I want to give a shout-out to Kitchen Aid

[chowmama]

16. Mine's about the same age

It's been the reason I make bread as often as I do.

You get so used to them, they start to give you your own little signals. For example, I know I've used just enough flour in a white bread dough when there's a little sticky patch in the bottom at medium speed that just disappears at the highest setting. It needs to be a little stickier than that when it's a whole grain batch.