apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think this is exactly the type of situation that appliance covers were made for. Although many of those can be pretty gruesome.

Maybe you can have a cover made from some fabric you actually like?

that green is beautiful, and you should really give it a try first.

otherwise, I would strongly recommend against painting for many reasons, including that getting any sort of chemical near an intense mechanical food prep area seems like a real bad idea.

if you really hate it that much, sell it on craigslist/ebay (I'd love it!), and buy another in whatever color you like. Of course, you'll spend more than painting it, but you'll get exactly what you want.

also, looking at your picture again, you have green/earth tones all over your kitchen! and, that leaf/bird thing. this color compliments that theme perfectly. I think you should keep.

Send it to me. Your walls look to be pale green at least it doesn't clash.

The more you use that baby, the less you'll care about what color it is, anyway. Those things are amazing!

if you hate it, sell it and get a new one. you'll be taking a loss, but painting kitchen appliances is asking for disaster.

the original is a factory-applied -- and in many cases, baked-on -- finish that would be impossible to replicate in the home... additionally, a rattle-can paint would (as noted above) not be food-safe in many cases and will peel/flake with any real use. i second the craigslist/ebay idea... or, if you have the box, how about a retail exchange? many stores will do this without receipts -- especially for wedding-related gifts if it's a store you're registered at. we exchanged 2 crystal champagne flutes ("have you met us?") for our kitchenaid mixer...

I think you would definitely destroy it with the paint... The color is decent and ok. Please don´t paint it...

i think it goes with your kitchen as well.

but, don't paint. i baked on powder coat or enamel paint, so done that way for a reason. it is bullet proof. my mom's kitchenaid looks the same from when they got it forever ago.

Either love the green, retail exchange, or sell and replace. Don't paint, it won't go well. you'll end up with some nice paint chips in your cookies.

Green is green is green. You have green walls, green details, now you have a beautiful forest green mixer! Embrace the colour, or take it back and exchange it for something else.
Painting it will make it look like crap (no offence), and for such a beautiful mixer, it deserves a beautiful finish.

No painting - but maybe some vinyl stick-ons could "cut" the color?

it's a professional applied powder coated finish. for safety reasons I'd not futz with it but if you don't mind the idea of paint chips in your food I'd bring it to either a powder coating company (mainly found in larger cities - Google to find on near you) or take it to an automotive paint shop... or just re-gift to another newly wed and buy another color!

I'm assuming it can't be returned/exchanged?

Why not cover at least some part of it in decals (like on your fridge) to make the color work better with your theme? Though, I think it already works fine.

i don't know how you would be able to paint an appliance, besides the toxicity of paint, how do you think it will look?

if you haven't used it yet, see if you can exchange it at a store like macy's for a different color or as others have suggested, sell it and buy the color you like

ps. if that's a picture of your real kitchen, this color combo does not look bad at all

The person probably picked green because her kitchen there, as we can see, is green. It's sort of neutral in a color, whereas Mary probably would have picked a red one or possibly bright white. Who knows what else is going on there, but I think the gifter was playing it safe. It's an awesome gift - either make it work (because it does work) or ask the person if they wouldn't mind you exchanging it for a -whatever color you prefer- one. If you used it already, or it was thoughtfully passed along from the giver's own kitchen, that's probably a different story. Try to recoup and get the one you want because paint just isn't a sanitary or attractive solution here.

car/motorcycle paint shop for powder-coating

I would politely ask if you can exchange it for another color, or cleverly come up with a way of finding out where they bought it like "Oh! I love my mixer!!! Thank you so much! I need to get some accessories for it, like different blades. Would you mind telling me where you got it from, so can make sure they match and are an exact fit?" or say it has a scratch/ is broken and you would like to replace it. Then go exchange it yourself. If they ever ask, you can say they were out of the hunter green color.

Otherwise, go with the green... it actually looks good in your kitchen :-)

I am assuming that you want to leave it in a dark part of the kitchen and that's why the color is troubling. I have found that a small plug in lamp in areas like that are quite charming and would lighten the space. Or, use those dots or the lights that are meant to go under counters.

Don't paint... instead, sell it and buy one in a new color.

You have to strip off the old paint before you can apply a new finish. I almost hired an auto body shop to refinish my KitchenAid for me... it started to be a bit of a trend last year. Flames. (remember? http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/04/food/fo-mixer4) It runs around $150 to have it done. Better to have a professional do it than tackle it yourself and be sorry.

If you really hate it that much (I agree with the others - it goes w/ your kitchen) - just return it and get another.

Remove the end-parentheses in that link above and it will work fine. Not sure why it linked itself. ;-)

List it as a trade on Craigslist - maybe someone has one in another colour that they would like to swap.

