Kenwood is quite a big name in the home appliances market, and for good reason as they have developed some innovative products since their formation way back in 1947. Their aim is to make quality appliances, which sets them apart from many of the cheaper brands. They have a range of bread makers on the market today, and we are going to look at the Kenwood BM450 bread maker in this article. It may cost a little more than most of the other bread makers, but it does have quite a few tempting features. Is it worth the asking price? Let’s talk about that below.
Product Features:
To kick things off we will start by taking a look at the design of this model. First impressions are quite promising, as this certainly looks like a premium design. The bulk of the unit is made out of brushed stainless steel, while the top of the unit features a sleek black top. The Kenwood logo is engraved on the front of the machine, which makes the branding quite subtle in our opinion. The top has a stainless steel handle, and there are 3 glass slits through which can view the cooking progress. The main controls are on the right side of the machine, and all the buttons are flush with the top of the machine. These are know as “glass touch” buttons as they sit underneath a layer of glass, which means they are very easy to clean. The buttons don’t have any text written on them, but they all have picture label which are quite easy to figure out.
Above the buttons is the lcd, which features blue text against the black background. This makes it easy to read, and keeps with the modern look they have gone for. The lid on top is removable for easy cleaning, and also built into the lid is an interior light which is quite a nice additional extra. The dimensions of this model are not too large at 9.25″ W x 12.5″ H x 15″ L. To sum things up though it is certainly a fantastic looking design, which is one of the better ones we have seen so far.
Now lets talk about some of the many features this model has. Like almost every other model out there, the BM450 has three crust control types including light, medium and dark. There are also three loaf sizes to pick from including the small 500g, the medium 750g and the large 1000g. Judging by the dimensions, you can probably guess that this is a horizontal bread maker. The baking tin is nonstick coated, but the manual does state that you should not put the baking tin or the lid in the dishwasher. The bread ingredients are all mixed by a single paddle. This paddle is quite thin, and the reason for this is so it doesn’t leave a large hole in the bottom of the loaf. There is no mention of what size motor powers this unit, but it does say 780W at the rear of the machine which is presumably the motor size. This should be more than adequate to mix denser breads such as rye for example.
There are a 15 recipes in total with this machine including Basic, White Rapid, Wholewheat, Wholewheat Rapid, French, Sweet, Quick Bread, Cake, Gluten Free, Dough, Artisan Dough, Jam, Pizza Dough, Bake And Rapid. In addition to these recipes there are 5 user programmable modes which allow you to customize and save all your predefined recipes. If the recipe you have selected requires extra ingredients to be added, you can make use of the Automatic Ingredient Dispenser. This is a little box which clips into the top of the lid, and you fill it with any extra ingredients such as nuts or raisins. When the time arrives for these ingredients to be added, the machine automatically opens this box and dispenses them into the mixture. There are only a handful of bread makers that seem to offer this facility, and it certainly gives this model a big advantage.
Like other models this one comes with a timer which can delay the cooking up to 12 hours. Once the bread is finished cooking it will switch over to the Keep Warm mode which will last up to 60 minutes.
The feature list doesn’t end there however, as there is also the built in power failure mode. If you mistakenly unplug the machine while it is operational, then you have 8 minutes to plug it back in before the machine will lose its current setting. The convection cooking facility is also definitely worth mentioning here, as the fan assisted cooking helps to ensure the bread is evenly cooked throughout.
So after that long list of features, you might be wondering if it actually performs as advertised. Firstly lets have a quick look at the cooking times. The first recipe called Basic takes 3:10 in total for a medium sized loaf, and the Whole Wheat recipe takes 4:30 for a medium loaf. The Rapid Bake program takes 58 minutes in total, but don’t expect amazing results, especially with the added yeast required. However for the most part the cooking times are quite average so there is nothing too exciting to report here.
As for the results, it seems like the machine lives up to its reputation. The finished bread is said to taste really great, and the texture is said to be excellent. The convection cooking facility helps to ensure that the bread is thoroughly cooked all the way through, and the crust is said to come out really well. The kneading process is not that noisy, and the machine seems to stand still during this process unlike some other models which can hop around the counter! In terms of negative reports or complaints, there aren’t too may out there. One of the common complaints is that the paddle get stuck in the bread loaf, but this is generally what happens with most home bread makers at some point. Aside from that the vast majority of the user feedback is positive, so it certainly seems like this is a good purchase.
So that is a quick look at the Kenwood BM450 model. It looks great, has a number of good features and produces great loaves of bread. It may be a little expensive, but with all these features that is to be expected. At the end of the day what more do you really need from a bread maker? It comes with a measuring jug, a measuring spoon and the recipe booklet. Keep in mind though that this model is imported from Europe, so you would need a steup up transformer to use it in the USA.
User Manual: You can find the user manual for the BM450 over here.
Pros:
- Fantastic modern design
- Glass touch buttons
- 15 recipes
- Ingredients dispenser
- 8 minute power failure backup
- Convection cooking
Cons:
- Little pricey
Summary:
The Kenwood BM450 is a good looking machine with a number of great features. It may be pricey, but it certainly looks like the performance justifies the price. It has a one year warranty, and you can find it for sale over at Amazon.com.
| Our Rating: |
|---|
| 4.5 |