almere to Almeria: Bread again again again: a machine, or not

In these corona troubled times we (I) also starting baking bread, as you know. Yes you do. Last time I bored you with no-knead bread , but it turns out that we like regular rolls better than a loaf you need to cut. 2kg flour for 20 rolls (we bought 5 packs of 5kg at Mercadona) :

2kg flour and 1080 ml water is quite some dough, and the poor handmixer I use for the initial mix can barely handle it. It starts creaking and groaning very quickly, so engineer Jansen's hands need to finish the work. Then it needs proper kneading. You should knead for 15 minutes, twice, but that is asking quite a lot of the kneader. So, the engineer starts creaking and groaning, too.

Kitchenaid

Being an engineer a machine popped up in the brain quite quickly. After some searching around the internets concensus is that a Kitchenaid 6.9 liter Artisan with its powerful DC motor and planetary movement is the machine for making bread.

Who am I to disagree, with this "liebesapfelrot" beauty?

And no, it is not cheap, but they say it lasts forever, completely made of metal, unlike my poor plastic handmixer.

Ordered it online, there are no shops with this here. €750. Hm, yeah. Well.

There are two versions, technically identical, but different warranty conditions: 5KSM7580 and 5KSM7591. The 7580 series has a warranty of 5 years, and is intended for domestic use, the 7591 series is for professional use, and has a warranty of 1 year. Ordered the 5KSM7580XECA.

It arrived. On the serial number plate it says "ASSEMBLED IN USA", which was sort of a relief to engineer Jansen: at least not assembled in China.

Actually it is a very dangerous machine! Look:

And operation is both complicated and dangerous. Every time you want to add ingredients you need to switch off the "multi-fuction kitchen robot" completely, remove the plug from the socket, ...

Anyway, the engineer managed to get it unpacked and connected. First 1 kg flour. Oh, that's quite a lot actually, will it fit..? But after adding the water it shrinks and fits. Add another kilo and water.

Click!

Hm, what is all that noise?

Click click! clicketeclick! Click! Click! This is not really to engineer Jansen's liking. It's not the connection of the dough hook to the axle, it really is some play in the gears of the machine:

Engineer Jansen rreally does not like that, clicking and thumping means that gears bump into each other, which means: wear and tear. And maybe there is 5 year warranty, but I don't want to have to repair a machine after 5 years either.

There are a lot of web pages about the clicking noise. Many machines do have the sound, but many are totally quiet! Some people think it is the connection between dough hook and the axle (it's not):

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/50550/does-your-kitchenaid-proline-7-qt-mixer-click-under-heavy-loads

They exchanged the machine there, and got one that does not click.

This machine is quiet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFMXtuUtM3w&feature=share

Asked Kitchenaid online, via Facebook, and got this reply:

"The clicking sound is not normal and we advised you to exchange it indeed.

As for the movement of the planetary part, it's completely normal and it has no effect on the appliance's performance whatsoever, nor will it affect it in the future. The only issue with your machine is the clicking sound for which we confirmed is not normal."

Back to the shop.

"The machine we have here in the showroom makes the same noise, so it is normal"

But, if I insisted they would be willing to exchange it for another machine. Tried another round of dough making, but the noise did not go away, so what to do. If this is a serial fault, exchanging it for another machine will not help. It may be better to send it off to Kitchenaid and have it repaired, so I'd be certain I'll have a machine that I like.

Asked that Kitchenaid. Also, if they are so sure a certain clicking is normal, would they be willing to extend the warranty for that specific problem beyond 5 years? Alas, the online Kitchenaid people have no authority in Spain, so I needed to call Kitchenaid service in Barcelona and discuss. Grmbl.

I don't feel like sending a brand new machine off for repairs that I don't know the outcome of.

And, the shop now said: a new machine will make the same noise, so we will not exchange it. But, you can send it back and get a refund. So I did that.

Packing up this machine is not simple, and I had not done an unboxing video, but we managed.

The machine was picked up, after reminding them only twice, and a refund was promised.

It took a few times reminding them of that too, but eventually we had the money back. Pfew.

And, maybe the Kitchenaid is not assembled in China, but the parts used may be from there. Where is your quality control, Kitchenaid? Someone mentioned the professional 79 series (only 1 year warranty vs 5 years) never has this clicking, so it is/seems possible to produce a trouble-free machine. However, as a single customer I cannot find that out.