I have to say that I was a bit sketchy on this product after reading other reviews. I'm glad I bought it anyway. One major key to using this attachment successfully is the dough consistency. Dryer is better - but not too dry. You'll get the hang of it after a couple tries. I do recommend making pasta with another person as another set of hands will come in handy. Enjoy!

I am still trying to make this attachment work, but the mixer really does not have enough power to push the dough through the extractor. It is also very picky about how wet or dry the dough is. Too wet clogs the grinder worm, too dry gets stuck in extractor. I did manage to make one batch work, but am not sure what I did!

It took me 8 years to take the pasta making attachment out of its box, and after reading all these reviews, I almost put it right back in. But I'd made my dough, so I figured, the worst case is I'll have a lot of dough, which is no worse than I had starting out.

I think the problem others have had may be the recipe. Try this: 1 large egg to 3/4 cup flour, a tsp or so of olive oil, and mix in the food processor. If it doesn't form a ball rolling on top of the blades then add 1 tsp. of water at a time until it does. I also added 3 T. of fresh chopped sage.

I made two of these small hand-size batches, kneaded them about 20 times until smooth in a little flour, wrapped in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

Then I cut the batches into largish-thumb size pieces, dipped in flour again and put in the maw of the KitchenAid. Pressed down gently with the food pusher and the rest was great. I propped up the extruded lasagna noodles with my hand, and then with the food pusher until it was long enough to support on a footstool that I put on the counter. Cut every 8" or so.

I kept the motor speed between 2 and 4 and although it got warm, it was no warmer than when I make applesauce or bread dough. I stopped it now and then as I cut my dough. Now I can see that smaller noodles could present a sticking problem, as I discovered when I let the noodle flop onto itself, it did want to stick. I'll give the smaller noodles a try sometime when I'm in a very good mood and able to handle this minor challenge. But I couldn't be more pleased with the results of the lasagna I've made. It just takes a sense of adventure and some common sense too. Anyone who expects to put the dough in and let the machine do all the work will be disappointed. You have to be involved during the extrusion process and support the dough as it comes out. Don't be discouraged, give this recipe a try.

I think if there were somehow a way for the smaller noodles to come out straight down, like having the mixer itself 90° to the counter there would be fewer problems. You'd need something quite sturdy to put the mixer on, but it would be worth the experiment.

I received this as a wedding gift, along with my Kitchenaid mixer, around 11 months ago. After reading all the reviews I decided I had better try it before my warranty is up if it was in fact going to destroy my mixer. I was extremely nervous about it sticking, about it burning up the motor, about making a complete mess of my kitchen, and about wasting time. Granted I did have my husband helping me, but nevertheless I think it was way easier than others described it, and in the future I think I could do it myself (just turn off the mixer when you need to separate the noodles). You have to follow the instructions exactly-sift the flour, lay the noodles down to separate, etc. But otherwise after a couple of tries we got the hang of it right away. I've never used any other type of pasta maker, and I haven't used the meat grinder, but found this attachment to be much better than others have stated.

The item in itself is quite wonderful with the exception that the wooden food pusher was missing from the food grinder attachment. A replacement was requested but the wrong set was sent, the pasta maker only and not the food grinder which contained the missing part. I gave up as going back and forth to the post office to mail returns is not straight forward. This is not Kitchen Aid's fault of course but the suppliers - Amazon.

That said, the actual pasta maker is excellent, easy to use and clean and makes really good pasta. I prefer to use an Italian cook book for the pasta recipes rather than the booklet which came with it as those recipes seem to be a bit dry. The food grinder part grinds meat quickly and efficiently and again is easy to clean. You do need to make sure you follow the manufacturers instruction and allow any excessive fluid to drain before proceeding. This can cause liquid to work its way into the motor and short it out if ignored.

I bought this product because of its dual function of grinding food and extruding pasta. The thought of having the ability to grind my own meat (always better tasting!)had great appeal to me as well as being able to make fresh pasta. I have used this item for both several times and I am completely satisfied with the grinders ability to grind meat. I have read reviews from some that this function of the grinder was not worth the money or the effort. I disagree. I have had NO PROBLEMS grinding meat. The key is not to overstuff the grinder itself. Cut the meat in strips (not cubes) and, one at a time, place them in the feeder chute and the grinder will feed itself. There is not even any need to "stuff" the meat down into the auger. In other words, follow directions and the grinder plastic housing will not break (no need to even put weight on it!), nothing will back up into the mixerr housing itself, and the meat will not become clogged in the feeder. A little patience will go a long way to adding life to this product.

