I’ve had a Kitchen Aid Classic Mixer for more than ten years–it was a Christmas gift from my parents in 1996 I think. A couple years in I had problems with it, and they replaced it for free, which was exceedingly awesome.

When that mixer had problems, it was in the middle of making Christmas cookies, and that was ugly. It didn’t explode, it just wouldn’t shut off. So to stop it briefly I had to shove the switch back, and to turn it off I had to unplug it. They sent me a reconditioned one, no charge, and all has been good.

I use my mixer a lot (we got the shredder/slicer attachment, which I like better than my Cuisinart food processor for many tasks) so I have definitely gotten my use out of it. But it’s started making unpleasant noises while kneading pizza dough, in addition to getting warm and making an odd smell, so I decided that rather than have my mixer explode on me one day in the middle of a batch of pizza dough or cookies, it was time to look for a new mixer.

I went to Amazon, because that’s where I get everything (why venture into the mall if I don’t have to?) and then spent a good deal of time debating.

I knew I wanted the Artisan series, but wasn’t sure about the color. My current mixer is white, which is nice because it matches all the other appliances, and matches the kitchen no matter what. But I love the color cobalt blue, and cobalt blue was in stock.

So go with white, which goes with everything, no matter what color the kitchen is? (and right now my kitchen is green, white, and terra cotta) Or get the color that makes me happy?

Cobalt blue won out, so now I get to look forward to a new mixer, in shiny cobalt blue, and who the hell cares that it doesn’t match the rest of the kitchen?

Maybe I’ll repaint the kitchen to match my mixer…