Comments on: Cuisinart CBK-200 Bread Machine

By: Lyn

Lyn — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:48:40 +0000

I am joining the fray here, with my complaint about this machine. I actually like the look of it, and when the pan of my Breadman machine started to pop out during kneading (after only abou 8 months of use), I decided to buy the Cuisinart based on a number of reviews on various websites, and the sort of retro look, which I liked. I had strongly considered the Zojirushi, but it was $100 more. When the Cuisinart arrived, I was a little disappointed to see that the inside works looked identical to the Breadman’s - the pan, paddle, and even all the cycle numbers were the same, which leads me to believe that they ARE the same, but that the Cuisinart’s has a fancier “box”. I was really dismayed that on the very first use, the pan started to pop out during the knead cycle. I couldn’t believe it was happening again, with a brand new machine. I made a whole wheat bread that has come out perfectly numerous times in the Breadman, and it was, no surprise, a charred brick in the morning. It also seems that my machine has it’s own unique flaw, in that the paddle doesn’t fit as snugly on the pin as the Breadman’s did, so that there is a little bit of “play”. This causes bread dough to get stuck between the pin and the paddle, and prevents the paddle from being released when I try to take the bread OUT of the machine (and I’ve also really struggled to pull the pan out of the baking chamber as others have noted), so that when I finally wrenched the bread from the pan, the paddle, and about a fistful of the loaf remained stuck in the bottom of the pan. Oh yes, I also caught the thing as it was about to waltz off the counter and land on the kitchen floor. I’ve never been so disappointed with any product I’ve purchased before. I bought it from Amazon, and they’ve sent me a return shipping label, so I don’t have to pay to ship it back. And I did just order a Zojirushi after all. They make great products, and I’m hoping the bread machine will be at least as good as my rice cooker is!

Well, I feel better having found this group of sad souls!
Lyn

By: Vicki in Burnaby BC

Vicki in Burnaby BC — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:00:40 +0000

I bought a Sunbeam and love it. It’s half the price. The bread is lighter using the same recipe. The time to make a whole wheat love is an hour less. It comes out of the pan easily without tearing a hole in the bread.

By: kerry

kerry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:04:01 +0000

I started my machine and left the house, when I got home my machine was upside down on the floor, it must have shook so much it walked off the counter. It was a Xmas gift so I’m waiting for my son to find the receipt so I can exchange it. It makes excellemt bread

By: Vicki in Burnaby BC

Vicki in Burnaby BC — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:10:25 +0000

We have had this breadmaker for over a year and loved it. Every loaf we have made has been perfectly baked and tasty. I have not bought bread since we got this machine. Yesterday I made rolls and then after taking out the dough and forming the buns to bake in the oven I started a loaf. When I went to remove the paddle upon hearing the signal I was surprised to see that the dough had not mixed. It seems the paddle motor gave up part way through the cycle. I tried starting again but only heard a clicking sound when it should have been kneading the dough. Fortunately we bought it at Costco and I was able to return it. They no longer carry this machine so I’m now looking for another. After reading all the comments here I am wondering if it should be a different brand.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:01:06 +0000

I make bread every day and this machine has worked PERFECTLY for me. The recipes in the booklet work very well and I have tried a good number of them. The beer bread is delicious and the moz/tomato bread is great for making garlic bread. The white bread comes out very well and the sweet breads I have tried are all quite good. I have not made wheat bread due to the fact bread/all purpose flour costs 1 dollar for a 5 lb and wheat flour costs 3-4 dollars.

To anyone having trouble with floury loaves simple take a mixing spoon and gently stir the four corners during the mixing cycle. If you are trying to make your bread overnight use a more liquidy dough (such as the beer bread) or adjust the recipe to have a bit more liquid.

In terms of yeast make sure you take your yeast out measure and pour it and make sure you immeadiately put the yeast back into the freezer. Improper storage of yeast will impact your breads. Make sure the water and sugar are in the bottom of the pan with the flour above it and yeast on top so that the yeast does not touch sugar or water until it all gets mixed up.

Make sure you set the pan into the machine directly in the middle. Sounds like people are just loading it in wrong if they are popping out.

By: James In Tofino British Columbia

James In Tofino British Columbia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:59:20 +0000

This is the third cuisinart convection machine we have owned. The first one lasted at least 5 years and made countless numbers of loafs, jams and chutneys. We replaced it because it was just looking so shoddy and it was difficult to get some of the stains out of it. Also all the print for the cycles had started to dissapear from continual cleaning. The second bread machine made it about 3 years and we replaced it for the same reason. We had one new pan replaced under warranty for that one. Now we have the third and it looks the same but it is a piece of crap. The pan pops out all the time. Although customer service explainded that you must pull the sides of the pan out to make it fit tighter or bend the tabs up inside the machine. I notice the inside of the baking chamber is very feeble compared to the first one we owned. Cuisinart convection bread maker..NEVER AGAIN.

By: Karen in Montreal

Karen in Montreal — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:20:27 +0000

Just got the 400 model for Xmas, can’t say I’m very impressed. EXTREMELY noisy, the dough cycle takes a very long time and only rises once, and their own recipes from the booklet don’t work well! It did make great bread from my old white bread recipe (from my B & D machine).

This is my 4th bread machine, and I make bread several times a week. I’m ending up making lots of adjustments to try to make good bread. I wanted a new machine bc my old one (Oster, excellent!) wouldn’t make whole wheat any more, something wrong with the timing. I refuse to have two bread machines, one for white and one for whole grain!

And it better not break down, bc I’m not paying to have it shipped back to the manufacturer. They must be having a TON of problems if the retailers won’t take them back any more!

By: british columbia

british columbia — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:45:32 +0000

just wanted to let those of you who are complaining about BRICK loaves, when the bread is done take it out and brush (bbq sauce brush)the whole loaf with water then put it back in the machine or on a board to cool as usual. this makes the loaf waay better, not so crunchy!

By: Cuisinart Reviewer

Cuisinart Reviewer — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:56:17 +0000

The Cuisinart really is a pretty good machine when you consider what it can do. I do like some of the different features, especially the fact that you get a chance to take out the paddle before the baking cycle. This way I have a tendency not to bake bread in the oven so often. Thanks for a great and honest review. Lots of great comments, too.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:49:37 +0000

All I can say is thank God for the three-year warranty. After our THIRD replacement, we’ll be buying another brand when this one goes.

The problem? A cheap motor. If used daily, it will fail prematurely. I’m sure they marketed this to the average user who may only get the machine out every once in a while, but given the fact that all three of our machines have this flaw, I would conclude that it is an engineering flaw.

I don’t have any complaints about the bread we make with this. Matter of fact, it’s some of the best we’ve had from a machine.

One tip for using this machine: after the final knead(punch down equivalent), pause the machine, dump the dough out and take the paddle out. Replace the dough and continue the cycle. If you don’t do this, you will ALWAYS have trouble getting the bread out of the pan.

Another hint: It tends to bake smaller loaves better than the two-pound loaf.

I also concur from other comments that this machine is noisy. Don’t make a loaf at bedtime!