The pasta plates are a little different story. While it is fun to make different kinds of non-flat noodles, and the dough extrudes just fine through the plates, it is difficult to keep the noodles from sticking together as they come out. I have to say, however, that I had the same problem with my manual pasta roller and cutters. Maybe making homemade pasta is quite an art? I'm starting to think so.

Want to grind meat?? Get this. Want to make pasta?? Beware.

Stop Be For You Buy!!!! Should have saved my money. Making pasta with this machine is disappointing. The recipe given with the instructions is way to sticky to run through the extruder. I redid the dough 3 times before I was able to extrude it, and still it stuck together. I should have listened to the rest of the reviews, but having owned a pasta maker/extruder before I thought it would be a piece of cake. If I were you I would invest in the roller pasta maker for you mixer. On the bright side though...The food grinder is wonderful.

This was the biggest disappointment I've experienced with an appliance, especially a KitchenAid. I got the attachment as an x-mas present and was so excited to try it. I never got one piece of pasta that was usable. I couldn't get my dough dry enough to not stick together in one messy clump. I don't think KitchenAid ever tested this machine. Horrible! I threw it away!

The first time I used it with a single batch of pasta, the motor got very hot. Smelled a little too. Got me worried.

But not so worried that I didn't try it again, weeks later. I made a double batch. Again, the motor heated up & was smelling. A little way into the second batch, it started smoking. I stopped it, and will not use it again, especially after reading what others have posted.

I am worried that I have or will soon wear out my motor. My mixer is just under a year old. I hope they stand by their warranties.

I can't believe I am giving a KA product a *1*, but I am. Save your money & your motor!!!!

Edited to add: KitchenAid replaced my mixer (Artisan) because it was still within the 1 year warranty. I did not have my sales receipt, but they could tell the manufacture date from numbers on the bottom of the machine. I will not be using the pasta attachments with my new machine!

I didn't bother coming here first because Amazon won't ship this attachment to Australia.

Anyway, I finally got the thing the other day, after a lot of trials and tribulations, from a local store that was able to get it for me. And after all the effort and waiting to get it, what a huge letdown. I honestly expected more from KitchenAid.

I have not used the grinder to grind - I didn't need a food grinder. I only purchased it to make pasta, and the plates are made to be used with the food grinder only.

I have worked as a professional cook, have successfully made hundreds or maybe even thousands of kilos of from-scratch fresh pasta in my life, and have never come across such a reputable manufacturer offering such a poorly designed product as this. Shame on you, KitchenAid.

For years, I've used my little Italian hand-cranked pasta maker, and thought I'd try this one because it would allow me to make tubular macaroni. I also thought the extrusion process would be easier than cranking. Not true.

As others have said, getting the consistency just-so for extrusion is tricky. A couple of batches ended up in the rubbish.

The object is to continue to drop walnut-sized pieces of dough into the tube, while also catching the pasta as it comes out of the machine. Because it tends to get warm and stick together in one huge blob, people on the KitchenAid boards have suggested sprinkling the emerging pasta with flour. And for this, you need three hands. Those of us lucky enough to have been born with three arms may find it a breeze, but the rest of us will struggle. And this is not even to mention the additional mess (and wastage) of the sprinkled flour! By the time I was finished (or rather, surrendered), the place looked like an explosion in a flour mill!).

The first disk I started with was the noodle disk, and then went to the lasagne disk.

I can't see how the lasagne disk can be used for ravioli, as it has a "join" in tbe middle of the dough (which can be seen as a transparent streak. This is because the dough is actully extruded from this disk in two pieces which join when they are dropping from the disk). I can't see that pasta holding up to being filled and boiled.

The instruction booklet (it was the European version) was a letdown - only one recipe - "Basic Egg Noodle dough". The recipe in English was in the "home style" volume measurement of cups, whereas the European measurements were in weight (used by professional cooks, because it's more precise). I used the European ones, except that was difficult to translate the names of the ingredients (KA, please give us weight recipes along with the volume measurement ones, in English). I couldn't believe that the KA website doesn't have any recipes! Do they really want to sell these things?

The instructions could have been clearer. I expected to drop a walnut-sized piece of dough into the machine, and have at least something come out. But the first piece is for the 'screw'. It takes until the second piece and beyond, before you start seeing pasta. They could've mentioned that, as I thought I was doing something wrong.

I do not recommend spending money on this pasta maker (the food grinder might be good. I haven't tried it). The only thing this purportedly does that my hand-cranked one doesn't is tubular macaroni, and after seeing how it handled simple fettucine, I have my doubts about it (also, the instructions said that macaroni could not be dried and kept, but had to be used within 4 hours of making, which may not always be practical). I've decided that if I need macaroni, I'll buy it! The rest will be more than adequately handled by my dependable Atlas machine (for which I now intend to get the add-on motor).

