Years ago I had an old old kitchen aid that was given to me... it had the glass bowl and I used that thing until it literally burned up... sparks were flying. It was probably around 20 years old when it died.
Then my kiddos bought me an artisian several years ago and I use it on a daily basis... a couple years ago I bought the pro model that is a 6 qt and I LOVE it. I have 2 bowls for my artisian. I use both of them and swear by them.
My fiance and I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer. It's pretty large. It's got the horsepower to mix stiff icing for my cakes. We just got it not even a month ago. My last mixer was some handheld cheap mixer from Walgreens. It burnt up!
I have Kitchen Aids... 3 of them actually (but one is currently out of comission). I have a Pro 5 and an Artisan. For home use, a 5 qt would be more than enough mixer. I am looking into 10qt commercial mixers... I want to be able to make bigger batches of icing. I would never give up my smaller mixers though. They are good for beating up smaller amounts of icing and for batters.
I've got a Kitchenaid Artisan and Loooooovvvvvvvvee it!! Tough call which I would save first the kids or the kitchenaid in the event of a fire (kidding of course! the kids are old enough to save themselves!!!).
Have a Kitchen Aid and LOVE it. Fifteen years and several cakes - most of them wedding cakes, still going strong. Only replaced the whip attachments as one of the wires broke...
There is a KitchenAid Repair Part place in Dallas where you can order gears for your KitchenAid (3 gears for about $80.00) and replace them. Look up KitchenAid Mixer Models and find your model # and look up a parts list for your particular model. I bought all 3 gears and had a friend replace them all @ the same time while they had it opened up. Works wonderful now...good luck!
I have the kitchen Aid Professional 610 series ( I think you could power a boat with it!) Love it and loved my other one for 20 years. I gave it to my daughter when I got this new one 4 months ago. Can't live without my kitchenaid!