Mixer

Cakes and frostings?  Cookies?  Bagels?  Quick breads?  Meringues?  Enriched white breads?  Lean whole-grain breads?  Pizza dough?  Very few machines will effectively handle all of the items I have listed.  

The second consideration is duty cycle.  How often do you expect to use it?  What quantities of material do you need to handle?  

The last consideration is your budget.  

If you can provide some information about the above considerations, the advice you receive will be better matched to your needs.  Which is not to say that you won't get lots of personal opinions, too.

Paul

What, exactly, do you find attractive about the KA?  While the newer KA models are highly fashionable, they have distinct design flaws.  Use the search box above on each page creatively to find long strings of comments about KA's and the two others I've mentioned above.  Also, you can find videos about all these machines as well as video comparisons.  I have a KitchenAid that's over twenty years old and still works fine.  From what I've read the newer models just won't last that long, and many of the newer ones have a motor cut-off switch to avoid overheating.  I've taught classes using someone else's brand new one which simply stopped during dough making when the motor heated up.  My older one simply doesn't do that ever.  But the machine I've had no problems with is the Anksarum by Electrolux (at one time the DLX, or maybe the Magic Mill?).  The design is significantly different.  I'd buy a used one over a new KA any day of the week.  Mine is over 15 years old and runs like new.  My sister's, built in 1988 and purchased used for $400, also runs like new.  People swear by the Bosch as well, but I think the bowl capacity is smaller than the Anksarum.  Don't buy until you've read all the comments and have checked to make sure you have countertop space and storage space for the machine you're inclined to get.

I have a KA 620 that works well.  I don't go past speed 2 when mixing dough and have gone as high as 3kg of ingredients.  I don't bake more than 2-3 loaves at a time and if this is what you do you will be well served.  KA's sales volume is much higher than any other manufacturer and when you see negative comments you need to put them in perspective as few people really post positive experiences.  There was a thread from a couple of years ago there where a KA repair person noted that the design and components has been unchanged since Whirlpool bought KA from Hobart and also that most problems came from people using too high speeds for bread making which causes over heating.  I've barely noticed my unit getting warm even after five minutes of mixing.