Choosing the right Kitchen Aid stand mixer attachment for the task at hand is the key to being happy with the results. Using the wrong attachment could produce a product far different from what you were expecting.
The Kitchen Aid professional 600 mixer comes with several different attachment options, for a variety of food preparation tasks. Included with your purchase are the spiral dough hook, burnished flat beater, and wire whisk. Also available are an ice cream maker, sausage stuffer, pasta roller, wheat grinder, shredder and more.
The spiral dough hook is used to mix and knead dough. It is not recommended that you use an attachment such as this for pie dough, as it becomes sticky and tough quite quickly (although you could use it to cut the flour and lard together). This mixer handles pizza and bread doughs quite well, with speed settings that allow you to add flour while the speed slowly increases, to prevent splatter.
The burnished flat beater is used for mixing cake and muffin batters, cookie dough, and up to 8 lbs of mashed potatoes. With slow to very fast speed settings, the processor with the beater attachment can be used for light mixing to whipping tasks. While it may be tempting to see what your mixer will do, don't power up the motor with potatoes in the bowl... overmixed, they are a pasty mess.
The wire whisk is used to whip or whisk liquid/soft ingredients. Whip egg whites into a fluffy meringue; cream butter with fresh herbs; mix a lemon pie mix together. The whisk attachment is easy to remove, and by tapping on the inside of the bowl, you can release most of the food off of the whisk.
With a 6-quart bowl, 10 speed motor and all metal construction, this mixer can perform just about any task that you ask it to. Several specialized attachments make it even more versatile.