Chefmate have been making kitchen appliances for almost 50 years now, under the watchful eye of Nestle. Their range of kitchen related items are quite varied, and a few years ago they added several bread makers to their lineup. The TR7000 model was one of the more popular items made by them, so how well does it fare? More on that below.
Product Features:
The TR7000 is a stylish looking machine which follows the trend of many other successful brands by going with a classy looking stainless steel and black finish. The Main base of the bread maker is entirely brushed stainless steel, while the top of the machine is black. The control panel is surrounded by a silver trim, and the colored buttons help them to stand out. The lcd screen is a little on the small side, so we would have liked to have something a little bigger. Nevertheless the control area is quite easy to operate so we cannot complain about that. On the left of the control panel is the viewing window. Chefmate claim this is an “extra large viewing window” however judging by the size we would tend to disagree! This is not to say it is too small, as it is certainly big enough to peer in and have a look.
On this particular model there are 3 different loaf sizes you can make including the small 1lbs, the medium 1.5lbs and the large 2lbs size. The TR7000 has a built in program option, so you can set the machine to finish at a certain time if you want. Now lets talk about the modes offered by the machine. In total there are 10 different recipes to choose from with this model. These include your standard brown, wholewheat and gluten free modes. If you are using a recipe that requires additional ingredients to be added such as seeds or raisins, the machine will beep to let you know it is time to insert them. In addition there are also recipes to do cakes and jams which is a nice bonus for anyone who likes to cook. Reviews have shown that this machine does make a great loaf of bread. As with most bread machines, you will be left with a small hole in the bottom of the loaf but aside from that there has been widespread praise about the finished bread product. It will of course take a few hours, but this is pretty standard for any kind of bread maker.
There are one or two problems that we have come across with this particular model, so it is up to you to decide if these will affect you. The first is that the machine can shake about a little during some of the mixing / kneading phases. This means the machine can move around a little on the counter top (or whatever you have it on). If you have a large spacious counter then this should not be a concern, but it is something you should be aware of if you are limited for space. The other concern is that if the power is interrupted at any point, you will need to restart the entire cooking process from the beginning. Alternatively if you manually stop the machine for whatever reason, then you will also need to start from the beginning. Many other models that were in a similar price range have a small battery to save the current state of operation of the machine (if the power cuts out), so this is a bit of a letdown. If you live somewhere which is prone to power cuts or even brownouts, then this may not be the machine for you. The price of this model was a bit of over $100, which makes it an average deal considering the features included. It is a decent quality bread machine though, despite some of the mentioned drawbacks. In 2014 you won’t be able to find this model for sale in shops anymore. Chefmate has discontinued their range of bread makers unfortunately, so the only place you can find these now is on sale second hand.
Pros:
- Nice design
- 10 different recipes
- 3 Loaf sizes
Cons:
- Have to start from scratch if there is a power cut
- Machine tends to vibrate a bit during certain cooking phases
Summary:
Overall the Chefmate TR7000 is a rather ordinary bread machine. It has a few different options to play around with, and it does produce great results. It also has one or two drawbacks however, so at the original price point you may have been able to get a better option. If you can pick up a cheap second hand one then it would not be a bad choice. You can look at some of the user reviews and find out more about this particular model on the Amazon.com page.
| Our Rating: |
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| 3 |