Now, I think I'll go to ebay and list this attachment, since I have no need for the grinder part, and the pasta function is pretty dismal.

I have not tried this pasta attachment a second time - I'm afraid of harming the motor. The mixer became VERY hot and oil even leaked out. I going to get the mixer checked/serviced and not risk damage again. One thing missing from these reviews is the mixer models used. Perhaps those with the heavier motors work better? I have the smaller motor (250 W) K45SS mixer. Surely KitcheAid must read these reviews. I would expect some additional user information for this product on their website, but see nothing. Very disappointing product and consumer support. Come on KitchenAid - give more info and/or offer to give $$ credit for return of this questionable product.

I have loved my Kitchenaid mixer from the first time I turned it on, and believe strongly in the construction of Kitchenaid products as a whole. But I received the pasta maker attachment for Christmas and am just heartbroken to see that Kitchenaid would continue to sell something that so many people have indicated does not work. Like all the other reviewers here, my pasta stuck together as it was extruded, no matter how much flour I used, how long I let the dough rest, or what I covered the pasta disks with (italian dressing, water, etc.). I just don't see how this could have passed any quality inspection with Kitchenaid, or after all of these reviews why Kitchenaid would continue to sell it. Following all of their directions for the product to a tee does not produce any usable pasta.

I have contacted the company directly about this, and urge others to do so as well. I still believe they are an ethical company, and hope that they will take these constructive critiques to heart (and also help us to find another of their products to use, rather than relegating useless pasta makers to the backs of our closets!).

I agree with the reviewer below who says that it is impossible to make the dough dry enough to not get all gummed up. It is easier to make pasta with an inexpensive hand-operated roller than it is with this attachment. I ended up buying the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment, which does a much better job.

I am now looking to buy this again as I did have one before. In response to some of the bad reviews I do have some suggestions I have found work well in working out some of the difficulties. It helps alot if you dip the pasta plates first in italian dressing or even just warm water in order for the pasta not to stick as it extrudes. I did buy a one piece pasta machine that does it all for you but found it took far to long and many of the platic parts were far to cheaply made and began breaking off. This attatchment is very durable and can withstand years of very regular use. The love of my life being a very large Italian man loves pasta alot and it can get mighty pricey to buy fresh pastas in the store and dry noodles can never compare to the taste, variety, and vitamin content of fresh pasta. As far as storing them for later use I often spray my food dehydrator with cooking spray and dehydrate my own for later use. There are a variety of cookbooks on the market for pasta recipes and most do have recipes that work better than the ones that came with the product. On a last note- a tart press works wonderfully for making homemade ravioli and doesn't burst so easy from over filling like the traditional ravioli press does.

I CAN'T SAY THAT I'M COMPLETLEY SASTIFIED WITH THE PRODUCT.
THE KITCHENAID FELT EXTREMELY WARM AFTER MAKING A 1/2 BATCH OF
PASTA, I THOUGHT THE MOTOR MIGHT FIZZLE OUT IF THE WHOLE BATCH WAS MADE AT ONCE! WITH THE TIME/PREP/CLEAN UP INVOLVED, BUY THE NOODLES IN THE STORE!

Well, an hour later and all my wife and I have is a sink filled with dry Dry DRY pasta dough and a mixer that feels like it's about to catch fire.

This pasta maker DOES NOT WORK. The dies have slots so close together that you can't MAKE the dough dry enough for them not to adhere to one another the moment they emerge from the front.

I kept thinking as I bore down with much of my (considerable!) weight on the maple plunger (which doesn't even fit the bore of the grinder), "If I had decided to roll this pasta out by hand, I'd be done by now..."

I'm taking this item back TOMORROW and getting an old-fashioned crank roller like our parents used... I'm appalled that this piece of junk has the Kitchenaid name on it.

I just made my first batch of pasta with the pasta maker, and I loved it. Fresh pasta is the only pasta I'll buy. This attachment lets me make it when I can't find it in the store.

In the beginning, I was a little apprehensive, but I just followed the recipe. The mixer did most of the work -- mixing and kneading -- so it was pretty easy. The hardest part was separating the pasta; the thick spagetti plate made pretty thin pasta. Next time, I'm going to try fettucine. The pasta was delicious and cooked really quickly.

First, pasta making in any form is frustrating, by hand, with this maker, whatever. But having had experiences with other forms, I found this to be a rather satisfying venture. DO NOT get your pasta too wet or you're destined to have a "Horrible" experience. Of course some sticking occured, but I simply pinched off those parts and threw them back in to get recycled. I also used a whole wheat pasta recipe, so I don't know if that made a difference. Clean up was a snap--I just let the dough dry on all the parts and it popped right off when I cleaned everything.

