Misc A lovely surprise (Kitchen Aid Thread & Stand Mixer)

[Melodi]

OK, I'm posting this here because I wanted to shout this out to friends but I am not about to put it in a public place like Facespy.

After months of mostly, things simply be more or slightly less depressing as in "oh gee more paperwork..." I got a wonderful surprise this morning that was unexpected.

While our kitchen is still not cleaned up, it is finally usable and "almost there" from the two years that my beloved kind of "denned" his wolf self in it and being a wolf ignored things like a flood that left mud all over the floor to dry, and then all that lovely stuff that fell down and into it over time. I loved Nightwolf dearly but like a lot of real hoarders, he just never saw a point in picking things up or cleaning anything up for that matter.

Anyway, to make a long story a bit shorter, we are slowly taking things down to put into the kitchen as we need them and today I needed the food processor I bought in December on sale for about 130 dollars (more or less). It is a good thing I already had a hand blender because I am going to need it to finish off the medieval sauces I am making to take for an SCA event on Saturday (in the 15th century they just had the kitchen staff use a mortar and pestle or a sieve).

But the reason is just amazing, inside the giant cardboard box the cats had made a "fort" out of, we opened it to find a top of the line, complete with accessories (and I think an extra bowl) 700 dollar plus Kitchen Aid Mixer! The sort I was going to save up and try to buy in the Fall to replace the one I currently have that is over 20 years old, came free as a gift, and isn't strong enough for bread dough (it will burn out the motor).

So for 119 Euros, I got a 700 Euro Kitchen Aid deluxe set, and this morning I found the Ex-Large Kitchen Aid food process I had wanted to buy in the first place but they were out of stock last December (possibly forever given the shipping crises) also on sale.

So I probably won't be buying any yarn for a month and I pre-spent my social security money (which isn't very much and is on top of my family trust pension as a widow, so I use it for "extra" or "fun" stuff, usually not all of it though I put some in savings).

Now, if the electrical store will just deliver and install my large appliances that had obviously died partly due to the flooding, I'll pretty much have everything I need kitchen-wise for now (well a new floor eventually but that is a long-term goal) and an electric grain mill (my hands don't do the large hand one we got from Lehmans very well anymore but we are covered if the world falls apart).

The shop electrician refused to install the big appliances (oven, stovetop, dishwasher) because the kitchen was still "so dirty" after 2 months of cleaning) that I don't want to have them out until I am pretty sure they will go ahead and put them in/hook them up.

I may have to invest in one more item (I made sure we have the money between my housemate and myself) in a "steam mop" to go over the floor - does anyone have any experience with this and will they work with really caked-on mud? I simply can't get down with a scrub brush these days and my housemate has a bad shoulder.

Feel free to post experiences, recipes, reports, disasters, triumphs of using stand mixers on this thread (not just Kitchen Aids) - I am so happy to have a way to knead bread that isn't restricted to using the bead baker or trying to not upset my shoulder.

More reports to come when I start using it lol

But wow, I'm still in Good and Happy today (a nice change)

 

[kyrsyan]

I don't think a steam mop will handle what you are describing. Or at least the ones my parents have had over the years wouldn't.
How much mud is left? How caked on?
It might be worth hring someone to just come scrub the floor if you're down to the last of it.

 

[Melodi]

Tha

I don't think a steam mop will handle what you are describing. Or at least the ones my parents have had over the years wouldn't.
How much mud is left? How caked on?
It might be worth hiring someone to just come scrub the floor if you're down to the last of it.

Thanks, we ordered one already in hope - there is no one to hire thanks to COVID and no one doing that sort of work in our area. I almost had someone but they broke their leg in two places, they may be going back to work in April - they are a professional cleaner used to dealing with hoarding situations, but they don't know of anyone else doing that type of work here.

We will try the steam mop, if that doesn't work then we will call the shop and see if they will install the appliances with everything else cleaned up, explain the situation and probably pull up the old lino and either revive the old tile floor we saw under it or put in new lino if the tiles are hopeless.

At least the lino wasn't on bare earth, when these houses were built the then basement kitchens usually had dirt floors. When "modernized" some got concrete poured on them, others just had lino thrown over the dirt.

Thanks for the feedback, the one we got washes windows and other types of flooring so it isn't wasted if it can't do the kitchen.

 

[kyrsyan]

Okay, it's lino, which shoots out my idea #2, unless you can be very careful. I have a roofer tool for pushing off shingles. It has worked for removing pita things in other areas as well. You could also look at a scrub brush on a pole. Hardware stores sell them for cleaning decks and porches. That might let you get even more up. And a shop vac on hand to vacuum up both dirt and moisture as you go so that it can't start to dry out and stick again.
I have back issues as well. So I've been looking at the scrub brushes on pole/handle for cleaning the front porch. And the front siding. And the garage floor. Etc. Because getting on my hands and knees means I'll be toast for days.

 

[Melodi]

Okay, it's lino, which shoots out my idea #2, unless you can be very careful. I have a roofer tool for pushing off shingles. It has worked for removing pita things in other areas as well. You could also look at a scrub brush on a pole. Hardware stores sell them for cleaning decks and porches. That might let you get even more up. And a shop vac on hand to vacuum up both dirt and moisture as you go so that it can't start to dry out and stick again.
I have back issues as well. So I've been looking at the scrub brushes on pole/handle for cleaning the front porch. And the front siding. And the garage floor. Etc. Because getting on my hands and knees means I'll be toast for days.

