I have had my KitchenAid for a couple of years now, use it regularly and really like the unit itself. I have only used the dough hook a few times now and while kneading my bread dough today it broke just past the elbow. I am disappointed in reading these reviews regarding the flaking of the coating and the breakage issues and I am surprised the hook is not made from stainless steel metal rather than a cast product. My old mixer had a stainless steel hook, not coated and so also didn’t have to worry about the coating flaking off as appears to be happening to others with this product ( I haven’t run into this issue yet). As KitchenAid mixers are a very popular appliance I would think the company would look into providing a more suitable and better quality made attachment.