Once upon a time, you could polish silver with a KitchenAid mixer

Stand mixers from KitchenAid have a port on the front of the motor head called the attachment hub. This is where you can screw in attachments that use the mixer's motor to perform different tasks in addition to mixing.

KitchenAid has included an attachment hubs on its mixers since it first made them for the home in 1919. The company says that decades-old attachments that you can find on eBay or in your grandparents' pantry will still fit and work on modern mixers, and modern attachments will fit on old mixers. 

We got a look at vintage and new attachments at the KitchenAid Experience Retail Center in Greenville, Ohio, where the stand mixers are assembled.

You pour oil into this metal attachment, then use a little valve at the bottom to release the oil into your mixing bowl. You'd use this when you make dressings like mayonnaise. You couldn't always run to the condiments aisle.

Attachments expand the usefulness of the stand mixer beyond baking, like this knife sharpener.

When you bring out the good utensils, you can give them a once-over on this attachment.

This attachment comes from a time when you had to remove peas from their pesky pods by hand. The struggle was real.

Pretty self-explanatory and useful.

KitchenAid now makes a plastic version of this juicer, but the metal version looks more ready to handle a big batch of fresh mimosas.

The modern citrus juicer is white and plastic.

KitchenAid still makes multiple attachments designed for cutting produce, like a spiralizer and vegetable sheet cutter.

The newer versions of these food choppers have a nearly identical design.

Other than the materials, the design on the food grinder hasn't changed much.

An ice cream maker sits where a mixing bowl would normally be. A vegetable spiralizer is inserted in the attachment hub.

You use this attachment to cut fresh pasta.

Speaking of pasta, you can stuff homemade ravioli with this contraption.

You can process your own flour with this attachment.

This attachment is for the serious juicers. You can also use it to make sauces and jams.

This attachment basically doubles the usefulness of the stand mixer.

This one can also be used with fruit. You can use the sheets to make wraps or lasagna.