You don't need to give up on bread machines to bake good bread. See http://sankey.ws/bread.html for recipes for Canadian ingredients. You just need a bit more American flour to make them work in the USA.
Black&Decker is what I use - it's worked fine for me for many years.
For whole wheat, use fresh-ground - even a day sitting around seems to make a big difference. I grind my own and use it within minutes, while it's still warm from grinding.