Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had this bread machine for almost 5 years now and I've used it anywhere from a few times a month to a few times a week. I'm mostly quite happy with it, aside from a few minor issues that I think could be better. The things I like include: it (1) includes several different cycles with different options (I've mostly used the whole wheat cycle), (2) works well with whole wheat bread (the whole wheat cycle adds a 30-ish minute "warm up" phase to the cycle to slightly warm the ingredients before mixing, and the cycle as a whole is a bit longer due to extra time during the rises and probably other phases), (3) is fairly easy to use (select the program, then change options for loaf size or crust color if desired; then press Start, optionally adding a delay by adjusting the timer up before doing so), (4) makes decent bread (but I don't think any machine compares to making it by hand--but I often cheat; see below), and (5) seems pretty durable, given that I've had it for almost 5 years now. Things that could be better: (1) the manual lacks a time table. You can find a time table in the manual for the CBK-200, but the CBK-100 is slightly different. The main thing I care about is that on the whole wheat cycle, you'll want to be around when there's about 1:35-1:40 left in the cycle in order to remove the paddle and reshape the dough, if desired. I don't usually use other cycles so can't comment on their times, but I'd imagine they're similar or less. Customer service was, unfortunately, not able to help when I asked; (2) I think there is a typo in the recipe book. Lots of 1 lb loafs call for 1 cup + 1 Tbl water, then the 1.5 lb loaves call for just 1 cup water. I think they meant 1 1/4 cup for the latter, as the 2 lb loaves are then 1 1/2 cups and this progression doesn't make sense otherwise. (3) You can't use the delay/timer feature on the dough cycle. Why?! (I can only imagine it's because they're trying to prevent you from not being home when the cycle ends, forgetting about it, and accidentally letting the dough rise to its doom. The manual says it doesn't "recommend" using the timer for the Dough cycle, but unless I'm missing something, you literally can't); instead, I use a bread cycle and plan on being home well before it would start the baking phase based on what I've figured about the timing of the cycle; (4) The paddle sometimes gets grease/oil onto the bottom of the loaf. I remove this before baking, and it doesn't usually happen; it's also not a unique problem to this breadmaker; (5) The seal in the bottom of the pan failed for me after a few years of use (shortly after I wrote this review)--the shaft eventually started to fall out, and I could usually put everything back together enough to make it not leak, but if water were to come out inside the breadmaker, you'd probably be in trouble. Cuisinart sells replacement pans, but I got a refurbished machine on Amazon for not much more. I tried to buy a CBK-100 pan on eBay but don't know if it was mislabeled (the CBK-200 looks similar), but it didn't fit; ordering directly from Cuisinart might have given me more recourse if it didn't fit, though I was able to make a return in any case. Just be careful if you do this. Third parties also sell replacement seals, which could be all you need, but I didn't want to mess with that. Now, for some "neutral" issues that aren't inherently good or bad but that some people may care about: (1) The appliance looks like stainless steel or aluminum in the picture, but it's actually a layer of a gray vinyl or plastic-like material (as are most "silver" Cuisinart products I own)--not a big deal for me but may be to some people. [UPDATE: I later bought a refurbished model with "SS" in the name and it really *is* stainless steel! It looks much better and probably won't stain like this grey vinyl/plastic has after lots of use]; (2) People say it beeps a lot or beeps loudly. It does, but I don't find it annoying--and the final sets of 6 beeps are nice to know because that's when you should remove the paddle and re-shape the dough if you care to do so; (3) There is no indication of how long is left in each phase of the cycle, though it does tell you what phase it is currently in. I've never seen a breadmaker give any information more detailed than this, but I see some other reviewers mentioned it, so maybe some people care (I do care but wouldn't mind if it were in the manual, which it's also not--but once you use a cycle enough you'll figure out the times that are important to you, like the one I mentioned for the whole wheat cycle above). I do have some tips that I use on most breadmakers: after the initial mixing is complete, I try to check the moisture level in the dough. I like to make sure it's moist but not sticky. Ideally, careful measuring will eliminate most of this concern, but I find it depends on the flour (whole wheat flour seems particularly variable) I'm using and possibly the humidity if legend is to believed. Second, I highly recommend removing the paddle and reshaping the dough (into a flat-ish even loaf shape) at the final set of 6 beeps, especially if you're making one of the smaller loaf sizes. Unless it's the dog days of summer, I actually like to take it a step further and just turn off the bread machine at that point and let it rise in a loaf pan and bake in my regular oven. This gives you a more typical loaf shape, whereas the bread machine pan is a bit wider that I prefer (but it's still a much more conventional shape than a lot of other breadmakers). In fact, sometimes I cheat a bit more and do my own kneading for at least a few minutes sometime during the first kneading phase--I'll let the machine do the work of warming and mixing the ingredients, then I'll knead it for a few minutes by hand (because I'm still not convinced a machine can do this as well as a human) and put it back in for the machine to finish the rest of the kneading phase and the remainder of the cycle (until they very end where I may again take it out). This sounds like a lot of work, but it's really easy (the machine really does all the hard and messy stuff), and I think it improves the final result a lot--but it's all optional and you'll still get a decent loaf if you just let the machine do everything on its own (though I'd still recommend removing the paddle if you're there when it prompts). I have never used the jam, pasta, or sweet bread cycles, so I cannot vouch for them. With other breadmakers, I've found the pasta dough doesn't always mix well (ends up crumbly until I start using my hands) and the jam settings turned out more of a coulis, which is not bad but perhaps unexpected for some people. I can't imagine this machine would be different and certainly wouldn't buy any bread machine if that's all you plan on doing with it, though some people may find the additional options nice. All things considered, I'm fairly happy with this machine. There are a few improvements I'd hope they consider making (publishing a time table and enabling delayed start for dough, for example), but I'm pretty happy with it as is and have recommended this machine to friends and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other Amazon customers, either.