Any experiences with the Kitchen Aid grain grinder attachment?

In my ongoing move toward a whole-foods, ancestral diet, I'm looking into the possibility of grinding grain myself, rather than buying flour, especially after what happened with King Arthur's bread flour, which I've posted about here.

Do any Permies have experience with Kitchen Aid's grinder attachment? It would be the best option in terms of ease and price, since I already have the mixer. But I'm concerned about some of the negative reviews.

I realize there are threads here on hand-crank grinders, bicycle-powered grinders, and even this thread on grain mills in general, but it only touches slightly on the Kitchen Aid grinder.

Here's what I'm weighing:

- There are only two of us, and we're 52 and 59 and do not eat a lot of flour - maybe just less than a loaf a week
- We'll be grinding rye and wheat, not anything gluten-free like chickpeas and probably not corn too often, either
- The KA attachment is only $115 right now; whereas, these hand-crank beauties you all recommend can be upwards of $1,000 but at least $300, plus they often attach to a table - we don't have a table that will work for that

So, will the Kitchen Aid fill the bill, or will it be a waste of money?

Have one and am not impressed.  We ended up buying a Wondermill.   Frankly, the hand cranked mill we bought at a junk shop is the one that gets all the use.  To be clear, the attachment we have is not a KitchenAide brand.  I think it was German made,  Right now I am in a hospital 90 miles from home.  I will try to find it when I get home.

I have the genuine kitchen aid grain grinder.

I have used it a few times, I am not someone who currently utilizes a lot of flour so I have not been using it regularly.

I find it works great for what it is. I find kitchen aid attachments comparable to swiss army knife tools. They are GREAT in a pinch, but they are not something you would rely on for daily use.

If you are batch grinding flour for a couple people and have time to do it, it works well. It is not fast, and it doesn't have a giant hopper, but it makes flours! The parts are easy enough to clean and as long as you don't push it hard you should find it works just fine.

My wife has a Kitchenaid, so having attachments that work on its 'PTO' makes sense because I already have the motor on hand. Solid 7/10 in my opinion.

I just remembered …Messerschmidt.

Not at home at the moment but I think mine is a Kitchen Aid brand grinder.  It's fine and the wheat grinder I chose over a hand crank one I also own.  My biggest problem is that it doesn't grind fine enough on the finest setting.  Maybe there's an internal adjustment or bit of maintenance I need to do to it...

John F Dean wrote:I just remembered …Messerschmidt.

Lol they were known for their airplanes - I know, because I get asked all the time if I'm related.

I just used mine ( kitchen aid brand) today for homemade pizzas. Not having any data to compare with other grain mills, it works. It is slow for a fine grind. Very slow. So have time. It’s best for grinding small batch of what you need rather than a weeks worth. I will say, my pizza was amazing with fresh ground grains so if it’s the most affordable thing you can get, it does work. It is easy to attach. Another con would be the location of the flour falling.  You can’t fit a bowl under there without it leaning on the base and having to prop the bowl up. But minor inconvenience.

Thanks to all for your input. I think we'll try the Kitchen Aid for now.

I have one and it grinds very slowly, warms the grain, and does not mill as fine as other mills.  I am selling mine.