View source for KitchenAid

{{Short description|American home appliance brand}}
{{infobox brand
| name         = KitchenAid
| logo           = Kitchenaid_logo.svg
| image          = 
| type           = [[Kitchenware]]
| currentowner   = [[Whirlpool Corporation]]
| origin         = [[United States]]
| introduced     = {{start date and age|1919}}<br />by [[Hobart Corporation]]
| related        = Whirlpool Corporation (Appliances)<br/>Lifetime Brands, Inc. (gadgets)<br/>[[Meyer Corporation]] (cookware & bakeware)
| markets        = International
| previousowners = [[Hobart Corporation]]<br>(1919-1986)
| trademarkregistrations =
| ambassador     = Whirlpool Corporation (Appliances)<br/>Lifetime Brands, Inc. (gadgets)<br/>Meyer Corporation (cookware & bakeware)
<!-- Infobox does not support the following parameter:| manufacturer = Whirlpool Corporation (Appliances)<br/>Lifetime Brands, Inc. (gadgets)<br/>Meyer Corporation (cookware & bakeware) -->
| tagline        = For the way it's made.
| website        = {{Official website|1=http://www.kitchenaid.com/}}
}}

'''KitchenAid''' is an American home appliance [[brand]] owned by [[Whirlpool Corporation]]. The company was started in 1919 by [[The Hobart Manufacturing Company]] to produce [[Mixer (appliance)|stand mixers]]; the H-5 is the first model that was introduced. The company faced competition as rivals moved into this emerging market, and introduced its trademarked silhouette in the 1930s with the model "K", the work of designer [[Egmont Arens]]. The brand's stand mixers have changed little in design since, and attachments from the model "K" onwards are compatible with the modern machines.

[[Dishwasher]]s are the second product line to have been introduced, in 1949. A late 1980s promotional campaign on the back of an expansion by retailer [[Williams Sonoma (brand)|Williams Sonoma]] saw brand awareness double in three years.

==History==
[[File:Antique KitchenAid.jpg|thumb|This prototype KitchenAid Model A "Kaidette" stand mixer was produced in the 1930s.]]
The idea of a stand mixer was formulated by Herbert Johnston, an engineer working at the Hobart Corporation. He had been inspired after seeing a baker mix dough, and thought that there must be a better way of doing the task. In 1914, development began, and soon the model "H" mixer was launched for industrial work. The [[U.S. Navy]] ordered mixers for two new {{sclass|Tennessee|battleship}}, {{USS|California|BB-44|2}} and {{USS|Tennessee|BB-43|2}}, as well as the U.S. Navy's first [[dreadnought]] battleship, {{USS|South Carolina|BB-26|2}}. In 1917, Hobart stand mixers became standard equipment on all U.S. Navy ships, prompting development to begin on the first home models.<ref name=timelinepdf>{{cite web|title=Ninety Years of Quality |url=http://www.kitchenaid.com/assets/pdfs/press/1342500_KAtimeline.pdf |publisher=KitchenAid |access-date=26 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027083014/http://www.kitchenaid.com/assets/pdfs/press/1342500_KAtimeline.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:White KitchenAid mixer (KSM150PSWH).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|A modern KitchenAid stand mixer]]
The first machine with the KitchenAid name is the ten-quart C-10 model, introduced in 1918 and built at Hobart's ''Troy Metal Products'' subsidiary in Springfield, Ohio.<ref>Hobart Manufacturing Company. "The KitchenAid", ''The Hobartizer'', Troy, Ohio, May 1918.</ref>  Prototype models were given to the wives of factory executives, and the product was named when one stated "I don't care what you call it, but I know it's the best kitchen aid I've ever had!" They were initially marketed to the farmhouse kitchen and were available in hardware stores.<ref name=eatcake /> But owing to
the difficulty in convincing retailers to take up the product, the company recruited a mostly female sales force, which sold the mixers [[Door-to-door salesman|door-to-door]].<ref name=timelinepdf/>  The C-10 machine was also marketed heavily toward soda fountains and small commercial kitchens, and was also sold under the ''FountainAid'' and ''BakersAid'' model names.<ref>Hobart Manufacturing Company. ''The Hobartizer'', Troy, Ohio, 1918-1922.</ref>

