Cuisinart CBK 100 Bread Maker in 2021
Cuisinart is one of the best brands when it comes to quality kitchen appliances and accessories. Does the CBK-100 live up to Cuisinart’s reputation? The Cuisinart CBK-100 looks great out of the box with its shiny brushed chrome look. The control panel is impressive with all the options it offers for baking bread. However, bread makers are not rated on appearance and grain. They are rated for ease of use and the quality of the bread they produce. Let’s take a look at the features of this breadmaker and see how it compares to the most critical items.
The Cuisinart CBK-100 2-Pound Programmable Bread Machine is a less expensive bread machine with the features you’d expect from more expensive models. Bakes bread in 3 sizes, including a 1-pound, 1-1 / 2-pound, and 2-pound loaf. It also has 3 crust color settings and 12 pre-programmed settings. A built-in timer allows you to delay the cook cycle for up to 13 hours. The skillet is non-stick and bakes a large loaf instead of a long loaf.
The cost of the Cuisinart CBK-100 is about half the cost of most high-end bakeries. The Cuisinart website currently lists it at $ 99. With some complete breadmakers going for $ 200- $ 300 and up, the Cuisinart offers a nice feature set for the money.
It was surprising to see gluten-free and 100% whole wheat configurations on the Cuisinart CBK-100. These are the types of options that are generally available on the more expensive machines. Best of all, customer reviews indicate that both parameters work well with gluten-free and 100% whole-grain recipes:
Not all reviews were as positive as this one, although the following person seemed more embarrassed by the complexity of some gluten-free recipes than by the performance of the machine.
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Cuisinart CBK 100 Bread Maker – Easy of use
You don’t buy a bread maker just to complicate your life. You buy a bread maker to make plain bread and Cuisinart has done a great job of making it possible. Cuisinart likes to promote the CBK-100 as a programmable breadmaker, but that may stretch the truth a bit. What Cuisinart offers is a number of pre-programmed options that you can select to make producing your bread or other items easy and simple. Here’s a list of pre-programmed options, a few that might surprise you.
- Basic White Bread: This is the most common setting for bakers.
- French bread: used for speciality bread that requires slightly different fermentation and baking times.
- Whole Wheat / Whole Wheat Bread: These heavier bread require extra care and longer bake times.
- Gluten-Free Bread: Gluten-free recipes completely change the baking rules, and Cuisinart has a specific program for these needs.
- Packaging Mixes: A quick and easy way to get all the settings correct for most packaged bread mixes. (Suppose white bread).
- Cake: Yes, you can bake a cake directly on your Cuisinart CBK-100.
- Sweetbreads: Sweetbreads generally use baking soda or bread dough, which eliminates the need for long leavening times.
- Dough Only: Planning to bake multiple loaves of bread at once in your kitchen oven? You can still take care of mixing and kneading without getting your hands dirty.
- Bake Only: This is a great option to use with prepared bread dough that only needs baking.
- Pasta: Use your bread maker to mix and prepare pasta and pizza dough.
- Jam: An interesting setting to have in a bread maker. This setting stirs and bake a batch of jam to go with your fresh loaf of bread.
- Quick Bake: In a rush for that loaf of bread? If you plan to use quick yeast to make medium-sized bread in medium darkness, this is the perfect setting to dramatically reduce prep and bake time.
As you can see, choosing the correct setting is extremely easy on the Cuisinart. The bread maker reminds you of the proper times by beeping you to add yeast, additional ingredients, and just before baking (in case you want to remove the dough blade).
The Paste option can only become one of your preferred settings. This allows you to make the dough for cinnamon buns, buns, and speciality bread without all the intense times of manual mixing, kneading, and initial testing. Imagine yourself on a Saturday morning tossing in the ingredients for your cinnamon paste before heading to the shower. When you remove the dough it is ready for you to add the sugar and cinnamon and start making buns. It’s a time-saving feature for your other baking projects.
In addition to the pre-programmed bread types, you have the option of choosing the darkness levels and the bread size. You can choose to make a 1 pound bun, a 1½ pound bun, or a huge 2 pound bun. You can select a light, medium or dark brown crust for your bread. Some of the pre-programmed settings above override the settings you select.
