If you’re into home bread making or you are thinking about picking up one of these, our breadmaker buying guide will help you find the best breadmaker for your needs. We have also conducted a side-by-side comparison of breadmakers in our test labs, see the results in our breadmaker review (member content).
Have a question about breadmakers? Ask us in the comments below.
Our breadmaker review is now updated (member content):
I’m looking for a great breadmaker to make soft fluffy light bread at home can anyone recommend the best one for the job
Welcome to the Community @Jwilki ,
Choice did a recent test update (member content) of a few popular bread makers. Non-members can see the products that were tested but not the test results.
and an (open content) buying guide
Community members are always asked to refrain from infringing on Choice IP with their responses.
Joining Choice (online, magazine, or both) is always encouraged. Although the test is dated as being last updated in August 2021, it does not show in the magazine indexes for the past 12 months.
Otherwise many libraries have Choice subscriptions, print and/or digital.
We have three different brands,
which we use for our business.
The Panasonic bread machines produce a good, even loaf. The Sunbeam loaf is slightly wider and longer (not as high), and while the colour isn’t as even as the Panasonic, the loaves turn out okay (but not as good as the Panasonic). The Sunbeam bread machine is about $50-100 cheaper.
I wouldn’t buy a Breville again as the loaves aren’t as good as the Sunbeam and substantially inferior to the Panasonic. We replaced the Breville with a Panasonic, and would definitely buy a Panasonic again.
Some tips. …
Hope this helps.
Edit. The two older Panasonic machines have baked over 1000+ loaves over the years. The new Panasonic about 50 loaves so far and the Sunbeam would be around 100 loaves thus far. We replaced a old Panasonic (where the drive failed and due to age, couldn’t get spares and is now kept for spares) with the Sunbeam, and the Breville more recently with a new Panasonic. Using the Sunbeam for a while proved the Panasonic is a superior baking machine and hopefully will last as long as the others. The non-stick in the newer Panasonics seems better than older models, and other brands. Time will tell if it continues to be as good.
Another note, the Panasonic baking tins are far more solid than the Sunbeam and Breville ones. The Breville has many dints from its long use making loaf removal more difficult. The Sunbeam has a few minor dints, but hasn’t impacted much on the tin. The Breville and Sunbeam are made using pressed/folded metal, while the Panasonic is a cast tin (with thicker walls). If you tend to bump or drop things, then go for one with a far more substantial tin…like the Panasonic.
Edit (10/01/22). Last week the Sunbeam BM7850 died. The control panel illuminates, but buttons are unresponsive. Searching online, it appears a common fault when the bread machine ages and it can’t be repaired. One for the bin after about 150 loaves, one pizza dough and making blackberry jam. Hopped online and managed to find a old working Panasonic SD-2501 nearby for $20. Has baked 3 loaves in our kitchen in the first week, to add to those of the previous owner. If it lasts a year, it will have been a bargain. Based on the other two Panasonic SD-2501 we have, no reason why it shouldn’t.
The mix that you use will determine if your bread is light and fluffy as much as the breadmaker.
Totally agree. A bread maker can only work the ingredients we add, a light and fluffy loaf will depend mostly on the right flour and yeast, and a few other tips.
Make sure you can make a good loaf of bread by hand. Use the bread maker to make your life easier 
Hi and welcome to this forum. I would take the recommendation of Choice review on the best bread maker. So far nearly all the products Choice have recommended, for me, have turned out to be excellent. Have fun making your own delicious breads. Incidentally you can also make sweet fruity buns and even pizza dough.
I have a Kambrook KBM300. It is OK, was cheap and makes an acceptable loaf.
The shape of the tin dictates the shape of the loaf. The Kambrook is somewhat rounded, to aid mixing and slices look odd. It can do up to a 900g loaf, but sometime the mixture rises so much it sticks to the lid. The bread maker can be used for a range of cooking - jam, pizza dough, cakes - but is limited to 220 degrees C. Cakes are OK but a bit dark on the crust.
I remove the paddle before the last rise (no more mixing cycles), scrape down the sides, lid, and replace the dough, evenly formed for the final rise & bake. It still ends up with a hole in the bottom. The non-stick has worn on the paddle due to use and it now tends to tear a large hole. Sometimes I make the dough in the machine and put it in a loaf tin for its final rise and bake in the oven.