I have a nice red one. It goes well on our white and blue countertop. Every once in a while, I try to make something with it. Otherwise, it's just an objet.

Definitely flame it. http://flameka.com/default.aspx

this is funny, i'm dying to paint my plain white one as well - i've been thinking of buying some bottles of red nail polish - would that work?? but i checked out that flame site above & i think i'll buy the decals.
and i agree - green is NOT good, too much of a downer color.

I definitely would not paint it. Decals are an idea, or you could play it up by surrounding it with other green appliances and kitchen objects that are all different shades of green. A green vase with green utensils, a cheese grater with a green handle, a green cutting board, who know - it can be your new mission to "go green"!

Ugh I agree, I hate the hunter green. It's so late-90s.

My boyfriend (now husband) gave me a black one; I was bummed it wasn't purple, but have learned to love it anyway and want to deck it out in flames like Alton Brown did.

If it's unused and you still have the box, bring it to exchange. If you don't have the receipt, the store might take it anyway (provided the box, etc is in tact). I've exchanged non-receipt items at Macy's.

Otherwise, selling it and buying what you want is a good choice.

Just because it matches her decor, doesn't mean she likes the color. I agree that the color is kind of dreary. I would want one of the bright colored ones!

I definitely wouldn't paint it. Is it possible to exchange it at the store? If it's been used, probably not, but if it hasn't, most stores are good about that-especially if it's just an exchange, cuz they aren't losing money.

Otherwise, yeah, you'll either have to sell it at a loss or live with it. Sorry. :(

Alton Brown from the Food Network does this. I believe he takes his appliances to an auto body shop.

An auto body shop should do it, but also check with a local refinisher - they may have experience with painting appliances or other things. Not sure on cost, and the machine would certainly have to be taken apart to some degree, which might well void the warranty.

Anything that has a baked on finish has to be done in an autobody shop if you want the same slick finish. But I would think twice if you want to have those chemicals off-gassing near your food.

Per Natalica's post, here is the company that has the flames ala Alton Brown:

http://flameka.com/pictures.aspx

MyDesignSecrets.com

as a longtime employee of bed, bath, and beyond, i would suggest bringing it into your local store and asking to exchange it for a different color.

the best part is that no receipt is necessary.

i know, it sounds too good to be true. but i assure you, we do it all day everyday!

No no no don't paint! Live with it for a while ... I had a cobalt blue one for several years which wasn't my first choice of color but it was on sale one Christmas for a price I could afford at the time and I'd always wanted a kitchenaid mixer. And although I came to love the blue, a few years later one of my sisters was in the market for a mixer and that was just the color she wanted, so she bought it off of me and I bought a new mint green one. You might just find a friend who wants to do the same.

By the way, I too think it looks just fine in your kitchen.

I think you asked if you could paint your mixer...not if you should. The answer is yes. You can have it painted at an auto body shop. I saw one that had been painted on the food network.

PAINT IT! With some precision taping, I'd say go for it and try to paint it. There are so many products on the market that could work for this application. I'd say go to your local auto repair place such as Autozone or Advanced Autoparts and look at the paints they have. There are paints that are heat safe for car engine bays! I refinished my entire bicycle with lacquer spray paint last summer and suprisingly it hasn't chipped or scratched at all. Any multi-process paint system will do much better than single step. I'm not sure about the food safety properties of lacquer paint but you won't be painting the bowl so I think it'd be fine. Tons of people have refinished their KA mixers so I'd spend some time on Google as well. Good Luck! PS. I'd love to paint my mother's KA aqua with silver metal flake!

no paint!!

if it's new, you could exchange it. if not, you could sell it on ebay & get one in a color you like. they sell lots of refurbs in fun colors.

Sell it on ebay, and buy one one ebay in a color you like.

oh my god, so many elaborate explanations. Why don't you exchange it... people do it ALL THE TIME

My guess is you can use "appliance paint" for this particular task. Would you maybe consider keeping the green as a background color and painting her with a festive stripe or stencil in a contrasting color?? What fun!

I am totally mystified that this post has received so many comments. Why are people so interested in solving the dilemma of the wrong colored mixer? This is not a judgement -
I was just reviewing recent posts and this caught my attention - just musing...

just take it to macys or bloomies after x-mass when everyone else is returning stuff without receipts and ask them to exchange this for you. you're not returning, you're just exchanging.

since they are powder coated to color them at the factory, much diffrent then painting, you could probably take it to a powder coating place (they are around, my dad uses them for metal works, look online). they probably could take it apart and put it back together after coating, and it will permanately bond the color. it probably is a little pricey though.