Waring Pro WPM25 Professional Popcorn Maker, Red

Reviews of Waring Pro WPM25 Professional Popcorn Maker, Red

1.) Awesome piece of equipment
Reviewed by: Rob from Colorado Colorado Springs, Co.
Rating:
Waring did a great job designing a popcorn maker that produces professional quality popcorn in an affordable model.

Pros--simple to use
--straight forward directions
--fun to watch

Cons--Not as easy to clean as microwave popcorn :-)

You can't go wrong with this product.

2.) Lots of Bang for the Buck!
Reviewed by: L. Effinger
Rating:
My wife and I both love popcorn. For 2009 Christmas, she opted to get this popper for "me" as a gift. I must say, I am impressed. Especially for the price.

We have 3 in our family and normally have to cook 3-4 batches using the recommended 1/3 cup kernels to satisfy everyone. Obviously your results will vary based on appetites, etc. But if you have a larger family or number of friends, then anticipate cooking more. That being said, it doesn't take long to cook them. There is a 2 minute warm up period, which gives you time to gather seeds, oil, etc. Then another few minutes per batch to cook.

After getting the machine, we were buying Orville Redenbacher seeds & oil from Walmart because of convenience. Quality is okay, but takes experimenting to get it right. In our opinion it never matched "movie style" popcorn. Or maybe we never "perfected" the recipe. Also I noticed some uncooked seeds. Not a large % but more than I'd like.

Recently we found a local specialty popcorn store (The Corn Popper - Google it for a link). They have much, much better seeds, oil and the real popcorn salt. We love the flavor and feel we have equivalent (and sometimes better, depending on theater) popcorn than if we go to the movies now. Also we have about 1/3 the amount of unpopped kernels as compared to OR product we initially used. So the seeds are a higher quality in our opinion. Lastly, but very important, is supplies at this new shop is CHEAPER than the OR products and you get more. So we are very impressed with the new supplier and will continue to buy our products from there. Having the right products make ownership much, much more enjoyable.

Truly, my only complaints with the machine is I wish it popped more, had a larger container and had glass sides (opposed to plastic). But when you consider the very affordable entry level pricing for a solid machine, it offers tremendous "bang for the buck".


3.) Alot of research, this is it!
Reviewed by: Vicki Naperville, IL
Rating:
I scoped out the counter space before purchasing. I even went to an expensive department store and looked at the product b4 ordering online. It is great. My husband loves it (of course he had plenty of experience at our block party with a professional one - bonus being he got paid in popcorn, a 50lb bag of kernels which is why we bought the machine). He has his technique down pat. He does fill the whole tray within 8 minutes. Peanut oil gives it a cleaner taste. Canola oil gives it a classic flavor. Put some melted butter and a little sea salt in a squeeze bottle and you are good to go. I keep it right on the counter. It helps that my kitchen is red. Love it!

4.) Great little popper!
Reviewed by: Koontz Fan South, USA
Rating:
This popper has met and exceeded my expectations so far. It was a Christmas gift and I was a little concerned after reading some of the previous reviews. However, I don't have any complaints. The plastic casing and door is plenty sturdy, the door hangs well and stays shut with the magnet. It is a bit large to place in a cabinet, so I would recommend planning to have it as part of your kitchen decor -- just leave it on the counter. As other consumers have reported, it doesn't make a lot of popcorn at once, but it cooks so fast that you can have the tray completely full in 5-8 minutes, including the warm up time (which is 2 minutes, not 5 as someone else posted). As soon as you dump one batch, pour in the oil and popcorn for the next, and two minutes later you are ready to go again. As advertised there are very few unpopped popcorn kernels in each kettle full.

The housing is sturdy, although plastic, and makes an attractive countertop piece. Waring even thought to include a light which is nice. Overall the construction is tight and it seems to be well made. I have to disagree with a poster who said that you should get tempered glass for this price. I think for this price this is a very well made machine. It is relatively quiet when running, but not silent. You won't forget that the machine is popping, but it won't wake up the sleeping baby either.

