Love my bread machine. Like others said, I make my dough, form it, and bake it in the oven. We don’t dig the square loaves with the hole in the bottom. Fresh bread tastes better, and makes the house smell good. You can add your own flair ( I like sun-dried tomatoes and basil, with Greek olives in the crust.). We also use ours to make pretzel dough, pizza dough, and nan dough (that we cook on the grill…and it’s nummy) However, if you already own a good food processor with a dough setting, you could just use that.
The real problem is when you put it in the basement. If you’re going to go through the trouble of lugging the stupid thing down the basement stairs, just save yourself the trip and toss it in the garbage.
As others have said, they’re fun, but tend to be not worth the work and counter space unless you’re really dedicated to it.
ETA, now I want to go buy a new one…but I know I’ll only use it a few times, then it’ll wind up in the basement.
Use an electric knife.
Big bread machine fan here. My wife and I go through phases like most people do. We make a bunch of bread for awhile, then take long breaks off it.
If you get whole wheat flour, it makes really great whole wheat bread.
Also, instantly wrap your bread in tinfoil when it is done and it keeps really fresh for a few days longer.
I did not find it to be worth the effort. The bread always tasted a little odd to me. And the big hole made it useless for a sandwich. So for me, back of pantry for years, gave it away last year.
Though to be fair even most breadmaker recipes use dihydrogen monoxide.
OMG!!! Did you know if you inhale that stuff it can KILL you?
Thank you guys. I hadn’t thought about the fact that the bread wouldn’t last long - there are only two and a half of us in the house, food-wise, and we only really use bread for morning toast, so it doesn’t get eaten fast. I found some that do a 1-pound loaf, though, so that should get used up fairly quickly. I also hadn’t thought of an electric knife.
Overall, it does sound like something we’d use enough to get the value out of it. We’re probably going to go for a fairly cheap one and then upgrade if we’re using it every day.
I didn’t even realise that some of them make pasta dough and jam… I’m seeing a lot of time-wasting in my future.
Thanks again! Everyone is invited over for sourdough toast.
Homemade bread, with or without a breadmaker, will generally get eaten much, much faster than store bought. It tastes like real food, whereas most storebought bread, even those fancy artisan loaves, generally tastes like nothing much.
Look for “Convection bake function” on the bread machine. You’ll get a crisper, browner crust.
several brands offer it. Breadman and Cuisinart are two examples.
my machine beeps when it’s time to add raisins or nuts. beeps again to remove the paddle before baking.
You can also get packs of pre-prepared bread mix, which only require you to add a bit of yeast and water to them (and your own additions if you want something extra). Those can make for a very quick process for the times you don’t feel like bothering with recipes.
Mine gave out rectangular loaves. You can make lots of different breads. You can change the crusts . There are recipes for you to make over 20 different breads.
I also used mine to do the mixing if I was going to make rolls in the oven. The paddle broke after 5 years or so.
We’re on our… third? Fourth? Mom loves it because she can’t knead the bread. She broke her elbow years ago and doesn’t have the strength to knead. So if we make them without the machine it has to be a day I’m home to knead or a no knead bread. 
The last ones all wore out, this one is a convection baker and since it makes jam too apparently I can’t wait to try that later this year. We don’t find the bread goes bad but we tend to eat it all in a week and with three of us that’s toast for breakfast and a few sandwiches as well as a couple slices off the fresh loaf. 
If you can get one at a garage sale go for it. Better to try one out for a deal and if you don’t use it much then not much invested but if you discover it gets used a lot then you got it for a good deal.
My answer’s a little different. I’m not really a big bread-maker, but I really like homemade bread and liked the ease of the bread machine. I have this recipe book and use it religiously for breads where I can just throw in the ingredients and let it do its thing. I should probably try the “knead dough, then take it out and bake it in a regular oven” recipes, but I haven’t yet.
So, a bread machine is good if you like homemade bread, but you’re lazy. 
Hi. Not sure if laziness should come into it.. a breadmaker saves time (well as i have a breadmaker, I would say that wouldn’t I??)
I’ve got the Panasonic SD-2500WXC, which you can get for just over £100 in the uk ( http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/290123/module/general/compare/productsCategory.html ) but you may be able to get it cheaper if you shop around.
My one didn’t haver the raisin and nut diespenser and I’ve since found at that that’s only asvailable on the SD-2501 model… but I wasn’t really planning to do that.
In practice is works well, but it’s as well to experiment with different types of flours- it prefers some over others! Good luck! 