I only managed to get a decent loaf out of this bread maker once. Wouldn't you know, it was the first time I used it. That first loaf was perfect; fluffy, light texture with a brown chewy crust and good taste.

Then it all went downhill. Typically, the bread I made in this did one of two things; it either didn't rise properly, leaving me with a lumpen housebrick, or it rose spectacularly before hitting the top of the lid, burning, then collapsing. It didn't matter which recipe I used, what flour I used... I called the helpline and they told me that my kitchen was too cool. Oh, sorry, I didn't realise that my central heating was supposed to cook the bread; I naively thought the heating element in the breadmaker would do that. I did actually ask the helpline whether there was a possibility of a fault; they said that since the mixing paddle and neating element still worked it was fine.

The recipe book does detail all sorts of interesting and tasty-sounding breads, but I couldn't get any of them to work. I did have success with croissant and doughnut doughs in it, but for a bread mixer it is very cumbersome!

The machine has nine settings, to make different sized loaves in either white or wholemeal, including a rapid bake option that produces a loaf within an hour (white only). It can make loaves up to 2lb in weight - this is a far bigger loaf than it sounds! There are two browning settings as well, I found that the lighter of the two was suitable for all loaves, even wholemeal.It can also make doughs without baking them, and has a timer delay. Sadly it doesn't have a jam making function or a seed and nut dispenser, though it does beep so you can put the nuts in yourself at the right time.

I had hoped to use the timer delay to bake bread overnight; no chance! The machine kept me awake at night; during the mixing stages it is extremely loud and the whole machine vibrates.

The machine is good looking; it is stainless steel (a little baby oil is a good way to get fingermarks off it) with a black lid and a viewing window. It does have a larger footprint than most other breadmakers, and takes up a lot of worktop space. I found the viewing window difficult to keep clean, and resorted to using a scourer on more than one occasion when the loaf hit the top. The loaf pan and paddle are non-stick and come out for cleaning - they are dishwasher safe but as I don't have a dishwasher I never tried to - but the pan is VERY difficult to get back in correctly - it is very stiff and needs a lot of force to be pushed in and out correctly. I also found that if the paddle wasn't positioned precisely it would fail to turn properly.

I ended up selling this on ebay and buying a panasonic instead; I'd advise anyone considering this maker to buy a panasonic instead too.