I need opinions....Which stand mixer is better suited for cakers. Cuisinart vs. Kitchenaid. Price wise they seem very similar.

Thanks in advance!

I have a cuisinart and the reason I bought it is that I do alot of marshmallow making for my candy line. I have killed 3 other mixers.
The cuisinart has more strength. For making cakes I am sure you will
have alot of people chime in for the KA. Just wanted to put my 2 cents in.
Oh the feature I love about mine is the timer. It just shuts its self off when it is done. Soooo nice.

Not that this one was an option, but I have a Viking in addition to a 4.5 qt. KA. I love them both. My KA is for small jobs and the other is for big jobs.

i was also looking into buying one of these products from williams sonoma and when i asked the woman working there at the time she said that they were about the same quality product but the attachments weren't readily available for the cuisinart. you have to have them ordered. but KA attachments you can buy in the store.

For what it's worth, I have a 5 qt Kitchen Aid that is several years old - was the K5 Commercial Heavy Duty series. I love it - have made MMF, royal icing, gingerbread dough, bread dough, buttercream. cookie dough and everything in it. It is the lift bowl type, not the tilting head type - sometimes wonder if the tilting head type would be easier to use for adding ingredients. My sister inherited one of the tilting head type but not sure hers is as heavy duty as mine.

i love my kitchen aid [/b]

I have KAs (6, yes, I know ) and a Cuisinart, and I find the Cuisinart to be a little too strong for cake batters. You have to adjust the mixing times, so be aware of that. I like the Cuisinart better for making powdered sugar buttercreams because the pour shield snaps over the entire bowl and keep the sugar cloud in the mixer and off my counters, though.

The Cuisinart is better for breadmaking since the motor is stronger, but the KA is fine for most things. The Cuisinart is also a little awkward because the controls are on the right instead of the left, so if I have something in my right hand I have to do a lot of jockeying around to get to them. You can get a little more batter into the Cuisinart, since the bowl is 7qts, so if you're mixing a lot at one time that's helpful.

I end up using my KAs almost exclusively, though...

I killed my KA by using the fondant attachment...uh...I mean Pasta attachment. It was a WONDERFUL little tool, but it is a very heavy strain on the motor.
Admittedly, the Cuisinart doesn't have all the attachment options, but I respectfully disagree that it is the same quality as the KA. Perhaps that was true when KA was still made by Hobart...but not so much now. The Cuininart has a much more powerful motor which is great if you are making loads of heavy BC or bread doughs.
I replaced my Ka a Cuisinart 2 years ago and I will never, ever, ever go back to KA.
Just my .02 Good luck!

I broke my KA but I will still get one.

Thanks for all the info.