And there goes my mixer...

Sorry to hear about your mixer!  My KA6 fell apart this week.  I am going to get a box and pack it up to send off for repairs after my client picks up her cake this morning.  I have a regular KA but I have to break down the recipes to fit, so it takes longer to get things mixed. 

You didn't say, but if it's a newer KA they are no longer the quality that they used to be. My home KA is nearly 25 yrs old and has been repaired once (force-fed meat in the grinder attachment, and it got sucked into the motor). It's made countless loaves of bread as well as everything else, and if it breaks down I will absolutely get it repaired if I can. In the bakery I have three KA: a little one used only with the pasta attachment; a 5-qt Artisan and a 6qt. Pro. The last two are less than five years old, are only used for cakes and icings, and both have "issues". Not sure what I'll buy when these quit, but it won't be KA unless they bring back the quality.

Yes, nothing is made decent now a days like it used to be. The USA corporations have moved out of the USA so they can have slave labor of which they pay those people little or next to nothing. I call it greed!!! I think if my mixer goes out I will try to buy a vintage one in good condition from either Ebay or Craigslist.
 

Good idea, remnant3333

The stand mixer that I have now I bought on Craigslist from a woman who had it for about 20 years but she never used it.

It works perfectly and it looked brand new when I bought it. I have now had it for about 2 years. I bought it for 20 dollars and it is 350 watts. It works perfectly.  It is probably a smart move to have an extra one especially if you do cakes for a living then you have a spare one.  One good thing about Craigslist is that you can offer them less money than what they want and normally they will take it. I have seen brand new mixers on Craigslist that are still in the original boxes and have never been used for almost half of what the store charges for them.
 

I was so glad I had my hand mixer in th cupboard when my KA gave out, that thing really picked up the slack while I waited for the parts I needed to fix the stand mixer. On the flip side, the stand mixer ran like a dream after I fixed the thing that broke on it, so it did me a favor really. 

My sunbeam hand mixer was the first kitchen gadget I ever bought.  I used it while I saved to buy a Kenwood Chef, which is probably the equivalent of your better KAs. 31 years later and it still works.  I still use it on smaller things, and maybe I'm weird but it makes me feel sentimental using it at times. I think it is the only original electrical appliance left in the house.