Easy to use and easy to clean. I only make the basic white bread recipe and it's good. I really should get adventurous and try other things, but for now I am happy with the basic white loaf. It's quiet and makes the house smell wonderful.

Nice machine, relatively quiet, does a great job baking our loaves of whole wheat bread. Loaf drops right out of the baking container with the paddle still in the loaf. The paddle is very easy to remove and leaves a very small indentation.

This is my first ever bread machine and let me preface that by saying I do not like to bake as a rule. What I do like is bread of any type as a snack and with meals - bread is simply my favorite food - I'll choose it over sweets every time. I have recently been diagnosed with a severe adult onset allergy to both soy and eggs, so this has put a dent in eating anything made commercially or at the local bakeries - no more store bought bread, rolls, etc for me. In desperation I decided to learn to make my own and figured I would buy the least complicated, least expensive bread machine on the market with the best reputation - I got this one from the Amazon warehouse. My theory was if I hate doing this then I'm not out a huge amount of cash in the overall experiment. Well, it's been almost three weeks and I've made 12 different loaves so far with great success and almost no trouble at all.

This machine is extremely easy to use and relatively uncomplicated. The book is pretty simple and straight forward to understand - though the recipes in it aren't to my liking personally, that's just an individual taste issue. The buttons are large and easy to operate & the LCD screen is clear once you read the book and know what each code means. It is a bit hard to see without good light though. My unit came with a plastic cup for flour and a one piece combo teaspoon/tablespoon for salt & sugar.

I am using King Arthur Bread Flour only and Fleishmann's bread machine yeast in the jar (I know there are other yeasts out there, but as a newbie, I went with what 3 of my experienced bread baking friends suggested) and I have absolutely no problems at all with any of my breads rising or correctly or having the right texture when cooked. I have also followed the tip of lightly wiping the paddle with a bit of oil before use so that it slips out of my finished loaf easily. The machine does beep after the first rise before it kneads a second time so you can drop your add-ins in before the second mix/knead session. I've done a loaf of bacon-beer-cheese bread, adding the bacon & shredded cheese in this way and everything incorporated into the dough perfectly. (I felt like a magician putting homemade bacon bread on the table and watching my husband's eyes bug out!)

I am still learning something every time I use this machine, but it has earned a permanent place on my counter top and for now anyway, I cannot see any reason to spend more money and buy a two hundred dollar version. I can put the ingredients in an have hot, fresh, soft bread ready in three hours or a slightly denser loaf in an hour on the the quick bake setting. Now that I've got the basics down pat it only takes about 10 minutes to pull the ingredients out, put them in the machine, turn it on and clean up. Done. This is actually one of my favorite purchases of the past year.

******One Year Update Feb 2017 *****

I've been making bread on average twice a week with this little machine for a year. It just works right every time with no drama. I have only had one loaf fail to rise correctly and it turned out that I had used 1/2 the yeast needed....so my fault.

I've made cranberry bread, pumpkin bread, peanut butter bread and your usual cheese or nut breads without any issues. The best though is buttermilk bread - it always ends up with a creamy, soft texture that is a big hit as a hostess gift. I would absolutely buy this bread machine again.

My husband loves this bread maker, and given the 10 lbs I've gained eating his bread - I do too. We've had great successes and failures with this unit - but they are all dependent on the recipe and not the unit itself. We had one faulty unit that wouldn't heat up, but our second one was good to go. For the price, I don't think you can go wrong if you're wanting warm bread at home.

I've been the victim of so many kitchen gadgets, filled with empty promises. I am usually so, so, so disappointed. One day, I heard tell of a magical device called, -A Breadmaker-. It sounded too good to be true. Surely, an art such as break making cannot be replicated by a machine?! And so I researched and read and eventually added this to my wishlist. But memories of gadgets past kept me from making my purchase. Then, on Christmas morning, I find myself face to face with this myth, in the flesh! (kinda). I searched my cabinets and found I had what I needed for a loaf of french bread. With great trepidation, I set it and let it go. Soon, my home was filled with the delicious aroma of fresh bread. Could it be? Could the legends be true? I easily released the bread from its pan and took a bite.

HOLEY GUACAMOLE I MADE BREAD BY DUMPING SOME CRAP IN A BOWL AND STICKING IT IN A MACHINE AND GOING TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES.
I've made all the breads in the recipe book and have a folder full or recipes to try. I've used the timer to wake up to fresh bread.

I. LOVE. THIS. THING.
-sobs while stroking bread maker-