I pushed my current KA (Artisan 325w) too far with some royal icing last month and now it's dropping metal shavings so its unusable. I called my local authorized repair shop, who quoted me $59 plus any parts to fix it, I think it's going to need a new worm gear which will be about $35. 

My husband has OKed me getting a bigger capacity, more powerful KA (pro 575w) or another brand mixer, but I'm not sure what to do. 

If I get my current one repaired I'll be scared to use it in case it breaks again. If I buy a new one I'll be worried that will break. If I buy a Cuisinart or a Breville will they be as good? Help me! 

I primarily use it to mix batters, buttercream and meringue. Not much bread or cookie making. 

I purchased a 7 qt Cuisinart about a year ago and love it.  I haven't had any problems whatsoever with it.  I also went online and ordered the beater blade made for the Cuisinart and love it too.  Makes having to stop the mixer to scrape the sides almost nonexistent.  If it won't cost that  much to repair the KA, you may want to repair it and at least keep it as a spare or for smaller batches of batter and such and get a new one that has a larger capacity.  I still have my older KA because I couldn't part with it, but wanted a larger capacity.  My KA is now my backup and sometimes I have both of them going at the same time.  My KA is one of the older Pro models, however, and I've never had a problem with it.  When I got ready to purchase the larger machine, there were so many negative comments about the new KAs and that's why I got the Cuisinart.  But I sure don't regret it!

Here is a blog that does a comparison between the two. Some interesting points you might want to consider, but they are both great machines so it's your personal preference.

http://melcakewalk.blogspot.com/2009/09/stand-mixers-kitchenaid-vs-cuisinart.html
 

Thanks kkmcmahan (one of my good friends lives in Lisle btw!) and gerle. 

I have the flex edge beater for my current KA and would definitely get it for a new mixer! The KA I have my eye on comes with one in th box which is a bonus. 

The 7qt Cuisinart is hard to resist, how do you find the pouring shield? 

The pouring shield is one of things I dislike about the KA.  I have the one piece and it is a pour design in my opinion.  The only time I use it is when my grandsons are "helping" me.  I have seen a two piece shield that looks like it might work better, not sure if these are on the newer ones or if they are older. Thought I might try looking for them to see if I can get one. The Cuisinart looks nice but I think I would be bothered by the handles.
 

The handles on the Cuisinart don't bother me at all.  Maybe because I have small hands, but I can fit 3 fingers in them with no problem and don't find them awkward at all.  As to the pouring shield, I like the fact that when you add flour and/or powdered sugar, you don't have a huge cloud coming out of the mixer.  As mentioned in one of the blogs mentioned above, if you spill anything on the top as you're  putting in additional ingredients, when you lift up the top to scrape down the sides of the bowl or to remove the bowl from the stand, that stuff will fall onto your counter; I've never had it fall into my batter, however.  I personally don't find that to be a big deal as I'll be cleaning my counters when I'm finished any way.  But then again...I purposely try very hard not to have any ingredients fall onto the shield and I've gotten pretty good at that.  I also love the timer on the mixer.  I do use it and it's been very handy.  I'm not against KAs, and as mentioned before I still use mine, but I love the larger bowl/capacity of the Cuisinart and wouldn't trade it for the world.  My KA, however, is an older model.  From what I've heard and read, I'm leery about getting one of the newer KAs.  When I was first looking for a newer mixer, I read 6 pages of bad reports on the KAs before I decided I wasn't going to read any more.  Some people say the Cuisinart is loud, but I don't find it to be any louder than the KA.  It boils down to getting what you're comfortable with.  Everyone has their preferences and we all do things "our way", and of course you get use to certain pieces of equipment, so it does boil down to what you're most comfortable with.  I wish you  luck in making your decision and I'm sure you'll be happy  with whatever choice you make.

It's so hard to decide. My husband is leaning towards me just getting another KA, I think maybe I'll just do that (it will be from Costco so I'll get additional warranty with my Amex), and hold off on getting the 7 qt for when I am really ready to start my business. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the old one! 

AJust wanted to update that I ended up taking it apart, where I quickly discovered that a screw had come loose inside and was catching on the planetary cover, causing the metal shavings that I was finding. I ordered a replacement cover and screws from Amazon for less than $50 and fixed it this morning, its like a brand new mixer. Best of all, it doesn't squeak anymore which was something I thought they just did.

Good for you, and very resourceful!  Now you can concentrate that extra money you thought you'd need to spend on a new one now, to get your 7-qt one later on.

Just made a lovely batch of SMBC in it and I could not be happier (especially since I had to mix batter for an 8", 10" and 12" with a hand mixer yesterday!). 

7qt here I come 

glad you got it fixed!  FYI i have a couple of KAs and a 7 qt Cuisinart, and the 7 qt is out in the shed.  Making American buttercream, it just was to airy (i use the 'to the top and over the beater method'), and i had to do more stopping and scraping down the sides and the beater to get clumps of dry ingredients off.  I looked and looked for a trouble shooting guide (or how to adjust the beater height) but nothing helped.  It is now boxed up for emergencies and I have a 6 qt KA (from Costco) that makes me happy.  The rotation pattern of the KA really can't be beat in my book. 

I was about to go and buy one of those Costco 6qts this morning when I thought they'd sent me the wrong part.