I've had my Ank for several years now. After several wrist/shoulder injuries made hand kneading unfeasible I use it for making bread all the time (though almost every recipe assumes you have a KitchenAid: "knead until bread pulls away from the side of the bowl..."). It's less useful for batters or the like, since, unlike the KitchenAid, you cannot use chilled butter with the beater/plastic bowl (says so in the manual).
"... plastic mixing bowl (it’s BPA free!)" Unfortunately, that doesn't mean much: taking BPA out of plastic is like taking sugar out of a chocolate cake. Just omitting it doesn't work: you need a substitute. In the case of BPA, analogous substances--commonly, BPS-- are used instead, and they contains the same risks as BPA.

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