6 Best Bread Machines

This Zojirushi bread maker is the favorite of our Lab. With 15 different settings (including gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free and vegan), you'll have plenty of options to get your preferred loaf of bread. There are even two rapid bake settings that can make white and whole wheat loaves in just two and a half hours. It has a built-in delayed start timer for up to 13 hours, and the machine displays the actual time (rather than the time remaining) when your loaf will be done. The one downside is that the parts are hand wash only.

Hamilton Beach's machine comes at a much nicer price than most other bread makers, so it's a smart option if you'd like to try your hand at making bread but aren't sure you'll be doing it on the regular. It's fairly easy to use: Just pop the ingredients in, pick one of the 14 pre-set cycles, then wait for your freshly-baked bread. This model features a timer, multiple options to try different types of bread, dishwasher-safe accessories and an LCD display, although reviewers report it can be hard to read.

A best-selling bread maker on Amazon with more than 9,000 five-star reviews, this Cuisinart can make three different bread sizes and comes with a recipe booklet developed specifically for the appliance. Its vertical shape means it has a compact footprint, and a window panel and an interior light allow you to see what’s going on inside. The easy-to-use control panel features 12 pre-set bread options from gluten-free and artisan dough to ultra fast and packaged mix. The final loaf comes out a little unusual looking (vertical with an often misshapen top) but it still tastes great and cooks evenly. The bread maker parts are also hand wash only.

With this bread maker, you have the option to bake up to four different sized loaves, with the largest at 2 1/2 pounds, perfect for big families and meal preppers. In addition to the 13 automatic settings like gluten-free or yeast-free, it also features a dispenser that automatically adds mix-ins, like nuts and fruits. Its nonstick pan makes for easy removal once the bread is baked, and its kneading blades fold in before bread bakes, so you don't have to worry about bread getting stuck on the paddles. Keep in mind that the parts are hand wash only. And, like all of Breville's appliances, it has a top-notch, intuitive control panel with a lot of cooking options.

This stainless steel convection bread maker circulates air for a crisper crust. Use it to create perfectly customized fresh-baked bread, thanks to 16 pre-programmed menu options, including gluten-free and low-carb settings, plus three crust color options and recipes to help you achieve different varieties. It also has audible tones throughout the baking process: one to indicate the right time to add fruit, nuts and other mix-ins, and another to provide option to remove paddles before baking. The accessories are hand wash only.

This Panasonic bread maker features 20 preprogrammed functions, ranging from basic white bread and sourdough to gluten-free breads, cakes and pizza doughs, and includes a delay-start timer and an automatic dispenser for nuts and other mix-ins. Testers found the machine straightforward and easy to use, though flagged that it was a bit too large and the accessories are hand wash only.

In our Lab tests, we found that this machine yielded a very tall, golden loaf of white bread that was comparable to a white bread you would buy from the supermarket — it had a very soft interior with a soft fine crumb and an exterior crust that was slightly tough, but not overly so. While the bread was easy to release from the bread pan, the handle did get in the way and dented the center of the bread.