A dispensing apparatus and method for dispensing sheet material from roll of the sheet material. Dispensing is transferred from a stub roll (S) to a reserve roll (R) automatically in response to sensing a predetermined quantity of the stub roll (S). An isolating element (102a) is provided to lift the reserve roll (R) out of contact with dispensing rollers (44a-44) during dispensing of sheet material from the stub roll (S), and a nipping element (70) is provided to nip sheet material of the reserve roll (R) when dispensing is transferred from the stub roll (S) to the reserve roll (R). A camming mechanism (88) controls movement of both the lifting mechanism and the nipping element (70). Structure (108) is also provided for sensing the diameter of the reserve roll (R) of sheet material and providing an indication when the reserve roll (R) is a predetermined diameter. The dispenser is quite and capacity efficient.