That’s awful! I’ve got a KA 4.5 qt, refurbished, that we’ve used for our family for … at least 15 years, and it still runs though had started making noises under the stress of cookie dough. Therefore, I have a new KA 5qt Artisan, bought a year ago but just in use for four months. It doesn’t seem to be as sturdy as the original model, but haven’t had issues to date with it. I’m very interested in hearing input on other makers, though. I expect I"m going to need a second machine in about a year.
