I got my first bread machine, the Hitachi HB-101, in September 1998. Until then, I'd never made bread! No one else I knew had a bread maker and all the recipes I found made two loaves and weren't meant for a bread maker, so I was pretty much on my own. I had to adapt recipes! After working at it for about 2 months, I became proficient and never had a loaf that "sank" or rose too high and stuck to the top of the bread maker and oozed over the sides. My children got tired of home made bread. "We want Wonder Bread!!" Peer pressure sucks. I persevered and soon was using the bread maker for doughs that I would form and bake in the oven. After about 15 years, I wore out the finish in the bread pan, and since no replacement part was available, I got another machine. This was a Breville horizontal loaf maker. I hated that machine. The only redeeming quality it had was that it had a little compartment that would open up and drop any "mix ins" and then mix it into the bread. I was so happy when one day two years ago, while it was mixing, it was a little off-balance and it leapt off of the kitchen counter and crashed onto the floor. I now have a Cuisinart CBK=200, which is adequate, but doesn't do well with specialty doughs like Squaw Bread or Spinach and Feta, and that is mainly because I can't program it. Another thing that's a pain is putting in and removing the pan from the machine. It takes too much "oomph" to push the pan in to make it "click" in place. I'm debating whether to wait for it to die or not! Are there any "cons" to the Virtuoso Plus that I should be aware of before buying?

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