Great Appearance and Easy Handling
This Cuisinart breadmaker looks great. The brushed metal look and black highlights make the unit look great in any kitchen and make cleaning easy, too. The surface is easy and simple to clean with a cloth.
Cuisinart has included carrying handles on the side of their bread maker, which is very nice. This allows you to move the breadmaker easily and safely, even when it is still hot. (Hot, not hot).
Is easy cleaning included in the package?
A common complaint about some bread machines is the time it takes to clean them after use. Fortunately, the Cuisinart CBK-100 avoids this complaint. The nonstick skillet is easy to wash in your sink or dishwasher. The rest of the device is cleaned with a damp cloth. Remember that you cannot put water on the cooking zone of the oven. When cool, just wipe up crumbs or ingredients that have spilled around the pan.
One feature that makes cleaning easy is the alarm to remove the kneading blade before cooking. This often becomes the most difficult item to clean in a bakery. The blade is baked inside the crust and filled with bread dough. Removing the blade makes cleaning easier and helps you avoid the hole in the base of your bread. Removing the blade before baking the bread is optional. If you don’t mind the blade making the hole, you can skip this step and save a few more minutes. Remember that it will be a bit more difficult to clean the kneading blade on which the bread has been baked.
Cuisinart warranty adds value
Most bakeries and small appliances have a one-year manufacturer’s warranty. Cuisinart offers a 3-year warranty on the CBK-100 Bread Maker, which is a huge plus. You should consider this factor when comparing the Cuisinart to other comparably priced bakeries.
There are a few things to know about the warranty. It is a guarantee of shipment. If customer service determines that your device should be repaired in the workshop, you will need to send it to an authorized service center and wait for it to return. You must include a $ 10 payment to cover return and handling costs when you also ship the unit. In some situations, customers received a replacement unit in advance. They still have to pay the $ 10 fee plus the cost of returning their broken bread maker.
The good news is that Cuisinart bread machines rarely need repair, but it’s good to know that you have a 3-year warranty if something goes wrong.
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Fresh bread first in the morning
How often do you wish you could wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread at home to accompany your morning coffee or tea? Cuisinart added a 13-hour delay to this breadmaker to make this possible. You can put your ingredient in the breadmaker, set the time, and then go to sleep or go to work. When the time comes, the breadmaker turns on, begins to mix, knead and bake the bread. You’ll find that fresh loaf of bread waiting for you when you wake up or come home.
Cuisinart has gone further in its instruction guide for programmed cooking than most other manufacturers. They went to the trouble to explain how important it is to avoid loose perishable ingredients like eggs and fresh milk when baking in the oven. These ingredients can start to go bad before the baking process begins to produce a tasty loaf of bread that might not be healthy. They provide you with guidelines for using dry alternatives that allow you to safely bake your breads using the timed function. This is just another indicator of Cuisinart’s attention to detail in the production of this inexpensive breadmaker.
Cuisinart CBK 100 Bread Maker – Dimensions, weight and appearance
No bread maker is small, but the Cuisinart manages to maintain a reasonable size while still producing large 2-pound loaves. These are the physical attributes of the bakery.
- Height – 15 inches
- Width: 18 inches
- Depth – 12 ¼ inches
- Weight: 17.9 pounds
Weight is slightly more than some other bread machines in the class. Additional handles on the sides make the unit easy to handle and move.
The bread maker is available in a single color combination, brushed metal with black trim. It’s a great color combination for most kitchens.
Another physical feature that you should pay attention to is the viewing window at the top. This allows you to keep an eye on what is going on inside the bakery. You can see if the bread rises properly and how brown it is turning.
The Cuisinart CBK-100 has 12 pre-programmed settings including Basic / White, French / Italian, Wholegrain Bread, Panettone, Gluten-Free, Packaged Mix, Quick Cake / Bread, Dough, Pasta Dough, Jams, Quick Single Emergency Bake. It also has a timer so you can program the bake cycle up to 13 hours in advance if you want to come home with fresh bread or wake up to sweet bread in the morning.
The only complaint from the owners was the lack of customizable functionality that would allow them to tweak or modify the bread’s settings.
Again, this flexible configuration option is often seen on more expensive bread machines, but given the range of options available on the CBK-100, it should be able to accommodate most of the bread you like.
