The newer models (past years) are definitely not buy it for life. I was under the impression they were the best of the best for many years until I started working in logistics for a furniture store also selling kitchen aids. Working together close with customer service I was not only totally shocked about the amount of returns due to motor failures, broken pieces and even scratched paint right out of the box but also about their own terrible customer and repair services … awful. Took weeks to get them back and they have even mixed up machines, meaning the customer got back a different machine than we send in. Very disappointed and I personally wouldn‘t buy a new one.