I really don't enjoy the KitchenAid for doughs. I've had trouble with the motor overheating sometimes and with the dough climbing the hook and getting warm. I'm sure some of this is user error, but I just felt like I'd rather be kneading than troubleshooting a device.

It's absolutely incredible at buttercream and meringues, but that's true of their bottom of the line ones too.

I've used a nice pro 6 qt model and a 4.5 qt super basic one enough to compare. I didn't even try bread dough in the smaller one though.