Sure, you can use a hand-cranked pasta machine to make homemade noodles (or even a rolling pin and a sharp knife) but if you already have a KitchenAid mixer, the pasta roller/cutter attachment offers some definite advantages. Without needing a hand to crank the machine, you can use both hands to feed and catch the dough as it goes through the heavy-duty stainless-steel rollers. The second plus is height: Instead of feeding the dough through the rollers a few inches above the counter, you’re working almost a foot above, which means no hunching over as you work. The pasta dough also has more room to grow as it gets rolled into longer and thinner sheets.  (And yet, it’s not too tall, either, as a 5-foot, 3- inch editor can attest.) The mixer’s motor spins the rollers at an adjustable speed, and the set includes two cutters—one for fettuccine and one for linguine.