Clean-up is pretty easy. The kettle lifts right off the hanging hooks. Squirt a little diswashing liquid inside and rinse out with the sprayer to your sink. You should not submerge the kettle as it has electrical components. The housing wipes out easily with a sponge. Clean-up takes less time than popping a single batch.

One word of warning: don't leave the popper and go off to another room. The popcorn pops very quickly and not all of it ejects from the kettle. Any left in the kettle can burn, so you need to dump the kettle manually as soon as the popping sounds stop. Just like with microwave popcorn -- it will burn quickly once the popping stops.

My only complaint is that it seems the most commonly available "all-in-one" packs of popcorn are designed for larger capacity poppers. 6 0z works out fine if I want to make mutliple batches, but since those bags aren't resealable, it could be an issue if I only want to make a single serving. I would recommend shopping online for the smaller 2.5oz size if you tend to make popcorn for just one person at a time. It would have been nice if Waring had included a sample size of all-in-one popcorn in the box. Hubby didn't think to buy any when he bought the popcorn maker, so we weren't able to use it on Christmas day. Also, the all-in-one pouches aren't available at the grocery store, so we had to make the 30 mile trip back to the kitchen store to get the right kind of popcorn. Yes, you can use just plain old Orville Redkenbacher and vegetable oil, but that sort of defeats the purpose of having a theater style popcorn maker. You want to get the butter flavored oil (which is what comes in the all-in-one packs)so that it taste like the popcorn at the movies.

For at home movie night use or small party, this is an EXCELLENT popper!

5.) Get this.. It's great!!!
Reviewed by: Jefferson Hanks
Rating:
Waring busted this idea out of the kettle!!!

Some people may think plastic walls are cheap, but hey, it still works!!
This machine works well.
If you like popcorn, just like the movies, get this thing, it won't dissapoint!!

The old-Fasioned switch is fancy... just like the old times!

-Tip. Dont grab any fresh unpoped popcorn. You may burn yourself.

-Tip. Move the tray to the corner right of the machine. The machine usually pops the popcorn on the other side of the machine.

Telling the time:
Open the Kettle lid, but make sure that there is no popping. But if you peer in, You may see that the popcorn seeds are dry. If they are, they're ready to pop away. If you see the oil still, that means that your popcorn will pop soon.
Allways keep the plastic door closed. You don't want anything to spill.

This machine is good for 2-5 people.
Thanks!



6.) pop-o-matic
Reviewed by: Benet Iowa
Rating:
I gave this corn popper as a gift to my son. He liked it immediately. Course, he had picked it out himself. The popcorn was quite tasty, smelled like the movie theater, pleasing color, and fun to make. Did not take up too much room on the counter, easy to use and easy to clean. I'd say it was a hit!

7.) awesome
Reviewed by: Lexie J. Dietz
Rating:
got this for my husband for his birthday, his newest "mancave" addition. he loves it.

8.) Waring Pro WPM25
Reviewed by: wgudmund2001 Utah
Rating:
This is a good popcorn maker IMO. It doesnt pop very much at a time and does tend to spit out a lot of kernels while it's popping. The corn it does make is VERY tasty and is just like theater popcorn. The more you use it, the more it's like theater popcorn. This machine is a good product for the money.

9.) Waring Pro popcorn popper
Reviewed by: Monica Jones Layton, UT USA
Rating:
We ordered ours from a seller and the door was broken during shipping. Though we didn't buy directly from the company, they sent us a new door free of charge with no hassle. The popper works great. Easy to clean and good product for the money. My only complaint is that this model does spit some unpopped kernals, and that it doesn't pop a lot at one time. But, it's perfect for our family and small friendly get-togethers. Popcorn tastes just like it came from the theater. Have used it a dozen times in the month we've owned it. Would buy from this company again.

10.) Waring Pro WPM25 Professional Popcorn Maker, Red
Reviewed by: 009 watching you Fernley, Nevada United States
Rating:
This product was advertised as a 4oz popcorn machine and it is not. It takes a 1/3 cup only, 4oz most of the time stops the motor from turning. There is a lot of unpop kernals with 4oz, does better with a 2oz, and the popcorn is very good. much better that microwaved popcorn.

