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 - Worth the moneyI only had limited experience with this machine so far. It is very very good. The crust and chewy center are excellent. There are bread machines at 1/4 of the price but it's worth every penny. Rating:  - ACCESSORIES OVERPRICED!!!!!I love this bread machine. I've been using it consistently for about a year, making about 2-3 loaves a week. Unfortunately, the nonstick coating is coming off of the bread pan and the kneading paddle. I called Panasonic for the replacement parts. The total with the shipping would be $99.00. That's insane!!!! I'm going to buy a different bread maker. The parts are too overpriced. Rating: - Easy to use and clean, great resultsI bought this breadmaker after reading all the reviews, and have been using it for about 6 months now. It is astonishingly easy to use - it is just a matter of dumping a bunch of ingredients in the bread pan in the correct order (wet stuff last), pressing a few buttons, and presto-zappo, you have fresh bread several hours later. I have made my own bread from scratch before, and it's really kind of a pain - the loaf may come out somewhat nicer, but that really does not make up for the ease of use and the many options you can employ with this machine. I like that I can choose the size of the loaf based on how much bread I think I will need that week. I tend to make more smaller loafs. The raisin/nut signal is also a very useful feature, although I have on occasion failed to hear it go off - so stay attentive when you are using that cycle. The only disadvantage is that there is no cancel button - so if you forget to choose the correct size loaf, you can't re-program your instructions - which has happened twice to me. So then you get kind of a sub-par loaf. There should be something you can press to cancel your previous instructions. I really love this bread maker, and I love knowing exactly what goes into my bread, and having it be much cheaper and more efficient than buying good bread at the store. I think it has practically paid for itself by now. I would recommend also buying a bread book (Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way to go along with this - can help you be more creative...although, when this particular book says don't use the delay cycle - believe them, because the bread doesn't come out if you use the delay cycle...which is kind of a pain....but all the recipes that come with the breadmaker itself can be done with the delay cycle (except the raisin ones, obviously). Rating: - Panasonic SD-YD250 Breadmaker a winnerJust finished a Corned Beef on my home made Rye and it was great. Feel a little more independent being able to make such a wide variety of bread in my own kitchen. With bread often selling for $5.00 and not really knowing the ingredients, I can now make my families bread easily and more economically that in the recent past. Thanks Rating: - Excellent machineMy parents have used a Panasonic Breadmaker for over 10 years in England with tremendous success. I used their one and was so impressed with the ease of use, and the results, that I came back to the States and immediately purchased this model from Amazon. I have made white, wholemeal, and 10 grain bread, all with amazing results. I have used the machine to make dough for pita bread and baguettes. The pocket bread recipe was in the British Panasonic book, but similar to those available on the web. Fantastic result - all puffed up in the oven and so much better than the purchased ones. I am now looking at sourdough recipes and seeing if I can adapt that to the Panasonic. I see that the Zojirushi has a program for that but I didn't want to buy that make because of having such good results with my parent's Panasonic. My only criticism is the state of the packing job by Amazon. The first machine came in the Panasonic box that had a big gash in it. That box was loosely placed in an enormous Amazon box. The machine was on it's back and when I opened the box it had a dent in it's side, right by the computer part of the breadmaker. I called and e-mailed Amazon and it was collected the next day by U.P.S. - excellent service. The second breadmaker arrived a couple of weeks later from a different distribution point but very poorly packed, once again ignoring the manufacturer's instructions and arrows to stand on the breadmaker on it's base. I closely examined the machine and have used it successfully. Maybe Amazon doesn't have the right size boxes to pack Panasonics but if that is the case they need to use better packing materials around the contents. There was no packing under either of my machines and flattened inflatable bags on the top of one (the damaged one) and loose brown paper on the second. If Amazon reads this, please pay attention! Great Breadmaker.
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