Light & Fluffy - There are a few tricks, but you will have to experiment.
I would recommend the Kambrook as cheap, long lived and reliable. The down sides are: the size is limited, cockroaches love it and I have some small ones now entombed in the “sealed” LCD display (it gets a good wash before use), the paddle is becoming less non-stick with use, it would be more versatile if the temperature or time could be changed eg 180C/45min for cakes - you are limited to set programs.
We have an Aldi one with two mixing paddles and an ingredient dispenser. Very happy with it.
This applies to all the machines I have had - five over the years if memory serves. In my experience the pan and the paddle are the bits that wear. When I first got one I expected the motor to wear out first but it hasn’t happened. In one case the pan was scored by the paddle and it was replaced under warranty.
I have bought new paddles or pans several times, one pan cracked around the spindle and would leak. If you use it regularly the pan/paddle is unlikely to last more than about 5 years. The pans are horridly expensive compared to the full machine and the paddles are not cheap. But that is the appliance spare parts industry for you.
These breadmakers scored poorly in our recent tests. See what our experts have to say:
Kambrook model KBM300 vrs Panasonic DS 2501 ? Which will be better?
Welcome to the Community @MiaMon,
I moved your query to the related topic about bread makers. It appears Choice has tested neither but the open content buying guide (click the following to go to the related post with links) might be useful.
Perhaps additional replies will be forthcoming.
An anecdotal resource that might be helpful is
Keep in mind productreview is not a test nor are the posts tests so it is important to distil what individual posts are about - operation, quality, service, non-delivery, etc to look for patterns.
Hi @MiaMon, welcome to the community.
The Kambrook KBM300 isn’t a model available new anymore and has been as a result removed from the Kambrook Australia website.
The Panasonic SD 2501 is available new and recently has been heavily discounted by some retailers (~$200 down from ~$300), which may indicate it may be a model runout.
I can recommend a Panasonic machine as we have four, three SD200s and a SD-2501 (see photo). We have also had a Sunbeam BM7850 and old Breville machine. Haven’t used a Kambrook, but think it is likely to be similar to the Breville. Neither the Sunbeam or Breville make a loaf as good as the Panasonics.
If you plan to buy a breadmaker, I suggest to look out for a second hand model. Breadmakers are an appliance which are often with good intentions to use regularly, but fall by the wayside for many users. As they are a reasonable size appliance, they are often sold second hand at considerable discount. For example, an older working SD200 can be bought for as little as $20. SD2501 is under $100. We have bought second hand ones in the past and they are still working well.
Our Panasonics have baked 100s of loaves and still going strong. We use each one on average every two days.
The second hand Sunbeam we had stopped working after about 100-150 loaves. It had a circuit board fault commonly found by many users and not fixable.
The only issue in three years has been a belt drive which failed on a SD200. Spares are buyable but we decided to buy a replacement second hand one and use the other for spares.
If you are buying one, buy a Panasonic.
I agree. I started baking bread soon after the start of the pandemic, first using instant yeast and modern no-knead methods and gradually working my way up to full sourdough. I found that there is no need to make it complicated. It takes literally a minute to mix the dry ingredients, another couple of minutes to mix in the wet ingredients and then you mainly let time do the kneading, which also develops the flavour. Sure, there is a learning curve getting experience with different flours, hydration rates, gluten development, ambient temperatures and fermentation times, but that is part of the pleasure of baking your own, and personally I can see no reason to use a bread machine except maybe for energy savings over a conventional oven. If you want anything other than a tin loaf, e.g. a boule, batard, baguette or ciabatta, you have to use an oven anyway - the machine is only good for the initial mixing and then you have to clean it. I’m reminded of a comment from an former work colleague in relation to another unrelated domestic appliance: “invented by a man to make money”, which, as a man, makes me laugh, but is true. If you don’t want the work, minimal as it is, just save the money on a machine and support your local bakery instead.
Looking to replace my b/m after losing the unobtainium paddle, any recommendations welcome…bonus points for folding paddle
Have a look on Gumtree or Market Place for someone selling a used one they don’t want. A cheap way to get your bread maker working again.
If you are after a replacement, also look for a second hand one. This is how we buy most of ours and recommended Panasonic over other brands. I have also moved you post to an existing thread which also contains useful information.
