Kenwood BM260 Breadmaker - White [Energy Class A]

USEFULNESSI was dubious about getting a breadmaker because I thought I wouldn't have time and would end up buying bread in the shops and the machine sitting in the cupboard gathering dust. How wrong I was. It's very easy to get into a routine - all you need to do is keep flour, oil, salt, sugar and yeast stocked up in your cupboard. The 15 hour timer delay means you can set it up when you have time then forget about it. It's easy to clean.NOISEWe haven't found it too noisy as other reviewers have said. It's much quieter than a washing machine and the only thing that wakes us up if I have it on in the small hours is the smell of freshly baked bread first thing. Mmm!END PRODUCTIt makes a lovely crusty loaf better than others I've seen from friends. There are lots of different settings which makes it really easy to program. Reminds me of the farmhouse loaves you can buy in supermarkets but better. Hubbie loves the homemade pizzas and we're saving a fortune on takeaways. The cakes taste okay but don't look that great (there's a hole in the bottom where the paddle is). But fine for everyday cakes. The naan bread dough looks like it'll be a disaster but it comes out very authentic. Really impressive if you add garlic powder. They freeze well.The eco setting is handy of you've run out and need bread quick (1 1/2 hours) - but the premium bread setting is the best and uses less ingredients for a bigger loaf.MISCOne other thing - we were a bit concerned about out waistlines using a breadmaker (!!) but we found that making good bread makes us appreciate it more and we enjoy quality not quantity.I would recommend even if you have a very small kitchen like me make room for this it's a very reliable and versatile breadmaker.6.4.13UPDATE 1 MONTH LATER:I've had the breadmaker for 2 months and not bought shop bread since it's so easy to manage. I must be spoilt with the taste of home baked bread because I recently tried a supermarket "finest" loaf and seriously thought there was NO TASTE AT ALL!! This machine is really worth every penny.Update July 2014:Still using this machine and it's going strong.If it conks out we'll just get another.Update March 2015:It didn't conk out and was still working fine but we decided to upgrade to the Kenwood BM450 to take advantage of the bigger range of bread making programmes. Still not buying bread from the supermarket. I don't think I could ever go back to that now.

After 4 perfect loaves and 4 perfectly delicious cakes i feel confident that a review of this breadmaker is timely. The Kenwood is a replacement for the Morphy Richards daily breadmaker which broke down after 2 loaves! and here i must once again congratulate Amazon for excellent no quibble service.The Kenwood was almost twice the price of the Morphy Richards but is a vastly superior product in every way. I suppose we are all addicted to cheap stuff but a breadmaker by it,s very nature must be robust, so remember "You get what you pay for" The only slight reservation i have i have is it does move around on the worktop-hence the four stars- so you do need to keep an eye on it while it,s kneading but it is working hard so to be perfectly stationary it would have to weigh about 50kilos! to overcome the inertia of the motor. So far so good and if it,s still working in 5 years time i will be very happy indeed

I like this product - the bread produced is wonderful and I have not bought bread since I purchased the Kenwood in January of this year. Makes a wide range of loaves so is very versatile. However, I am very disappointed with the fact that the kneader remains inside every loaf - customer services have been very helpful by sending a replacement blade of a different design but to no avail. The kneader blade has remained firmly embedded in every single loaf I have made so far, and is difficult to remove - this for me is a major design fault.The machine is quiet and very stable, I have had no problems with it moving about during operation. The finished bread is great and the family love it - I would recommend the Breadmaker as long as you can live with the hole in the base of the loaf.

Bought this to replace a Russell Hobbs which bit the dust after just over a year (which had replaced the same model which lasted less than a year and within its guarantee). We wanted another small breadmaker that wouldn't take up too much space. So far I'm impressed with it. It makes much better bread than our previous ones. The lack of viewing window doesn't bother me as it always got steamed up on our previous one so you couldn't see through it anyway. The only down side is how noisy it is. It's no more noisy than our previous one but a lot noisier than my mother's panasonic. Not ideal if you want bread to bake overnight in a small house. Overall I'd recommend it if you're looking for a small not too expensive model. If you've the space and a bit more to spend I'd splash out on a Panasonic. Here's hoping it lasts longer than our last two!

I received the machine last week and used my Aldi bread mix that I have been using for some time in my now dead (for the want of a seal) Breville that has produced consistently for over 10 years. Unfortunately the first attempt on the recommended settings which I have always used was awful, I like a soft crust but got a 10mm thick dark brown crust. The second attempt was on ECO as recommended by Kenwood for bread mixes got a 10mm thick crust over the whole loaf which was about the same size as and resembled a fire brick and tasted like it. This is the 3rd machine I have had in 25 years and the worst by far. I don't like buying cheap stuff as it usually comes back to bite you, unfortunately Kenwood are heading in this direction without a reduction in price. and on a last point the reason I went for this machine was that it was supposed to be a fan assisted machine, as far as I'm concerned wafting a barely noticeable puff of air around an exposed element is not fan assisted. The Breville machine has the element hidden and uses a proper fan to force the hot air around the pan, unfortunately they are now obsolete.