Kenwood Chef- which attachments?

Tran

I'm looking for some info about kenwood chef/majors. I guessed maybe some of you O/S people may have one?

What's the difference between the kenwood major and the kenwood chef?

Are they REALLY worth the money? I do know of people who have had the machines for 10+ years. Can you still get replacements and extra attachments after this amount of time? (i'm thinking ahead...)

I think the veg peeler attachment would be really useful for me as i hate peeling vegetables.
http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/product_detail.php?cat=269&id=279
Does anyone have this attachment? is it worth the money? Does it peel veg well? does is peel too much off or just enough?

I;d be interested to know which attachments kenwood owners think are good/bad.

Where's the best place to buy a kenwood? Ideally i'd like to buy it from a shop as it is a big purchase. I think i read somewhere on MSE that john lewis will match internet prices and give a longer quarantee. Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks in advance.

apprentice_tycoon

I love my Kenwood Chef!

I have posted here before about how useful it is in particular for making bread - everyone seems to assume that the only way to get homemade bread is to have a bread machine, but that's only on loaf at a time - with a big mixer you can fill the oven with a weeks worth of bread for about 15 - 20 mins hands-on time.

I also make sausages with a mincer and stuffer attachment, there is so much bad press on what goes into a sausage so it's nice to make them yourself and vary the recipes.

I had a Major for a couple of years and didn't like it at all - the main reason being that the bowl is so deep, when you are mixing cakes you need to scrape the bowl down from time to time to make sure that all is incorporated but there is no wooden spoon long enough to get to the bottom of the bowl, also it's flippin noisy too. The only real difference betwwen Chef and Major is the size of the bowl and the power of the motor and both of them irritated me.

I've only ever had one brand new Chef, that was in the 70's, and I have had 2 second hand ones since then paying around £50 for them, the last one was around 10 years ago (probably cost much more now) mine have had exceptional use making around 70 cakes per week for 15 years so 3 in 30 years is very good going. I am prefectly happy buying second hand ones, they are as tough as old boots and are practically eternal (unless that have been used like I used mine, that is)

Never had the peeler so I can't say how useful it is....and I'm pretty sure that the attachments can be bought years after the machine because they don't alter the design.

There are a few threads on Chefs, I'll see if I can find them.

Here is another thread.....there are a few more mentions in other posts, if you just search kenwood chef you'll find them all

mah_jong

A T, Have you got your recipe for bread handy?

I have tried three times with the kenwood and the results are getting better (just about edible!!) but not anywhere near as good as the pananasic bm. I am wanting to persevere with the kenwood.... I would prefer to make larger loaves too. The recipe I have says to divide into three and the slices are just a wee bit bigger than than a cracker!!!


Tran, I have an ancient (newish to me) chef so cant compare.

TIA mah

apprentice_tycoon

Hi - yes I have the recipe, it's nothing special, it wasn't a secret recipe handed down the family, it's from a flour bag.

It reads like so - my adaptations are in red

for one large loaf - I make 2 small bloomer shapes out of this quantity

1 1/2lb of strong white flour - for brown bread it's half w/meal & half white
2 level teaspoons of salt
1 oz butter - I use 2 tabs of oil instead
1 7g sachet of yeast (fast action easy blend - the sort that needs only one rise and no pre-sponging) - if you are using a tub it's 2 level teaspoons
3/4 pint of warm water

Mix the flour, salt, butter and yeast in the bowl
Add the water and mix to a soft dough
Knead by hand for 10 mins or 5 mins in a machine with a dough hook
Shape as required and place in greased tin or tray
Cover with greased polythene and leave till doulbed in size
Bake at 230c 450f gas 8 for 30-35 mins, will sound hollow when tapped when it's done -if making smaller loaves it will be less

mah_jong

Thanks AP ...you are a star!!!

I shall give it a try .... TODAY ! I think one of the main reasons for lack of rise was following the kenwood recipe and its says only a 1-2 mins for kneading ! Do you need to mix dried yeast in the water or just throw it all in?

Mah

apprentice_tycoon

Throw it all in and watch the machine dance!

Just a note on the yeast, it's the 'fast action' stuff that only needs one rise, I was using a bit of a short cut when I wrote the recipe so I'll correct it

Jo_anne_2

I bought my present Kenwood Chef from a charity shop for £5 and it came with a blender, and a slicer attachment. I don't have the peeler attachment so can't comment on that. I expect mine is 20 years old but is in vgc. There is a thriving market on ebay for old Chefs and they tend to go for around £50. You can get replacement parts and attachments for the old machines from a couple of online stores, so there should be no probs with the newer models.

miacat

apprentice tycoon, i couldn't decide wheather to get a BM or a food processer in the end i've decided to save for the FP because you can do so much more with it, now that i have read your post your KC sounds really good too. do you think the KC would do a better job at mixing dough then FP perhaps you need both, i really could do with slicers etc. also which KC model do you have. thanks in advance.

apprentice_tycoon

Hands up time - I have both - the Chef is an older version of what you can buy today, it's a KM201.

I have tried to make dough in the Kenwwod food processor but you can't do as much at one go and I thought that it looked like hard work for the machine and I wonderred of I was shortening it's life, the Chef looks more like it's built for the job.

The processor is great for mixing pastry, making breadcrumbs, pureeing stuff, slicing things finely etc and the Chef gets used for cakes, sausages, minced meats, milling spices (an attachment) whipping cream etc. If you asked me to give one up I really don't know which I'd choose....

If you are trying to get both I'd go for a new processor and a second hand Chef (they are often for sale in the local papers)

Zziggi

Can anyone please tell me the difference between the 700, 900 and the KM range? Is it just when they were manufactured and so the 700 range is the oldest?

Do all the attachments fit other models or are the attachments specific to the models?]
thanks

miacat

hi Zziggi, the best person to ask is apprentice tycoon, but when the machines refer to 700, 900 im sure this is the power of the motor. im sure ap will be back soon to help.