West Bend Popcorn Maker: A Great Way to Pop in the New Year!

For Christmas, my whole family (and Santa Claus)gave out a lot of great DVDs, wide screen TV, and other cool stuff that made watching movies one of the key activities this holiday season. And what goes better when snuggling up on a cozy sofa to watch a movie than some hot, buttery pop corn?

We've had our West Bend pop corn maker for some time now, being avid movie watchers and pop corn lovers. It is so simple to use and clean up we have it in a special spot so it is always ready to go.

The machine is nothing more than a hot air blower that blows hot air into a small confined area, where popping corn kernals are let in. The heat pops the corn, and the corn is blown out of a plastic chute. Hopefully, you will have a large bucket or bowl under it to capture the popped corn, or else you will have a big mess on your hands. You may also put some butter in a small plastic pan that sits on top of the unit. The pan heats up and melts the butter. It works ok, but I find it easier to just nuke the butter in a cup in the microwave, and pour it over the pop corn when I am ready. Less mess to clean up, and less chance of bumping the machine and knocking butter all over, as my children have done before.

If you do not use butter, it is a snap to clean up. Simply dump any duds in the trash and store on a tall shelf for next time! If you do get butter on it, wash it off in the sink with mild dish detergent, dry and store. The plastic top comes off to make cleaning easy.

There really is not much to say about the machine. It is pretty much standard fair, nothing new or innovative about it. The design has been out for at least as long as the 1970's (when we first got one!). The machine economically and easily produces large volumes of pop corn within a few minutes. It works very well, and makes perfect pop corn, provided you use good quality popping corn.

I recommend using a large bowl (at least one gallon) directly under the machine to capture the popped corn when it comes out. Once popped, you can redistribute the popped corn into smaller bowls. Yummy!

To make healthy pop corn, just eat the popped corn plain with no salt or butter added (this is the way I eat it). Most everyone else likes to add butter and salt on it. Just pour the melted butter all over the popped corn and mix it up with a large spoon. Then sprinkle some salt on it. The less you use, the better it is for your health... (alright, I will get off of my healthy soap box).

There are MANY models of air poppers made my MANY manufacturers. They all seem to be basically the same - a hot air blower that blows hot air into a small chamber. Our machine has lasted for many years now, and does not show any signs of aging. It still works like new!

I would highly recommend the West Bend Popcorn Maker. They make a good product. However, some of the other competitors make machines that appear to at least look to be just as good. We paid about $15 for ours when we got it. It out lasted two TVs! I would suggest shopping around for the best deal. Thanks for reading my review and best wishes for a happy new year!

Mike