11.) Good, but...
Reviewed by: W. Beaty New York
Rating:
If I had paid the retail $190 price for this popper, I'd be really annoyed. At the $99 price it's OK, not great, but OK. All of the case is plastic so you want to be careful cleaning it.

As it was, out of the box, I had the same problem that's been mentioned in other reviews: that the capacity is substantially less than what's implied in the sales blurb. What hasn't been mentioned is that when popping, the doors on the top of the popper pot tend to flip open and allow unpopped kernels to fly out. I took advantage of some simple physics and epoxied a weight (a couple of 1/4-20 ss hex nuts on each side) to the outer edge of the doors making it less likely for the doors to flip open. Worked nicely, and at the same time allowed adding more popcorn. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup level, and get about the right amount of popcorn if it's just me. My friends are mostly big popcorn fans, so if there's more than one person, everybody gets a 'load'.

At least one reviewer has mentioned the agitator jamming. I've only seen that happen with too much popcorn in the pot. Since I measure every load, it only happened once when I was experimenting with how much it could really pop.

I've popped a truckload of popcorn with it, and haven't had any problems.

/g

12.) Great idea, professional model? No...
Reviewed by: Tom United States
Rating:
This 300w popper is working well and will deliver ready to eat popcorn within minutes after it's been warmed up the time it takes you to get your supplies ready to use.

Looks nice and is a fun item, but if your desire is the finished popcorn and not in owning an unusual popper, you can pop more and spend less money at the same time with another machine in my opinion.

Taste of the popped corn can vary depending on the type of corn, oil and salt you use, if you don't like it, try another combination. I buy larger sized concession stand oil and flavored salt, but buy my white popcorn in smaller bags so I can keep it fresher.

I love white popcorn, you might like yellow, but don't forget you can also mix batches to get something in between.
No matter which you like, it must be fresh to have the proper moisture content to pop properly.
Don't blame your popper all the time when it can be the corn thats at fault.

The clear sides plus top and bottom that you see are all ABS plastic, For the Manufactures Suggested Retail Price (MSRP), it should really have tempered glass in my opinion... they do use glass in the next models up it seems.

Even the hinges for the front door are plastic and IMO should be metal even with plastic sides.

Note this popper has a pretty large footprint so make sure you have a place to put it before you buy.. it's 11 x 11 x 17inches.

It has a pretty small popping pot for this size unit(6x3.5"),you use 1 tablespoon oil and 1/3 cup corn per run.. that's not much popcorn per cycle and would take quite a few times to fill the tray in the bottom like shown the ad photo.

I measured the popped corn from each batch and it's right at 4 cups, not sure why they call it an 8 cup popper... must just be what the plastic tray will hold that the corn falls into. I uploaded a photo of the popping pan to show size and design.

Perhaps it's just ME,but I can eat 8 cups of popped corn without stopping 8-) Count on running many batches if there's more than one person eating corn.


I really feel they could have put a cook unit in this about 50% larger without increasing the outer case size. (or the price)

The lid on the stainless steel pot that you open to pour in the oil and corn is pretty small, kind of tough to hold the metal flap open and dump in the oil and corn.

The smaller size also makes cleaning a bit of a pain since the 2 lid flaps, stiring paddle with drive shaft and all attachment points do not come off and require you to get your cleaning wand or hand in half of the pot at a time since the lids are split into 2 and each is less than half the diameter of the pot. instructions suggest you pour some water in and run it to "steam" clean, but I'd still want to wipe it out after.

Be sure and clean the inside of the top, it really gets a lot of oil spatter up there.

Again just to help you picture it...Even on the kitchen counter I have to bend down to see what I'm doing in there (I'm 6ft).

One additional tip... pull the plastic tray out a couple of inches before you dump the corn from the pot... will save picking it up off the floor.

Now the biggest problem I have with it... where do I keep it when not in use? Would love to let it set out as it looks okay and would be easier to use when the mood strikes, but don't have that kind of counter space.

