West Bend 41200 Programmable Bread Machine, Stainless

Comment: I am thankful to Amazon for sharing these reviews. I read them all and am, so far, very pleased with this machine. After wearing out 2 bread machines, I wanted a programmable one. One prior review mentioned an error in the recipe book regarding raisin bread. I called their customer service number and mentioned the problem. I was told there were other recipe problems with the booklet packaged. When I asked why this had not been corrected, I was told these machines had been already packaged. A poor excuse, I think. They offered to send me a new instruction manual which contains the recipes. I asked if it contained one for sourdough. No, but they had another small booklet they would send. Well, the new instruction booklet was no different than the original one with the errors. However, the additional recipe book had more recipes and had been totally corrected. If one just only knew this when buying this machine. If not for this problem, I'd give it 5 stars. West Bend 41200 Programmable Bread Machine, Stainless

Comment: Excellent product, would advise everyone to purchase one if looking for a programmable bread machine.

Comment: We have owned five bread machines over the past twenty years or so. One ChefMate (which was by far the best), three Breadman, and now this one from West Bend. Though the Breadman machines were pretty good, none of them stacked up to the ChefMate. It's the one I compare all others to.

We've only had one machine motor die (that was our original one after seven years of usage). Mostly the problems have been with the bread pan gaskets breaking down. Replacing the stem piece and pans often costs as much as buying a new machine, not only in the cost of the parts, but with postal rates as they are.

When our most recent machine died I was not looking forward to shopping for another one. I'm known for researching things to death, but these days no amount of research really prepares you for how something is going to work.

During the Christmas season this West Bend became available at a local store for $59. Though I've never been a fan of the oblong pan (I prefer the upright), we figured that we couldn't go too terribly wrong at that price. If nothing else this machine would get us through until we could find one we liked better.

I've never been under the illusion that ingredients can be put into a machine, turned on, and left to their own devices. Every machine needs a little supervision, and the ingredients need to be tweaked. Compare that small issue with making bread completely by hand and it doesn't seem like such a big deal. Do a little tweaking, a couple of hours later - fresh bread.

So far this machine is excellent (and right up there with the ChefMate). It has one powerful motor, and it mixes, kneads, and raises dough to perfection. I've made several loaves of bread in it, and several batches of dough for other things (including bread I let raise in a pan in the oven).

My only complaint about it so far is the beeper. It's extremely loud, and when the machine is finished it sounds like a smoke detector going off. A minor annoyance for what appears to be a good machine, at least so far.

I actually like that the paddle rests higher up on the stem. It comes out in the bread (sometimes the others did too), but at least it doesn't get stuck on the stem and have to be soaked off (which can ruin the gasket over time).

I hope to get a lot of use out of this bread machine.

Comment: My wife and her sister have been taking turns making a loaf of bread with this thing every three days since Christmas. What we don't eat gets taken to work to share with their co-workers.
If they succeed at running it down, I think we'll have to buy another one immediately.

Comment: I purchased this Bread machine. about a month ago (Oct.2009). It was delivered on time & in good condition. I noticed the stir paddle fit loosely (the paddle on my previous machine fit tightly). After calling West Bend cust. service they assured me that it was to be that way. The problem is that the paddle bakes into the loaf and must be cut out leaving a hole in the bottom of the loaf. Other than that my first loaf did well and I am satisfied with this product.