Luckily this attachment came bundled with the grinder attachment or I would have returned it immediately. I thought it would be fun to make fresh pasta with my children. Boy was I embarrased when all we were able to make was a mess! The noodles came out of the machine completely clumped together and warm. Just gross! I think I will buy a proper pasta roller (with motor!) and forget this headache! I wonder though; how did this thing pass the test kitchens!

I found the Kithchen Aid Pasta Maker to work fairly well. It is very mportant however to follow the pasta recipe that comes with the attachment. If the dough is too sticky or too dry it may not extrude as well. Overall, I am very pleased with the pasta maker's performance. Clean-up was a breeze, just a warm water rinse ans a little detail picking with the included cleaning tool.

I purchased this attachment in hopes of making pasta shapes which weren't possible with my hand crank pasta maker, or simply to save time, but after many failed attempts and much cursing, I returned it. As several other reviewers have commented, the pasta clumps together as it is extruded, no matter how dry the dough. The motor seems to heat up the dough, so that it becomes impossibly sticky, and the noodles don't come straight out as one might hope. Definitely a bad investment.

After I bought my KitchenAid Stand Mixer many years ago, I ordered everything from the cloth cover to the Pasta Maker Attachment to the Sausage Stuffer Attachment for it. Also, I bought an extra stainless bowl and pair of beaters, so that I could have a clean, chilled set when whipping large amounts of egg whites or for making icing for layer cakes.

However, I haven't used this KitchenAid Pasta Maker Attachment very much though. The times I have used it, I didn't think the results were as good as when I had used an Imperia pasta machine with motor. So I recommend buying this attachment only if you keep your stand mixer out on a counter and don't have another electric pasta maker.

As a pasta enthusiast (but amateur cook...), I've used everything from a hand-crank pasta roller (only works with 2 people unless you buy the motor!) to this Kitchen Aid attachment. From this pasta attachment, the noodles immediately chunk together, and require extremely delicate effort to get apart. Don't even try ot use a non-egg noodle recipe or semolina flour recipe - the dough, while tastier - takes too long to stiffen up without the eggs, and clumps into globs, not noodles! I thought I'd save time and money by buying this pasta extruder - but it's frustrating and takes forver to get the delicate noodles apart. (We're not even going to mention time spent cleaning the attachment...)

The better solution? Well, apart from re-designing the attachment (Why are the extrusion holes in a CIRCULAR FORMATION?!?!?!), this is what I'm going to try: Kitchen Aid also makes a pasta roller attachment, much like the old-fashioned hand crank + motor combination. It seems like a much better idea. Buy it - try it - I know I'm going to. Hope this attachment works better then the first!

(By the way - I really do love my Kitchen Aid - even Einstein came up with bad ideas...)

I bought the combination meat grinder-pasta makr kit (which is the same as this item but with the addition of the screw and plates for meat grinding) and I'm sorry to say that the pasta dies just don't work. Even when using the included recipe, it turns into a gloppy mess.

This item sounds like it will work but BUYER BEWARE!As the noodles come out they run back together.I am a professional in the business and have tried everything, including letting the noodles fall into a bowl of flour to keep them separated but nothing seems to work. Definitely a BAD idea by Kitchen Aid.

This attachment bolts onto the front of the KitchenAid stand mixer and lets you create your own fresh pasta. Basically a screw-drive food grinder, it extrudes the pasta through one of five supplied patterns, including spaghetti (thick & thin), fettucine, & macaroni tubes. The largest tube can be used as manicotti or flat lasagna noodle that can also be shaped into ravioli. Mine also came with two metal forms and a metal blade that let the unit be used as a food grinder.

The unit is solid and sturdy, pretty much as you'd expect of KitchenAid. I haven't figured out why the tube for storing the pattern plates is so large.

To make the pasta, you can make the dough in the mixer, but you'll need to do a little hand kneeding to form the dough, or get the pasta roller attachment, too. Making pasta dough only takes a few minutes of your time (plus a little standing time.) Cleaning wasn't as hard as I feared, as the screw drive slides out easily to allow swabbing the interior as well as the screw.

You'll have to make your own call as to whether the taste of fresh pasta is worth the price and extra work.

I was looking for a pasta maker, then I received a Kitchen Aid mixer as a gift. It works like a charm, although, for the price, there are pasta makers that do it all (and allow you to skip the clean-up, which I consider to be a little bit of a pain). Overall, if you like your mixer, you'll like this attachment!