West Bend 82306 Stir Crazy® Popcorn Maker

A good sign:

First of all, Let me say that out of all the poppers in the local Service Merchandise, and the ones that I saw online, THIS is the one that caught my eye. It was the exact same model that I saw at my friend's house when I was a kid, I loved watching it work! And I knew West Bend had been around a long time and that so had this popper.

After trying several of the competitors
I'd had several others before this. The air poppers and the poppers that looked like this one but didn't have that amazing 'stiring action' just didn't compare. In the many times I've used My West Bend popper, there has rarely been an unpopped kernel. And unlike the 'non-stiring' ones, the popcorn on the bottom of the popper didn't get scorched by just sitting on the heat. Just Perfect popcorn.

This model comes with everything you need too, and with the air poppers, I needed to find a bowl, it was never the right size for all the popcorn and so I found my popcorn all over the floor and tabletop. With the West Bend Stir Crazy popper, the lid is also the BOWL! No worries, no mess! It's all in one!


Let me tell you how it works

First in the user guide, there is a measuring chart of how much unpopped corn to use for how much you want.
1/3 cup yields 2 Quarts of popped corn. 2/3 cup for 4 Quarts Etc.
In the chart it gives the amount of vegetable oil in Tablespoons, and if you want to use the handy butter melter in the top of the lid, the amount of butter you use in tablespoons is there as well.(more on that in a minute)

I place the oil and corn in the popper, and plug it in. There isn't an on/off switch (something I didn't like)
But as soon as I plug it in, the revolving metal 'stirrer' on the bottom circles the bottom, moving the kernels around. In about 3 mins...they begin to sizzle and pop. After about 5-6 mins I stopped hearing the popping and it was done! Not bad considering this tastes better and takes no more time than microwave popcorn, and is cheaper!

I unhooked the power cord, grabbed the handles with my hot mits on, and flipped the whole thing over.
Tah Dah! all done! The popcorn was now in the bowl! I sprinkled on some salt and cajun seasoning, and away I went to the TV!

Yeah, but it's hard to clean right?
Nope, the bottom is non-stick, and after unscrewing a simple little plastic 'nut' that holds the stiring rod on, I wiped it clean with a sponge, wiped off the rod, and rinsed out the bowl/lid with warm soapy water, no big deal at all. Then back into my cupboard.

Ok what's the catch, nothing is PERFECT
No, the West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn popper isn't perfect. It has some flaws:
The lid, is very easy to scratch,the kernels scratch it and, the scratchy side of my dish sponge scratches it.
Also in the lid, a 'feature' of this model, is a "butter well". A place in the top of the lid, where you can stick butter and as the popcorn pops, it's supposed to melt it and it drips all over the popcorn through the holes in the bottom of this "butter well". Well, When I used this, the butter never fully melted, leaving me to try and 'coax' it through the holes with my fingers or a spoon. I found it easier to just melt butter in the microwave and pour it over the corn myself. This also made cleanup a little more involved than I explained earlier.
The User manual suggests:

"If butter is not completely melted in butter well,use a pastry brush to push any remaining butter through buttering holes"
(I do not own a pastry brush)



More good stuff
The user manual has three popcorn Recipes in it
1.Stir Crazy Crunch
2.Molasses Popcorn Balls
3.Sugar n Spice Treat

It comes with a short power cord, for safety reasons, and that cord detatches from the base.
A 90 Day Warranty.
The manual is in English and Spanish

And they have a website for comments and suggestions and you can register it online.
http://www.westbend.com


All in all, a very good popper and it's reasonably priced, and easy to use!