Customer Reviews

Cuisinart CBK-100 Programmable Breadmaker

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

We bought this machine based on a recommendation from a friend at work and other reviews we read on Amazon. First of all, let me say that this is a great product. The recipes are easy to follow and the bread is outstanding. We brought the machine with us when we visited relatives over the holidays, and two of them are now going to get machines for their families.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WROTE NEGATIVE REVIEWS, AND THOSE WHO HAVE READ THEM, PLEASE READ THIS!! For my first loaf I went to the store to get flour. At the store I talked to the guy stocking the flour aisle about what kind of flour to use (note that the recipes specify "bread flour"). The grocery store guy and another woman who joined in the discussion assured me that I could use all purpose flour, so that's what I bought. The loaf came out so-so. It was quite dense, and the middle of the loaf was sunken instead of nicely puffed up (many of the negative reviews describe exactly this problem). So I googled "bread flour" and found out that it is significantly different from all purpose flour. It's higher gluten and protein content produces stretchier, chewier bread, but more importantly, it traps more of the carbon dioxide from the yeast so that the dough rises properly.

Equipped with this information, I went back to the store and bought King Arthur BREAD FLOUR. What a difference! My son described it as a 1000% improvement. Every loaf since then has been outstanding.

One more thing. The recipe instructions tell you to set the loaf size and crust color, then select the bread program (white, wheat, gluten free, etc.). You actually want to SELECT THE BREAD PROGRAM FIRST, then the loaf size and crust color, because setting the bread program first will RESET the loaf size and crust color to the defaults (2 lb. loaf, medium crust).

My wife has Celiac disease and a good gluten free bread is impossible to find ready made. We must bake our own bread if she is going to have a bread that tastes good. We have found the bread mix from Gluten Free Pantry is great. but our old bread machine, a Breadman Ultimate was not turning out a consistant product. It was less than a year old and quit working. Which turned out to be a blessing. Based on our experience with other Cuisinart products and the reviews on Amazon we decided on the Cusinart CBK-100. The gluten free cycle is perfect. It bakes the best gluten free bread we have ever had. We have used Gluten free pantry Sandwich bread mix and also Bob's Red Mill gluten free multigrain mix. WOW! THe bread is so good that I even like it. This bread is light and the crust is perfect. It even is easier to slice. If you are looking for a bread maker that turns out excelent gluten free bread this is the one to buy

When our breadmaker of about 12yrs. broke, I search the internet for a replacement. I thoroughly checked out many many many different types and prices. I settled on this Cuisinart CBK-100 and, have been very pleased with the texture of bread it makes. I do however use 2 tablespoons of sugar for a 1 1/2 lb. loaf and use only 1 teaspoon of fast acting yeast instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons. It operates very quiet compared to our older machine we had. I really like the beeps telling you it's time to take the paddle out of the bread so you don't have that gaping hole on botton of every loaf. I strongly recommend purchasing this machine.

Bought this last year and tried about 5-6 recipes several times, at different loaf sizes, using recipes that came with the machine as well as out of reliable cookbooks. No luck. Every loaf collapsed and baked into a dense, inedible mound of dryness. Tried to return it, but had passed the Amazon return time. Cuisinart was not particularly helpful--made us return and try another machine twice even though I explained that I thought the issue had to do with the rise times programmed as part of the equipment, not the product itself. Fortunately, since we live in California, the shipping back and forth costs were paid by the company (CA law). Finally, after the third return, they gave us credit, which we ended up using on a different product. That nonsense took a year and many phone calls to negotiate! As a longtime Cuisinart customer, I found their customer service lacking in quality. Since then, I have started baking by hand, using a wet dough recipe from the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. Also considering trying the cookbook, _Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day_--as making bread is relatively easy--but the timing is the hard part--while adapting some "high elevation" tweaking to the recipes (didn't grow up baking at high elevations so that has been a learning curve). The low star rating is for the issues we faced with Cuisinart in returning the product, which does not adapt to high elevation climates. I wish Cuisinart would address this issue by building better time options into the machine design.