UPDATE Dec 2009;

One year later, I wanted everyone to know this is still working just fine and nothing has broken at all, even the light inside still has the same bulb... has popped many a bowl of corn at this point.

I do note the clear plastic sides and door are showing wash and dry scratches(dull)from being cleaned of oil spatter after each use.

13.) Was Disappointed
Reviewed by: JOJO Snow Belt, USA
Rating:
I wanted to get one of these for my sons Carnival party. I found this at Costco for $60 and was very disappointed after I used it. I don't think it's the actual machine that I am disappointed with. I am sure it did what it was supposed to, but I just think it's a waste of money. It pops very little popcorn at a time. We have a family of five and would have to pop at least a few batches or more. And for the party, I will have to pop a ton. I have the stove top popper that I much prefer. This is huge and I am not sure where I would put it. For a huge machine and little popcorn, I think it's a waste of money. The look is great, but pretty useless. It's going back to Costco.

14.) "Breaks" the popcorn
Reviewed by: Katherine Nunes Marysville, WA
Rating:
I received this as a gift. While it does make delicious popcorn in about five minutes, I'm a little disappointed that the popcorn gets cold so fast and that the kernels get torn apart. You tend to get half perfectly formed kernels and half teeny pieces of popcorn from this. There also seems to be a lot of kernels left over versus throwing the kernels into a pot and shaking it over a stovetop. It is cute though and people who come over enjoy the novelty.

15.) Our family was underwhelmed.
Reviewed by: 6wilsons
Rating:
Our family received the popper as a gift. It was very thoughtful as we eat a lot of popcorn and the kids thought it looked really neat and couldn't wait to try it. Unfortunately, it has about as much in common with a real pro machine as an easy-bake oven or the snow cone machine you had as a kid; you remember, the one that looked so cool on tv, but it took you 45 minutes and three blisters to produce one mediocre snow cone.

The look is really cool but, while it does do a decent job of popping corn, it doesn't pop much at a time. The packaging says it pops up to 8 cups at a time, but when you follow the directions it only produces about 3 cups. If you load it more, it tears the popcorn as other postings attest to. Also, the kettle is so small that it when the corn pops it pushes out a relatively large number of un-popped kernels compared to other popping methods.

You also might get the idea that you could pop several batches and keep them warm in the cabinet. This also doesn't work well. The light is tiny and hardly provides any heat to keep the popcorn warm. Also, there is no way to leave the light on and turn the stirring motor off. The kettle can be unplugged.

In my opinion $100 is a lot to spend for a good looking machine that can't perform. Lets not even talk about where we're going to store it when not in use.

My recommendation if you like lots of popcorn with little mess, is the Whirley-pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper. It is light, fast, inexpensive, and will prepare about 8 cups tasty popcorn at a time.

16.) Cute, but no thanks!
Reviewed by: RonB Elk Grove, CA United States
Rating:
Arrived OK. Cute product. But, impractical and not very useful. Too small (only makes one small bag at a time), awkward to put oil and popcorn kernels in container. Unpopped popcorn flies out when popping. The unit itself takes up too much room when storing. Used it twice, then junked it!

Features of Waring Pro WPM25 Professional Popcorn Maker, Red

Everyone Wants Popcorn. And the Waring Pro WPM25 Professional Popcorn Maker delivers up to 8 cups of hot, delicious popcorn in just a few minutes. Great for kid¿s parties, game time snacks, or just because you¿re in the mood. The magnetized door and pivoting kettle easily remove for easy cleaning, and includes a removable serving tray

1.) 300-watt classic kettle-style popcorn maker produces up to 8 cups at a time;
2.) Reminiscent of old-fashioned theatre-style popcorn makers, but in a compact size;
3.) Pivoting kettle with built-in stirring mechanism; see-through window;
4.) Detachable kettle and magnetized door for easy cleanup; removable serving tray included;
5.) Measures 11 by 11-1/2 by 17 inches; 5-year limited motor warranty;

Package Height x Length x Width: 20 in. x 20 in. x 14.5 in.
Package Weight: 12.85 lbs.