I started to think this post didn’t belong on the Compound, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like a memory that’s carried on and will carry on into our future, so I’ll share it here after all.
Amy and I had been dating a very short time when her birthday rolled around back in 2009; only about six months. Being in a new relationship with what had always been the woman of my dreams was both exhilarating and a little terrifying. I’ve always wanted to be that person that gave a gift to someone because I’d thought it through and it would mean something to them. I’m not much for buying a present for the sake of buying a present.
I don’t remember if I asked her what she wanted, or she just volunteered it, but keep in mind that we’re both busting our humps every day, both making about 35K a year if we’re lucky, and I’m still cohabitating between Greenville NC and Albemarle. Somehow it came about that she told me what she wanted.
” I want a Kitchen-Aid.”
Immediately I felt a trap about to spring closed. I’ve dated a few amazing women in my life by this time and I’ve learned a few rules about dating and more specifically, about presents.
Rule #1: Absolutely NEVER buy your wife or girlfriend appliances, things to clean the house with, or things for the kitchen for their birthday or Christmas. NEVER. If you want any chance at this relationship going any further, the last thing you want to do is go “Here honey, now you can vacuum the floors better” or “Here you go, now you’ve got something to help you in the kitchen!”
No. Just freakin’ NO. Don’t do it. No way. IT’S A TRAP!!!
I remembered thinking all those things and trying to suss out for sure if she was kidding. Remember we’re both just about as poor as we can be so I didn’t KNOW that she knew what she was asking. I had grown up with a family that had kitchen applicances like that and I was aware what a Kitchen-Aid was, but I was thinking it was like $40.
Umm, no. Today a good Kitchen Aid artisan model runs between $300 and $500. I went online and started looking, expecting $50, maybe $100. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS?
Ok, so now I don’t feel like it’s a bad gift… I just needed to figure out which kidney to sell to get it.
Somehow or another I came up with the money and I brought it down to Manns Harbor for Mom and Amy’s birthday. This had been a tradition with Mom since about 2001, but this would be Amy’s first year dating me to be part of it.
So yeah, with absolute fear of being laughed out of my own yard, I put the box on the table and cringed while she opened it.
Can we just appreciate for a moment on the fact that I was able to go back into my photo albums and find Amy’s birthday present from 16 years ago? My OCD photo organizational skills are paying off in my old age!
Well, obviously it’s been 16.5 years and she’s still with me so it worked out OK, but I’ll never forget the thought of her FIRST present from me being a kitchen implement.
For comparison, her first present to me was a Dog. I mean I still feel like she got the short end of the stick on this one.
Sixteen years later…
This mixer has been a staple in our house since we’ve started dating. Over the years I’ve bought her pasta makers attachments, meat grinder attachments, bowls, implements, and she’s bought her own fair share of things for it too. It’s made hundreds if not thousands of meals, desserts, and been a work horse through probably a fifty or more gatherings of 40+ people at our house.
While I was photo searching (some things are SO much better with AI), I found her present from Christmas 2015 – MORE Kitchen-Aid accessories!
Back to the story
Last month she mentioned to me she thought she might need a new one. This one was making a metal grinding noise. Being a sentimental fool like I am, I decided to embark on the quest to rebuild and regrease the Kitchen-Aid and make it hum like new.
Let me digress a moment: If you’re like me, you had no idea that you were supposed to re-grease these every couple years. I’d never heard of anyone doing that, but then again most people today just use one every now and then. This one gets more use in a year that some others do in a lifetime. But yeah, you ARE supposed to do this from time to time.
Anyway, she’s off on a Carnival cruise for a while with her best friend, Krissi, and I’m sitting here in our annual snowpocalypse unable to go to the Compound and work due to the rain and nasty weather, so I decided to get started on it.
Tearing it down.
Now believe it or not, that’s “dirty” but not nasty. Remember, none of these parts come into contact with your food. This is just integral gearing. Kitchen-Aid switched from a dark food-safe grease to a white grease in 2016 and this model is from 2009. But the fact that you can see the dried grease along the seams means it’s had some leakage around the seals over the years.
I didn’t buy a new seal kit for it, but in hindsight I might should have. But… next time. We’ll see how she likes it after it’s completed and I’ll rebuild with new seals if she wants me to.
Three hours, one coffee, one coke, three cans of Brake Cleaner, two rolls of paper towels, half a bottle of Dawn, and one ruined T-shirt later, it’s back in action!
I tore it down to the bones and degreased everything. This is the worm gear assembly.
If you’re like me and have never seen the inside of a kitchen-aid, well, here you go. It was a fun tear-down and learning experience.
The planetary and drive gears are cleaned, stripped down, and ready for regreasing.
You have to repack it with white food-safe grease.
Amazingly enough, I had NO spare screws left over when I was done! (and I found all the gaskets and washers, though there was a harrowing 15 minute part there where I thought I’d lost them and went dumpster diving through 300 greasy paper towels in the trash can only to discover they were right where they were supposed to be all along.)
The photo finish
Hopefully she’ll be happy with it and decide to make me some more cinnamon rolls as payment!
I’d like to give a special thanks to the Mr. Mixer Youtube Channel. This young fella knows these machines inside and out and if you’ve got one yourself, he’s probably got a walk-through to get you through the project from end to end.
And while I probably have more sentimental attachment to this mixer than Amy does, I do sincerely hope it’ll be something that lasts another 16 years. I’ll tear it down and rebuild it every other year if needed. It still makes me smile to this day that the first thing she asked for as a gift was a kitchen appliance!
I always knew I married a special kind of woman. Earlier this year she asked for a new vacuum cleaner…. yep…. still continuing to defy the norms…