I like interesting breads and for some reason had trouble finding what I wanted in Florida. I read websites and watched YouTube videos on bread making and decided to start with a bread machine.  Turned out that my sister-in-law had two bread machines and was using neither.  So we pulled both out when visiting her, put in a packaged mix in each and both baked the breads with no problems.  We took the physically smaller bread machine, both were Oster models, and bought some flours, yeast and various seeds.  So far I have made two loaves, one 100% wheat and one using 2 cups bread flour and 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour, both with lots of seeds in them.  Both came out great, though next time I will add some gluten to the 100% wheat to make it rise more.   I keep the machine in the basement and set it on the floor to run it.  That way it does not walk off the counter during a kneading cycle.  It looks like a keeper.   The breads I like to buy cost $3 to $6 each, so this will also save some money.

I hooked up my old Watts Up meter, which is much like a Kill-A-Watt, and found the highest wattage used was 432 watts (about 3-1/3 amps) and the total on a wheat bread cycle was 305 watt-hours (0.3 kilo-watt hours).  This is not a lot of electricity and is much less than using an electric oven.  

My next loaf will be using white whole wheat flour, since I bought a 5lb bag on sale.  This is made from hard white wheat instead of the normal hard red wheat.  It supposed has the nutritional benefits of whole wheat, with a milder flavor and the color is more like unbleached flour.

If you are gluten free, there are many recipes for making your own gluten free bread in machines.  I do recommend that anyone gluten free try making your own breads, with or without a machine. You will quickly save money since gluten free bread is expensive and might have ingredients that might cause their own issues.  

Bread machines are common in thrift shops, so you can probably get one cheap.  Or a relative might have one they are not using.  A new Oster model is $59 on Amazon.

I have to work through 15 lbs of flour before I can even think of giving up using the bread machine.  That is 12 to 15 loaves.