How to Move that HEAVY Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

I was so excited to get my Kitchenaid mixer for the holidays. It is such a wonderful appliance, but you know what else it is?? It is extremely heavy! This fact would not be a problem if the counter fairies would happen upon my kitchen and bless me with some extra space to put a non-movable item. But since I am pretty sure that will never happen ;), I had to come up with a storage solution that would not involve a lot of lifting.

If you click "kitchen" on my sidebar and scroll down to my counter top pic, you will see that there is an appliance garage next to my sugar jar. It is tall enough for my Kitchenaid to fit through the door. But unfortunately, one must lift the Kitchenaid slightly, angling for the closest corner, and without losing your grip set it down. This may not sound that bad, but the forward motion controlled lift is like a 3 minute workout and worse than kneading bread on my wrist (which was why I bought the Kitchenaid in the first place!). Oh... and let's not mention the fear of knocking the top of the mixer on the door of the garage... What to do?? Well as Plato once penned, "Necessity is the mother of invention." I decided to create a skid for my appliance. (To be honest, I was going to push it off on my son, but it ended up falling back onto my "to do" list. But, that was okay. It was nice to do a little woodworking again!)



Here is the cut out skid. I used some thin veneered wood that is used for constructing kitchen cabinet sides. I have acquired a little stock pile from a local business that is inundated with scraps. (This recycling comes in handy when making ornaments, too!) Here is the newly cut out "wrist saving" platform in the raw and ready for the sanding disc!

Here it is all smooth. I didn't stain the wood, since it would not be visible to the public. It was finished with some sealer, just in case it came into contact with liquids or required a wipe down.

In my fabric stash, I have acquired some super thick tool drawer felt. I cut a piece out for the bottom of the skid. I covered it with glue and adhered it to the underside of my finished piece of wood. No need to mess with clamps... I simply flipped this over and set my mixer on it for weight while drying!

Here it is ready to go onto the counter and be slid (How heavenly does that sound to my wrist?) into place. I have given it a trial run, and it works like a dream. "Slide in--Slide out!"

I do wish my counter was large enough to have this mixer out all the time. It really is a beautiful appliance. But I must say, I had fun working with my scroll saw and sander again! On to the next project...