In 1922, KitchenAid introduced the H-5 mixer as its new home-use offering.<ref>Hobart Manufacturing Company. "The New Electric KitchenAid", ''The Hobartizer'', Troy, Ohio, May 1922.</ref>  The H-5 mixer was smaller and lighter than the C-10, and had a more manageable five-quart bowl. The model "G" mixer, about half the weight of the "H-5" was released in August 1928.<ref>Hobart Manufacturing Company. "KitchenAid- Electrical Food Preparer for the Home", ''The Hobartizer'', Troy, Ohio, August 1928.</ref> In the 1920s, several other companies introduced similar mixers, and the [[Sunbeam Products|Sunbeam Mixmaster]] became the most popular among consumers until the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cole|first=David J.|author2=Browning, Eve |author3=Schroeder, Fred |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn|isbn=978-0-313-31345-5|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVQfBSlAZvAC&q=Kitchenaid&pg=PA170}}</ref>

KitchenAid mixers remained popular, and in the late 1930s, the factory would completely sell out its products each Christmas. The factory was closed for the duration of World War II. After the war, production started up again in 1946 when the factory moved to [[Greenville, Ohio]], to expand capacity.<ref name=timelinepdf/>

[[File:KitchenAid Model K.jpg|thumb|Model "K", which introduced the trademarked KitchenAid silhouette]]
The product range expanded beyond stand mixers for the first time in 1949, when dishwashers were introduced.<ref name=eatcake>{{cite book|last=Danziger|first=Pamela N.|title=Let Them Eat Cake|year=2005|publisher=Dearborn Trade Publishing|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-7931-9307-3|pages=29–30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjHY4XbvpCYC&q=Kitchenaid&pg=PA29}}</ref>

In 1985, the company purchased the [[Chambers stove|Chambers Company]] to incorporate its range of cookers into the KitchenAid brand.<ref name=timelinepdf/> After being cleared by a federal appeals court in January 1986, Whirlpool Corporation was cleared to purchase KitchenAid for $150 million, after initial complaints regarding competition from dishwasher manufacturers [[White Consolidated Industries]] and [[Magic Chef]] were dismissed.<ref>{{cite news|title=Whirlpool Cleared To Buy Kitchenaid|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/30/business/whirlpool-cleared-to-buy-kitchenaid.html|access-date=26 January 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 January 1986}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/02/business/whirlpool-amends-kitchenaid-plan.html |title=Whirlpool Amends Kitchenaid Plan |date=2 July 1985 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-11-28}}</ref> [[Refrigerator]]s were added to the product line later in 1986.<ref name=timelinepdf/> The company used the popularity of [[celebrity chef]]s during the late 1980s to seize the chance to expand its customer range. In 1988, retailer Williams Sonoma was opening new stores across the United States and released a [[cobalt blue]] stand mixer for the company. Although the retailer had been carrying KitchenAid products since 1959, the new stores introduced the mixers to a wider range of home cooks. This combined with a change in marketing strategy for KitchenAid, which resulted in a doubling of brand awareness over the course of the following three years.

KitchenAid began manufacturing blenders and other small appliances in the mid-1990s. The brand was further promoted by sponsoring the [[PBS]] show [[Home Cooking (television show)|''Home Cooking'']], and by introducing the mixers to television chefs such as [[Julia Child]] and [[Martha Stewart]]. Following the success with Williams Sonoma, specific points of purchase were set up in department stores such as [[Kohl's]] and [[Macy's]]. Specific color mixers were released for specific retailers or to benefit charities, such as a pink mixer released to raise funds for breast cancer research or mixers sold at [[Target Corporation|Target]] stores being available in that company's signature shade of red. The ProLine range of appliances was launched in 2003 with an initial six-month exclusivity agreement with Williams Sonoma.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vogel|first=Craig|author2=Cagan, Jonathan |author3=Boatwright, Peter |title=The Design of Things to Come: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products|year=2005|publisher=Wharton School Publishers|location=Upper Saddle River, N.J.|isbn=978-0-13-186082-7|pages=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fY3_EocbN5YC&q=Kitchenaid&pg=PA10}}</ref>