Cuisinart CBK 100 Bread Maker – Recipe book with recipes for 12 breads
Many people enjoy the recipes included with the Cuisinart CBK-100, but the instructions are often short; identified by volume rather than weight (or both), and more than a few people were dissatisfied with the overall quality of the recipes and instructions.
“All attempts to use the Cuisinart recipes and instructions have been completely unsuccessful; however, the recipes and instructions from Panasonic make excellent bread. I decided to keep the machine and recycle the cookbook. ”
It’s a bit unusual to see complaints about a cookbook, but most owners seem happy with its results, and many have used their own recipes with success. Even so, there seem to be some fundamental errors in the cookbook.
All things considered, the Cuisinart CBK-100 offers a lot of features for the price. While some owners have complaints about the reminder beeps and the cookbook, most seem genuinely happy with the overall performance of the machine. It is available in stainless steel and comes with a 3-year limited warranty.
Non-stick bread pan and dough paddle
The loaf pan and dough paddle are non-stick. The coating is defined as Silverstone®, which is a range of Teflon-based non-stick coatings. Cuisinart does not identify nonstick coating as Teflon, but most bakeries still use Teflon for their loaf pans. The single paddle works well for kneading and is common in many bread machines. The Zojirushi is an exception with its double paddle design. Some customers have commented that the paddle on the Cuisinart BK-100 came off when the bread finished baking, but this is fairly common with many bread machines.
Preset sound reminders
Like many bakeries, it is sometimes necessary to add ingredients during the kneading and grouting process. This includes adding fruits and nuts; in some cases, yeast, herbs or seeds as an ingredient or garnish. The beeps are pre-programmed to remind you of this, and some owners believe that this beep feature is a negative attribute.
It should be noted that some people enjoyed the reminder and the volume of the beeps, but enough people complained about it and I thought it was worth mentioning.
The display window on the cover
The Cuisinart CBK-100 has a viewing window on the lid that is large enough to allow you to observe the bread-making process through the steps. This can help assess the state of a bar when the reminder to add an ingredient sounds or to check if the top is browned.
Cuisinart CBK 100 Bread Maker – Accessories included
Cuisinart has grouped three accessories with the breadmaker that will be very practical for you.
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoon
- Recipe book
Your favourite item will be the cookbook. You get 38 pages of recipes that you can try on your new breadmaker. This includes traditional bread, desserts, and even pasta. Instructions can be even more valuable. They discuss the importance of fresh ingredients, exact measurements, and proper liquid temperatures to ensure that augmentation processes run smoothly.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Cuisinart CBK-100
We have to start this section by saying that the positives far outweigh the negatives of this bakery. As you are about to see, negatives are first and foremost a problem.
Advantage
- Produces 3 sizes of loaves.
- Variety of dark settings.
- 3-year warranty.
- Viewing window at the top.
- Removable cover for easy cleaning.
- 12 different pre-programmed cooking modes.
The drawbacks
- Very loud alarm.
- Short power cord.
- Replacement fee under warranty.
One of the most common complaints about this breadmaker is the volume level of the reminder alarms. If you’re in the kitchen the first time they ring, you’ll jump. This volume can be good if you are not normally in the kitchen while mixing and baking the bread.
The short power cord is a bit confusing. Cuisinart states that the reason the short cord is included is to prevent the cords from loosening and becoming a tripping hazard, and then explains that you can use a high-quality extension cord or order a power cord from different length. Adding a longer cable would change your cost very little. It’s a bit of a problem, but it can leave you a bit frustrated if you plan to use the breadmaker a little further from an outlet.
The small fee for exchanging a faulty bread machine can seem a bit complicated until you realize you could pay 1/3 the cost of a new unit to receive your replacement bread machine and return the old one. . Please note that you will pay a $ 10 fee to cover your shipping costs and you will pay your own return costs.
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Consumer Reviews
The Cuisinart CBK-100 seems to have a hate relationship with buyers. Most of them love their new breadmaker, which gives it outstanding ratings on the major shopping sites. On the negative side, the people who rate the bakery negative are very strong about their problems. Some of them report faulty control panels, faulty motors in the first few months of use, and irritation over warranty exchange costs.
In general, the percentage of positive votes for this bakery far exceeds the complaints.