The West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker is a real winner in my house, we love it! The lid on the popcorn maker serves as a bowl for the popcorn after it's ready which is most likely my favoite feature this baby has! It pops really quickly and does a nice job popping all of the kernels equally. You don't have to use a lot of popping oil when using the West Bend Popcorn Maker which is fantastic because the popcorn tastes way better and is way more healthy for you not to mention you are saving money on the oil, too! I probably use my popcorn maker about twenty times more than I had anticipated when I first bought it. It works and although it is expensive, I guarantee you it is not at all cheap. It is very durable and it's always fun to use it when I am making popcorn at home. The popcorn also tastes better tto me than popcorn you would get out of a bag. The West Bend Popcorn Maker definitely has my vote of approval!

honestgirl7

Undisclosed

I love popcorn, be it buttered or salted or flavored salty and sweet. This popcorn popper makes it easy to pop up a fresh snack whenever the mood takes me. A little bit of oil and some corn and plug this baby in. I can smell the oil and hear the kernels popping already! When you cook popcorn in oil, it lets the salt or seasonings cling better to the finished product than if you just air popped. Sure it isn't as healthy, but this popcorn popper does the job right. Instead of doing it on a hot stove, it does all the work for you. Performance Occasionally the spinning blades inside the dome might get stuck on a small kernel or piece of popcorn, but besides that this popper does exactly what it is supposed to do! Settings/Features There are no fancy doodads or features, but is that really such a bad thing? Ease of Cleaning Cleaning can be a bit of a chore, since you have to wash it without submerging. And if you make any candy flavored popcorns it is even harder. Ease of Use You don't get much easier than this! Measure your oil, your kernels, put on the lid and plug in. Durability My popcorn popper is still working after over 10 years. I seriously love this machine!

MelissaManjoney

USA

I have owned this popcorn maker for over 2 years. The popcorn comes out fully pop each and everytime. I got tired of shaking the pot over the stove to get great popcorn and I got tired of paying too much for microwave popcorn so I decided to try this out. The only downside since having it for over two years is the top part is sort of melted due to the high heat that comes from the skillet part but even still its going strong. Performance Outstanding as it pops a full batch of popcorn each and everytime. Settings/Features No off switch as you will need to unplug it in order for it to stop stirring. Ease of Cleaning Cleaning is simple but you want be able to clean the whole unit due to the electrical station. Wish you could separate the skillet from the unit itself. Ease of Use Easy to use Durability Over 2 years of use and its going strong. Only the top is somewhat melted from the high heat of the skillet.

sdhla2007

USA

I've had two of these. Not because the first one just stopped working or it was bad. Ii dropped it a couple of times. Same with the second one. It's not the design. I am clumsy and used the popper a lot. I stopped buying them because I can't bare to break another. It gets an 8 because you have to use a lot of oil in my opinion. Don't get me wrong I like oil but it's not particularly healthy. I love that the lid can act as a bowl for the popcorn. I don't like to do dishes but I did wash the popcorn maker and had a bowl to eat out of every time. Roughly every day. Performance Never let me down and never burned my popcorn like that crappy microwave stuff. Settings/Features East simple settings. Don't need anything too complicated to pop up some popcorn. Ease of Cleaning I do not like cleaning but cleaning this was pretty easy. The lid was a tad troubling to clean just because of the ridges. Other than that it is a snap! Ease of Use Stupid easy. Oil, popcorn, turn on, come back when you hear popping, turn off when when popping slows. Durability Can't survive 2 catastrophic falls. LOL

misspurdy06

USA

My husband and I make popcorn on an almost nightly basis, and this is our most trusted popcorn popper. We have bought (and broken) nearly every other brand on the market, some of which were much pricier than this dependable model. This is the top of the line, as far as we're concerned! It seems to pop up the corn much fluffier than microwave or air-popped corn, and it always tastes better! I would highly recommend this for times when you want the best popcorn and aren't just looking for a quick fix. When you're in a major hurry, of course it's easier to throw a bag in the microwave and be done with it. This does involve clean up, but in our opinion, it well worth a little effort to have the best possible popcorn every time. It produces a great product every time we use it, and it seems like a higher percent of the kernels actually pop in this (as opposed to other methods) so we're not wasting any valuable popcorn. You must buy one of these! Performance Perfect corn every time! Settings/Features Maybe not that many bells and whistles, but there's less things to go wrong that way. Ease of Cleaning Not a easy task, but worth it! Durability We've had ours for years!