Now those are some good ideas, I can't push very hard either, but I'll look into this - the lino is nearly dead anyway - all we want is the dirt/dried mud gone as much as possible for now, we can tear up the floor later (which we plan to do anyway).

 

[kyrsyan]

Now those are some good ideas, I can't push very hard either, but I'll look into this - the lino is nearly dead anyway - all we want is the dirt/dried mud gone as much as possible for now, we can tear up the floor later (which we plan to do anyway).

Sometimes an abundance of soapy water can help make up for not being able to scrub too hard. Hence the shop vac. Sometimes on hard spots I will careful soak the spot, and lay a soaked towel over top of it, for a bit and work it in layers. Shop vacs are a great help for that because the dirty water can get cleaned up without having to scrub everything all over again, just the area I was working on.
Things I've learned over the time periods of the body not being happy with me. Sometimes you just work one spot at a time until it's gone and then move on to the next one. So that the clean up mess stays small and doesn't become overwhelming in and of itself. And with a push brush, pad the handle some and let your body weight help do the pushing/scrubbing.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

You could try something like this to get the worst scraped off and then go from there.

Or if it is super bad, start with a spade to get most of it up and then the below item to get more off and then...go from there.

Unger LH12C 4" Light Duty Floor Scraper with 48" Handle

Ideal for lighter duty jobs, this Unger LH12C floor scraper features a 48" long handle and 4" angled zinc alloy scraper head. The scraper head is angled to provide increased strength and control while cleaning floor surfaces. It features a double sided blade to suit a variety of applications...

www.webstaurantstore.com

 

[packyderms_wife]

Plastic paint trowel would work Melodi. I use these for moving plaster of paris onto my stretched canvas frames, I like them because they don't puncture the canvas.

Amazon.com

 

[Melodi]

Thanks for the suggestions, we got the steam mop but with the storms and being away yesterday for the first big SCA event since COVID we haven't tried it yet. Also, my housemate's arm is sore (she's a heavy SCA fighter hitting people with sticks and getting hit back) so we will have to wait a few days. The weather is supposed to be a bit less insane by Tuesday, we hope.

We did start with a shovel in the early days of this cleanup and there are still a few piles to go, very slow when there are only some days I can get down to pick things up. I'm hoping to sweep some early this week and then we can try to see what works and what doesn't.

Meanwhile, the Kitchen Aid is fantastic! I haven't used it for bread yet because of the storms and not wanting new experiences in cooking under stress, but if the power stays on I may try it tomorrow. I like the bread baker as a kneading machine but it is very limited in what it can do - the Kitchen Aid allows slightly larger amounts of bread and different times of kneading - I can do "soft" kneading or "harder" kneading with it.

A nice fun thing to contrast with the not-so-fun clean-up.

 

[lonestar09]

You might try a push broom with some soapy water to clean up the dried mud. That is what i used to do at my old office then used the wet dry shop vac to remove the water.

 

[lonestar09]

A carpet cleaning machine might work, i would get the floor wet first.

 

[Fairwillows]

A nice fun thing to contrast with the not-so-fun clean-up.

I love my Kitchen Aid! The pandemic + the kitchen aid....well, I've gained 25 lbs, thanks to both. But I look at it as my armageddon fat storage supply I'll last 2 weeks longer than the skinny minnies

And I will add....man...all the sites ALL OVER the internet are running slow and timing out tonight, has me a little worried!

 

[Millwright]

Gotta love some heavy duty kitchen gear.

 

[Melodi]

My actual Kitchen Aid Food processor got here yesterday, it is much sturdier and better built than the cheap ones I kept buying that didn't work. It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as some but I don't knee those, they are on the Kitchen Aid Mixer or the attachments already.

We are hoping to attack the floor this weekend, we will see how it goes...

 

[Jeff B.]

My two sisters gave us the fixed base Kitchen Aid mixer (doesn’t lift up) for our wedding present 39 + years ago and through all our moves, it’s still going strong.

Jeff B.

 

[lonestar09]

I love my kitchen aid mixer also. Comes in very handy also makes me lazier. I don't have to stand there with a hand mixer

 

[moldy]

Thinking of you this weekend, Miss Melodi.

 

[Melodi]

Housemate (a lady engineer) gave up on trying to mop the floor, she hasn't even tried the steam mop yet. She's pulling up the lino and I really think that is for the best. Turns out the floor underneath is concrete but it is cleanable.

The plan is to put down new lino as soon as we can (unless world events make that too difficult) and probably have her put down some nice tiles around the solid fuel stove. That would be attractive and another layer of something not flammable but it is optional at this point.

We will just leave the old lino under the big presses, for now, some are built-in now and not very mobile - besides no one sees that part.

I assured her we can live with concrete, and all we need to do is sweep and mop, and it will look a million times better than the damaged/stained/mud-encrusted lino did.

As for the new kitchen aid, it is wonderful and I'm delighted to still have the old one which is somewhere between 20 and 30 years old. I haven't had a chance to try out the new food processor but I will - hopefully this week and finally get my Instant Pot up and running. The priorities really have been cleaning and sorting, but I'm finally getting to play with some of the "toys."

 

[etdeb]

I have concrete floors in my dome home. First lesson learned pay attention when wet.
They are cold in winter but I could not stand carpet.

 

[kyrsyan]

Concrete floors can be painted and sealed. And can look amazing.