A bread machine is a compromise to the law of averages. Baking bread can be as much about art as about the science. If you accept some limitations about the creativeness of the work, you can generate a decent enough loaf just on the science of it all. Manipulation of the dough is a key to the quality of the crumb, so to speak, and bread machines are built around what an average loaf recipe takes to make an average dough, then baking it for an average cooking time. To the degree that the baker physically manipulates the preset conditions of the bread machine, they are defeating the intended purpose of the machine, which is to automate as much as possible the process.

A typical bread machine is not going to make artisan loaves like what you get at a Panera or such. However good the finished loaf will be, it will not replace bakery quality. It is suitable for most needs around the house, usually in the form of old fashioned sandwich loaf.

I don't mind using a bread machine as a convenience for making my house smell like fresh baked bread (bread machines are good for that too) and for keeping my bread pantry stocked. When I want to make something to be proud of, I get out the kithcenaid, my dough board, and spend an afternoon cranking out a few good home made, hand kneaded loaves of bread.

All good bakers have a process they follow as part of an overall recipe, and all good bakers have ways of evaluating their product through the various stages and adjusting the recipe as needed to yield as close to the perfect loaf as their ability will allow. Things like pre-ferment, steaming, and forming are not an option with a bread machine, unless as I stated before you interrupt the automated process and revert to the hand made method.

I have yet to have a truly good sourdough recipe work out in any bread machine without implementing at least some part of a manual method.

A bread machine is a good compromise for the standard daily loaf, I don't have the time to keep cranking out hand made on a regular basis.

Bread machine's are the Ron Popeil principle for me. You add the ingredients, set it, and forget it. I can do a lot better than a bread machine if I do it myself.