==Design and manufacturing==
[[File:KitchenAid MYER Sydney City 2013.jpg|thumb|right|KitchenAid stand mixers have been stocked at Australian department store MYER.]]
[[Egmont Arens]] was hired in the 1930s to design a low-cost series of mixers. This resulted in the production of the KitchenAid Model "K" which featured a streamlined profile for the first time, and the KitchenAid standard design has remained relatively unchanged since then.<ref name=design>{{cite book|last=Lidwell|first=William|title=Deconstructing Product Design|year=2009|publisher=Rockport Publishers|location=Beverly, Mass.|isbn=978-1-59253-345-9|page=180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8x9J35ZdHmAC&q=Kitchenaid&pg=PA180}}</ref> The silhouette has since been made a registered trademark with the [[U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]].<ref name=design/> In 1997 the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]] selected the KitchenAid stand mixer as an icon of American design.  There is an attachment hub on the front of each mixer. Every KitchenAid mixer since the introduction of the Model "K" has allowed for cross-generational attachment compatibility, meaning that attachments from the 1930s can be used on modern mixers, and vice versa. This cross-generational compatibility extends only to attachments powered through the hub. Other accessories (beaters, bowls, etc.) are not necessarily compatible even across similar models in production at the same time (for example, not all current production six-quart bowl-lift mixers use the same accessories).<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mendingshed.com/flatbeaters.html |title=Flat Beaters - Stand Mixer Accessories |work=mendingshed.com |year=2013 |quote=you can use the chart below to ensure you get the correct Flat Beater for your KitchenAid mixer |access-date=October 9, 2013}}</ref> Initially the mixers were only available in white; a range of four colors was introduced in 1955.<ref name=design/>

Some KitchenAid products are manufactured in Ohio, South Carolina, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas, Ontario, and Quebec and others are manufactured in China,<ref>{{cite web|title=KitchenAid Reply to Question about Country of Manufacture|url=http://kitchenaid.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3487/~/hand-mixer-origin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612023314/http://kitchenaid.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3487/~/hand-mixer-origin|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 June 2013|access-date=14 Jun 2020}}</ref> and its appliances are distributed throughout North America. All KitchenAid stand mixers are assembled in its factory in [[Greenville, Ohio]]. The [[die casting|die-cast]] parts of the machines come from various manufacturing plants around the world. A factory tour, known as the "KitchenAid Experience" is conducted by the assembly line workers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Axelrod|first=Karen|author2=Brumberg, Bruce |title=Watch it Made in the U.S.A.|year=2006|publisher=Avalon Travel|location=Emeryville, CA|isbn=978-1-59880-000-5|page=198|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dldvd1rRbYwC&q=Kitchenaid&pg=PA198}}</ref>

==Food and retail expansion==
In March 2016, KitchenAid announced that it would offer a line of food mixes with a Michigan food company, Franzese USA, Inc.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Gelato and Pasta Mixes for KitchenAid Stand Mixers |url=http://d0d0b60ba6a35e88d40d-56bbd6d0518ce534e0344a8e1a7eaf55.r61.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/Housewares/KitchenAid_Franzese%203.7.16.%20FINAL.pdf |publisher=KitchenAid |access-date=7 March 2016 }}</ref> In their press release, KitchenAid states, “Considering that tens of millions of American kitchens are outfitted with our stand mixers, we’re confident that these mixes will become a staple in many pantries.”<ref>{{cite web|title=Franzese Partners with KitchenAid |url=https://www.preparedfoods.com/articles/117787-franzese-partners-with-kitchenaid}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Official}}

{{Kohl's}}
{{Whirlpool Corporation}}
{{Home appliance brands}}

[[Category:1986 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Kitchenware brands]]
[[Category:Whirlpool Corporation brands]]
[[Category:Electronics companies established in 1919]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1919]]
[[Category:American brands]]
[[Category:Home appliance manufacturers of the United States]]