lynder32

USA

We love this machine. Perfect popcorn everytime. Can put butter on if you wish. Hardly any mess to clean up. So easy to use. Performance Performs great everytime. We are popcorn lovers and we have it about 4 times a week. Tastes delicious, evenly popped in such a short time. Settings/Features Settings, what settings. Just plug it in, pour in your oil and your popcorn, put the top on and let it pop. Stirs up the kernels as it pops the corn. Features are terrific. Ease of Cleaning Super easy to clean. Wipe off with soap and water, rinse and your ready to go again. How much easier can it be. Ease of Use Simple, simple, simple. Not much to do to make some of the best tasting popcorn. Plug in, pour in oil and popcorn, put on cover and let it go. Add butter to top of cover to have the ultimate popcorn. Durability Has lasted us for quite a few months. This is our second one and we have been using the Stir Crazy for years. Just don't drop it on the floor, our first on cracked, but we duck taped it and it lasted for a few more months.

JacquelineN

USA

I was in the market for a popcorn maker with which I could use oil and butter and the West Bend model was just like the one my dad used to have years ago. It's SO amazingly efficient---just use the provided chart to measure the oil, kernels, and butter for the amount of popcorn you want and the stirring arm makes sure there aren't any unpopped kernels! Use the lid as a bowl, and you can take out the arm to clean the popper afterward. Popcorn tastes just like what you get at the movies! Performance Every time I use the popper I get the same results no matter how many quarts of popcorn I make. Every kernel gets popped, the stirring arm never gets stalled, and the popcorn always tastes the same. Settings/Features I follow the directions to put the kernels and oil in the base and put the lid on straight before plugging it in, and it heats up nice and fast. Ease of Cleaning I just have to wait for the base to cool before I twist the knob in the center to remove the stirring arm and clean it with a damp soapy rag and then carefully rinse it under the tap. Everything goes right back into place afterward to make another perfect batch next time. Ease of Use As long as you read the directions, using this maker is a snap. Use the provided chart in the booklet to measure out the right amount of oil, kernels, and butter for whatever amount of popcorn you want, make sure to put the lid on the right away before plugging it in, and as long as you stick by it to listen for the kernels to almost stop popping so you can unplug it right away nothing will burn. Durability I got the maker a few months ago, in September 2013, and made a medium-sized batch every week. On Halloween I did a double batch with the most amount I could pop at a time, then a few days before Christmas Eve I did four small batches in a row to make candy popcorn as Christmas gifts for my relatives and the popper made every batch perfectly without anything going wrong.

JEMofthe80s

USA

Popper has an awful odor and is also in the taste of the popcorn. I'll be contacting the company as to why this is happening. Settings/Features I do not like the newer lid which has beveled handles compared to the flat ones of old which were easier to hold onto, especially with buttery hands.

madeusa

USA

I received this popcorn popper as a wedding present 8 years ago and I have not eaten microwaved popcorn since! The popper is very easy to use--add pop corn and oil and plug it in. Listen for when the pops slow to a few every second, then unplug and enjoy. Another nice feature is that you can put a cap on the "top" of the popper and then use the plastic dome as a big bowl. I will say that through trial and error I learned to make popcorn a little differently than the included instructions. Personally, I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and I prefer to use about half of the recommended amount of oil. I also do not melt butter in the top of the plastic dome and instead prefer to melt butter separately, then add it to the popcorn with salt. If you like kettle corn, you can add sugar or splenda to get a kettle corn like taste. My review wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention the two downsides to this popper. The first is that the popper is annoying to clean because it gets all oily and it cannot be submerged in water. So you have a lot of water and soap splashing around to get it nice and clean. The other downside is that some of the nonstick coating has come up with use. I've read that this stuff is really carcinogenic, but it seems like a very small amount and probably less gross stuff than that in bagged microwave popcorn you could buy at the supermarket.

ladylibrarian

USA

I purchased and own the West End Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker 82306 and I truly do love it and am very happy I made this purchase. I will never forget when popcorn poppers first came out and how happy I was when we got one. You can not get better popcorn than fresh air popped popcorn. One of the things I remember about being a kid is how good the popcorn was before microwave popcorn came out and ruined it. Thanks to this West End Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker I still get fresh popcorn and it is so good. I made my daughter popcorn with this machine and she has never gone back to microwave popcorn. This popcorn popper is very easy to use and the popcorn that it makes is so delicious. Also this popcorn popper is easy to clean and to store in a cabinet. I would certainly recommend this popcorn maker to all of my friends and family and to anyone who remembers how good popcorn was before the microwave stuff came out. Take a walk down memory lane and you will not regret it. The price for this popcorn maker is pretty reasonable as well.

ssears1973

Undisclosed