I only use cotton thread. Right now I'm quilting a quilt with 28 in the top and 50 on the bottom. Mainly because I don't have enough of the 28 for both top and bottom. You can actually use a whole lot heavier thread in the bobbin than you can on top. You can use threads in the bobbin that won't even go thru the top! It's called bobbin work.
People that say "my machine only likes this or that" are really saying they don't know how to adjust both top and bottom tensions to get a balanced stitch. It's only a machine, it can't tell one thing from another.