@Jeruba: Kitchen Aid mixers are generally yours for life. Once you get one, you basically never have to buy a mixer again unless you got one of the cheaper ones and want to “move up”. This mixer in particular used to have a defect (plastic gear box), but they’ve fixed it meaning it is once of their best mixers AND it will last for LIFE.
I’ve got a babier version of the Kitchen Aid mixer and I LOVE IT. Granted, I’ve not really mixed with a non-KA, my mom had one too, but it is honestly the ONE and ONLY thing I said I wanted, like really, really wanted for my kitchen as soon as I had an apartment. (And that’s basically when I got it—Christmas that year, it was the only thing on my list and the only thing I wanted.)
I will say that KA is the brand all the chefs on Food Network use EXCEPT for Paula Deen who uses a Sunbeam. (Yes, I pay attention to this.)
Beyond all of that, Kitchen Aid’s customer service is great. So if anything does happen (not that it would, because they make their stuff to LAST), then you just call them up and they take care of it. Obviously, I could go on and on and on. But for $70, that’s a serious deal.
There is one danger: my KA makes certain things way easier to make, to I make them more often. But they aren’t healthy. So I blame my mixer for any waistline expansion that may occur.