So you have the KitchenAid stand mixer—now what about all those interesting attachments you can buy separately? Are any of them worth the investment? To find out, we put several of the likeliest attachments through their paces. They all were sturdy and easy to set up, break down, and clean, but we felt there were only a couple that we’d really love to own.

Pasta roller set

The pasta roller set includes a sheet roller for kneading and rolling the dough, plus cutters for fettuccine and spaghetti. Pasta making is a breeze with this sturdy roller and cutter. The mixer’s motor does the cranking for you, so you have both hands free to feed and catch the pasta sheets, whereas a manual pasta roller requires one hand to turn the crank. ($129.99 atShopkitchenaid.com)

Food grinder set

The food grinder set includes fine and coarse grinding plates and a stomper. We like how it grinds meats for sausage, meatloaf, and burgers (very cold or nearly frozen meats work best) but don’t like the way the grinder heats up as it operates. We had to take breaks or grind small batches to avoid warming the meat. ($64.99 atShopkitchenaid.com)

If you grind large batches of meat, the food tray below is convenient but not essential. ($24.99 atShopkitchenaid.com)

Ice cream maker

Tuck the bowl into the freezer overnight, and this easy-to-use ice cream maker is ready to go. The frozen double-walled bowl stays cold for about 20 minutes of mixing, at which point you’ll have a soft, airy ice cream ready to be transferred to the freezer for 3 to 5 hours to harden. We liked that the bowl could hold 2 quarts but also works for smaller batches. If you don’t have space for a stand-alone ice cream machine, this attachment could be just the thing. ($99.99 atShopkitchenaid.com)

Can opener

This attachment opens cans perfectly well, but we found it awkward to use because you first have to lock the can in place and then switch on the stand mixer’s motor. And cans with wet contents (soup, tuna) tended to spill, which was especially messy because the cans were suspended 6 to 8 inches above the counter. ($49.99 atShopkitchenaid.com)