The Fresh Loaf

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Is this older Magic Mill a good buy? Are the slicer and blender attachments good?

trinalb's picture
trinalb

Is this older Magic Mill a good buy? Are the slicer and blender attachments good?

Hi, I am new to this forum. After being unsatisfied with a KA Pro model mixer I bought used, I have been looking at alternatives and have settled on either a Bosch or one of the Electrolux Assistent mixers or its predecessors, leaning toward the Electrolux. I am on a very limited budget so buying new is not an option and I have to scour for a better than average used deal. I would like your opinion on what I have found, please.

Magic Mill DLX Assistent, older model, I was told approx. 20 years old or so. Described as "runs as new" with a new belt installed last month. Includes machine, steel bowl, dough hook, roller and scraper but no other attachments. The price is $220, which includes shipping. (photo below)

The blender attachment $50

Slicer/shredder $100

 

Will this older model machine likely work as well as a newer Electrolux or Ankarsrum model? I am wondering if I will be as happy with it or if I should hold out for a newer model. Besides cosmetics, what differences does it have? Is the older model similarly quiet to what I've heard of the new one? Are all the attachments interchangeable? Is that a good price or should it be lower considering its age?

Do the slicer/shredder and blender attachments work well or would I be better off to save my money for dedicated machines at some point? I currently have a blender which is junk and a Magic Bullet which is okay for the small cups but doesn't work as well with the full size blender jar. I'm guessing this one doesn't work as well as a Vitamix but does it work as well or better than a typical store bought blender? How about the slicer/shredder? I think I would really like it if it was easy to use and clean and actually works well for what it's supposed to.

And where is the best place in Canada to look for new or used parts and accessories for these mixers?

Thanks so much in advance for the help!

Melbourne12's picture
Melbourne12

We've recently upgraded from a Kenwood Chef to an Ankarsrum Assistent.  We often buy kitchen equipment second hand for the sake of economy (the Kenwood was bought used), and have rarely been disappointed.  Given the high build quality of the Assistent, I'd be quite confident of buying second hand.

It's a fabulous machine.  I've just mixed 8lb of rye sourdough in ours, and the dough can be left sitting quietly to rise in the Assistent bowl..  I see that the machine that you have your eye on has the cake batter roller and the scraper, which also work extremely well.  You don't have the fitted cover (clingfilm will do just as well), or the smaller bowl and whisk.  These are worth having if you can get them, depending on what you make.  We make ice-cream, and the Assistent whisk will cope with large quantities of ice-cream custard.  It would also be good if you made a lot of meringues.

The machine is a positive pleasure to keep clean, compared with any other mixer.

The price looks pretty good to me.  They cost the equivalent of over 1000CAD new here in the UK.  And there just aren't any on offer second hand.

We looked at the other attachments when we bought ours, but in the end didn't buy any of them.  The blender is perfectly competent, but no better than any ordinary one in the store.  We already have a food processor, which slices and shreds, so we weren't tempted by that.  The mincer attachment looks quite good, but a dedicated mincer is better.  Given the high price of Assistent attachments, we thought they weren't really worth it.

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I haven't used an older DLX like that, but given their reputation for durability $220 CAD sounds like a bargain. I'm not sure about the attachments.

Jalyns is the Canadian distributor of Ankarsrum machines and attachments.  I've emailed a bit with Lynn there; she is very nice and most helpful.  I'm sure if she doesn't carry something you need she could point you in the right direction.  

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

mixer that we bought new over 30 years ago.  It still runs like new.  The point, however, is that we also bought several of the attachments at the same time, and nearly every single one of them has less than 5 hours on them.  The least used of them all is the slicer and grater options.  We have several coarseness options for grating and the same for slicing.  Almost never, ever, use them.  After a couple of tries we decided it was easier with a knife or grater box, once taking account of setup, wash up and clean up.  At $100 for those I'd pass if it were me.

We got better use of the blender, and got rid of the stand alone blender we had.  At $50 that would be a harder decision if it were me.  If you need a blender and don't have one, it's not a bad choice.  We found it to work well enough to get rid of the stand alone one.  If you only occasionally need a blender, well, then it's a tougher choice.

Just my $.02 (US) worth.
Best of Luck
OldWoodenSpoon

trinalb's picture
trinalb

Thanks for the replies! Okay, looks like I'll be getting the mixer, but still undecided on the accessories.

OldWoodenSpoon, what did you not like about the slicer? That's the part I was thinking I would use more. I was considering getting a food processor at some point and thought this might prevent me from needing to. I love that it's all metal compared to the mostly plastic parts of food processors (both for health reasons and durability), and cheaper than the average higher quality food processor, though I don't know how the results compare. It seems like it would be easier to clean than a food processor, if anything, but maybe I'm wrong? I mostly want something that will make it a lot easier for me to chop up veggies for soup, lasagnas, etc., maybe grate some cheeses. Considering one of these instead, though, but not sure how they fare in terms of durability and results. I imagine the all steel Magic Mill attachment will give me a lot of use.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004PEIYAA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005OYE6NO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

Any thoughts?

As for the blender, can you elaborate? I don't really want to spend another $50 for a blender if it's only going to give me the results of the Oster or Magic Bullet I have. I will consider it if it works significantly better or is significantly easier to clean, but otherwise I think I'll be wasting my money. I would really like something that works very well for smoothies and maybe some food processing things like grinding oats and nuts, pureeing fruits & veggies, etc.

I'm trying to get out of the "cheaper is better because it's cheaper" mindset and am realizing that sometimes cheaper just doesn't do the job or breaks and you have to replace it later anyway. So I would like to get something that will work well, and will last, even if I have to wait awhile and do without in the meantime.