I bought this product in August and it worked great for two months. Then the touchpad stopped working. Customer service told me how to reset it and that seemed to work. The paddle broke during making the very next loaf of bread; it took 4-6 weeks to get a replacement paddle as they were "back-ordered". I made one loaf successfully when the new paddle arrived. During baking the second loaf, the heating element quit and I was left with a half-baked loaf. I called Cuisinart asking for a refund and was told they don't do that, but would send a replacement machine, shipping at my expense. I did talk them into paying the shipping, but they have no expedited shipping so I will wait a couple of weeks for the replacement. I have to return the old machine at my expense. This, in my opinion, is poor customer service. I hope I got a dud the first time and that the replacement is problem free or I will be out $90. By the way, they only give the remainder of the original warranty on the replacement. When it worked, it made good bread, but think twice about buying this product.
Cuisinart CBK-100 Programmable Breadmaker

This is my third breadmaker - my Panasonic breadmaker got too old, and I thought I'd risk a new brand. I liked the idea of being able to remove the paddle before baking, to avoid the paddle getting stuck in the loaves. However, I have not yet used this feature.

The Cuisinart CBK-100 looks good, is easy to use, and the instructions are clear. I have had no difficulty when making loaves, and have been very impressed by the very rapid bake option. I do think that the recipe would be easier to follow if weights were given, rather than volumes, as then you can measure accurately straight into the bread-pan without getting lots of cups, measures dirty.

My main reason for not giving this breadmaker 5 stars is the annoyingly loud beeping. It beeps at the end of kneading - so you can take the paddle out, and it beeps at the end, of course. This is fine, but there is no way to silence or reduce the volume. So, when I put it on the 'timer' mode to get fresh bread at breakfast, guess what woke me up in the night! Yes, beeping at the end of the kneading. Finally, for my last breadmaker there was more flexibility on rapid mode - you could select wholewheat or 'plain', and do different size loaves, whereas this is just one setting. It seems to work fine for wholewheat if you increase the yeast.

My son was diagnosed with celiac about 6 months ago and was being a good sport eating food for life brown rice bread- but he really missed bread. I had heard a breadmaker was the answer so i followed the amazon reviews to this one and have not been disappointed- I use Gluten free pantry everyday bread mix and it has been delicious- the only problem i have encountered is the liquids must be lukewarm- not hot and not cold in order for the bread to rise properly. Other minor details, because the dough is sticky, it is difficult to remove the paddle before baking so there is a small indentation and slash mark in the finished product which is cosmetic only and if you are not there to remove the bread when it finishes cooking, the crust will darken quite a bit- doesn't interfere with taste. My son can finally enjoy a PB&J sandwich.

For the breadmaker itself, I'd give it 5 stars. I bought it to replace a Sunbeam breadmaker whose pan gave up the ghost and I couldn't get a replacement pan. This machine is far superior to the Sunbeam. It's sturdier and the loaves are better kneaded. The display is difficult to read because it's located on top of the machine but if you stand on your tippytoes, you can see it. The reason for anything less than 5 stars is Cuisinart's customer service line. The machine was shipped without a user's manual. When I called customer service, I was told that they didn't have any user's manuals, couldn't get any and I was invited to "serve myself" by downloading one off their website. Appalling.

Its been more than a month now that I have been using this product almost once a day. I set it up in the evening and have fresh bread in the morning. From the pictures I expected it to be larger than it really is. It fits well on my kitchen counter. I have used about four or five recipes that was included in its recipe book and so far all turned out really well. Overall I am quite happy with the result so far. This is my first bread machine.

I have been using this exact model for over a year now and LOVE it! We have 7 in our family and so make at least a loaf a day. It works great with regular bread and also with the gluten free stuff we make for some of the kids.

The loaf pan is actually horizontal so it makes normal shaped loaves instead of the weird square ones that most machines crank out.

One note: We keep ours in the basement because it beeps. REALLY BEEPS. Loud, long and all throughout the cycle. I think there are 4 times in a 3 hours cycle when it starts beeping. I don't remember the codes, but it beeps loudly 16(!) times when it's done. 16! Anyway, we moved it to be basement because it was waking the kids early in the morning when it started mixing.

But, it's so worth it when you wake to the smell of fresh baked bread.

If you don't mind the beeps, it delivers the goods. I paid 2x this much and would again.