To my delight, I was making superb fettuccine in no time at all. The fact that the only manual labor involved is a little bit of kneading is simply amazing. I found speed 4 was the optimal one; slower and the dough was more likely to get bubbles in it.

I had the dirt problem with the first batch, so I just ran that through about a million times and then threw it away. All the subsequent batches came out flawlessly.

The pasta I made was lighter and smoother than any pasta I have made from dried or fresh store-bought pasta. The texture was very pleasing. More variety in the cutter attachments would be nice, and I'd gladly pay for more choices. That said, even with the existing shape choices, this product is superb.

A wonderful way to make fresh pasta... (Rating: 5.00)
Review : This is, without a doubt, my favorite KitchenAid attachment. If you like to make fresh pasta, these rollers are well worth the money.

The pasta roller attachment works in the same way a manual pasta machine does. You pass the dough through the roller set until the desired thickness is achieved. Then you pass the strips of dough through cutters for either fettuccine or angel hair. This joy of using these rollers is that you don't have to crank a machine by hand or find a surface to clamp it down to.

I have been making fresh pasta for over 35 years and I have used several different methods. The KitchenAid roller attachment is the best that I have used. It is fast and effortless and clean-up is a breeze (a cleaning brush is included). The documentation that comes with the attachment is clear and easy to understand.

There is one minor flaw with the roller unit. The thickness it is set for does not always align with the marks on the adjustment wheel. This is NOT a critical problem. You can clearly see and feel the thickness of the dough and you can easily adjust the thickness accordingly. Also, if you turn the adjustment handle all the way around a couple of times the problem will correct itself. My hand cranked Atlas machine has the same minor flaw and it has NEVER affected the final outcome of my pasta. In my opinion, this problem is so minor that I will not mark the product down for it.

Overall I think that this is a well made and easy to use product. Making fresh pasta on the spur of the moment is effortless.

Solid and capable (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I highly recommend this attachment.
This attachment is very well made (Made in Italy). It attaches, detaches and cleans up easily, and most importantly, it works very well. This device only makes flat pasta so if you want rigatoni or penne, you'll be disappointed. I've made fettuccine and ravioli. After you've eaten home made semolina pasta, box pasta will never measure up. Be aware that making fettuccine is not that difficult but fresh ravioli is another story...it's quite a bit of work even with this machine. Making the filling and stuffing and sealing each ravioli is laborious. However, prior to getting this device, I used to use a hand crank machine. That's just way too much work. These rollers make the job manageable. The roller makes very consistent pasta, even when you use the thin settings.

My suggestion for a good pasta recipe is :
2 cups Semolina flour
1 cup unbleached flour
3 eggs
½ teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of water (most recipes say 3 but that just doesn't work well.)
*Some recipes like the one that comes in the box with this attachment, recommend the use of oil. I have not tried that approach yet. It probably works fine too, you be the judge.

** Some process advice: mix the 2 flours in the Kitchen aid bowl using the paddle beater. Mix the eggs and water together with a whisk and slowly add them to the mixer while in motion on setting 2. After the big, kind if hard dough ball forms, stop and change over to the dough hook for a couple of minutes. If you make ravioli, you'll want flexible dough or you'll get cracking. If the dough cracks or if air is captured inside during the sealing process, they are garbage as they will come apart in the boiling water.

To get dough flexible enough that it doesn't crack while making the ravioli, be sure to cover the dough between the first and second rollings and not let it sit longer that 30 minutes. Here's where the oil recipes may have an advantage...also, a light coating of water will help make a good seal.

I also picked up the Villaware 10-Square Ravioli Maker from Amazon. It is a metal and plastic form that helps you make 10-2.5 inch square rav's at one time. It works well but 2.5 inch rav's are a bit small. You will also have a tough time getiing a sheet of rolled pasta out of the rollers that is wide enough to cover the form as the rollers are close to the same width as the form.

Good luck!

I love it so far (Rating: 5.00)
Review : UPS brought this heavy package 20 minutes ago. Eventhough I am female, I didn't read the instructions and I have fettucini drying as I write. I can't wait to taste it. It was so simple and fast. The 3 attachments are truly heavy duty.

I was looking for a crank type pasta maker when I stumbled accross this "attachment" option. I already own the big, expensive Kitchenaid mixer. Eventhough the attachments are more money than the "crank" things, I opted for this one and am glad that I don't have yet another "appliance" to store like that breadmaker.

Easy and fun! (And delicious, too.) (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I never imagined that putting together fresh homemade pasta would be so easy, but these roller attachments are wonderful. And on top of that, they're actually fun to use -- my husband was so interested in what I was doing that he ended up joining in and helping me roll out and cut the pasta dough. If I have any complaint, it's that I was a little surprised that the supplied booklet claims you need to boil fresh pasta for six minutes. Mine is ready in two minutes at most.

Don't stress about the "no washing in water" instruction -- pasta dough is so dry and non-sticky that the brush and a toothpick should be more than sufficient to get your attachments clean. I'm also happy to report that I didn't find any metal shavings in the "throw-away" dough I made, though it's probably a good idea to run a batch of test dough through anyhow to be on the safe side.

Enjoy!

Heavy duty, easy & fun to use, great pasta! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I decided to purchase this attachment instead of the other Kitchenaid pasta attachment (plates + food grinder) because I wanted to be able to make any kind of pasta: spinach, semolina, whole wheat, egg-free etc, and not be confined to a small number of recipes that were sure to work well with the plates. It has worked like a charm. Even the egg-free spinach pasta, which was very dry and crumbly to start, came out perfect.

The widest setting on the roller works to knead/roll the dough until its pliable enough to continue. Its amazing how such flaky dough can become so evenly mixed with minimal effort. From this point, its just a few more settings until you've got angel-hair thin dough. It is important to use the cutter before the ends of your dough dry out, lest they will clog the cutter.

Pasta is my favorite food, and this contraption makes it possible to make my own healthy, delicious pasta recipes at home, quickly!