Old Kenwood Chef £55 - is it good value? Advice appreciated

bigmuffins

:hello:
I have been offered an old Kenwood Chef (about 20 yrs old) with mincer attachment and dough hook, whisk and K beater for £55 - is this a good buy?
Has anyone got/used one of these? Are they reliable? How loud should an old one be? Are they easy to get repaired/spares?
I know nothing about them so would appreciate any advice/recommendations!

I was thinking of buying it so that could make own o/s bread/cakes etc and mince own meat (as am wary of ready made stuff). Also my old faithful moulinex coffee grinder/spice mill has broken so thought could get a coffee grinder to fit on the Kenwood.

I have toyed with idea of breadmaker but am put off by a) size - my kitchen is tiny! Thought maybe Kenwood is better use of space as is multipurpose (?)
b) holes in bottom of loaves/shape of bread (yeah I am fussy I suppose but am used to normal loaves and hole in bottom doesn't seem 'right') :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance
Muss.

nabowla

Kenwood Chefs are absolutely fantastic: they're versatile, labour saving and very reliable. Mum got one as a wedding present over 30 years ago and it's still going strong. I strongly recommend that you get a Kenwood Chef if you're even vaguely interested in home cooking, once you've got it you'll find that you use it for absolutely everything! Cakes, bread, pavlovas, soups (you can get a blender that is attached to the top of the machine), I could go on but I think you get the picture.......

Have a look at Ebay to get a feel for the market price for old Kenwood Chefs. You'll also find it very easy to pick up extra attachments via Ebay: personally I'd get the blender but there's also a coffee grinder, a sausage maker and all sorts of other bits & bobs.

se999

Hi Apprentice Tycoon did a thread a few days ago, lots of comments, I was pricing them up on Ebay after reading it

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=79871

tootles_2

Just check and make sure you can get the attachments that fit the model number of the machine, I am not sure that they are universal.

I had a chef but sold it because I did not use it and it took up too much room in my kitchen but having said that it is an excellent machine, I made bread, cakes and pastry in mine.

bigmuffins

Thanks for all advice so far - I will check out Apprentice Tycoon's thread later.
Have to go and settle kids again - they have a sixth sense and always wake/need loo etc when I have settled myself on pc for the evening!:rolleyes:

:wave:

apprentice_tycoon

yes, I agree with everyone else, if it looks good and sounds good go for it (have you hear the motor running?)

edit - you asked about the noise, they can be a bit loud but not painful.

I only ever needed a repair once, that was on a machine that was making 70 cakes a week so I think that this was allowable! because they are still in production I would have thought that spares are easy to get hold of if it ever needs a repair and the attachments can be picked up anywhere - taking note of Tootles advice to check the model number - I think that I must have been lucky with this as I have just bought attachments on the assumption that they will fit and I've not has a problem with this

Allexie

se999 wrote:

Hi Apprentice Tycoon did a thread a few days ago, lots of comments, I was pricing them up on Ebay after reading it

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=79871

Crumbs..are they worth anything? I've got a 25 yr old, practically unused one gathering dust in a cupboard....very nearly binned it several times!!!!!

Ted_Hutchinson

Allexie wrote:

Crumbs..are they worth anything? I've got a 25 yr old, practically unused one gathering dust in a cupboard....very nearly binned it several times!!!!!

I'm on the lookout for one a new (secondhand) one so PM me if you want a customer.

paul_h

Chefs are brilliant for baking, the best domestic machine for bread. I would echo that a liquidiser is a very handy attachment. I have an old A701A with loads of attachments which is ancient and still going strong. If it's like mine I would pay a bit less than £55 with only a mincer, unless it's really mint condition.

These machines are very robust and supremely reliable, look at the wear on the locking mechanism for an indication of how much work it has done, visible when the head is in the up position. If it springs back a bit when closed up, the locking bar is worn.

Duff gearboxes are the main thing to look for. The old models with the electro-mechanical speed control can be very noisy at the motor end, not normally a problem, but a 'growl' from the gearbox at the top of the machine when under load may indicate lack of grease or worn bearings - both bad news. Both these cause damage to the actual gears, this is soon terminal although all these parts are available. Avoid one which shows any sign of grease leakage.

That said, a machine with any of these problems will have undoubtedly led a hard life.

The bowl attachments (dough hook, whisk, etc.) fit both old and new models. The front low speed attachments (mills, mincers, etc.) are different on the old machines and some of the new high speed top attachments (liquidiser, etc.) don't fit the old machines either. Although there seems to be plenty of s/h attachments about, make sure you get the right ones. Some of the rarer old attachments are getting scarce.

There you are, got a bit carried away, but hope this info helps...

paul_h

Also, if you haven't got one, download the excellent user manual and recipe book from

http://www.kenwoodservice.co.uk/instructions/A701instructions.htm

It's a big file though 22.5Mb :eek:

squeaky

I just copied your excellent find into our Manuals Sharing Thread, thank you Paul