UPDATE! I have found that when you close the door for the machine to pop and pull the scooping door out flush with the bottom part of the glass it substantially reduces the amount of hot kernels and popcorn escaping during popping. It doesn't remove it entirely because it opens a bigger gap on the right side of the machine (when you are facing it) however it takes care of the biggest problem area which was the gap between the door and the serving tray where corn and kernels would hit the glass and slide down and out. Just a tip for any owners or future buyers. This machine can make some pretty awesome popcorn, but it has a few flaws that keeps it from getting a perfect rating. 1. The door has a pretty wide gap all the way around it. This lets very hot kernels and whole pieces of popped corn escape during the cooking process. There is some oil splatter outside the unit as well, but that is actually quite negligible, some people are complaining about the splatter pretty fierce, and if you put this on a surface that cannot take that kind of splatter I can see the complaint, but to me it isn't a big issue. The hot kernels are a bigger problem. The first time I used the machine I caught a few hot pops from the kettle, but after just one use my dogs now stare at the machine waiting for it to feed them any kind of morsel it will drop so clean up isn't really a big problem in that regard. 2. The metal tray used for serving will not stay in place when it comes time for scooping out corn. It doesn't move around too bad when the machine is full of popcorn, but when it is getting low that metal serving tray lays flat if you look at it funny. This and the door seems like a design flaw. 3. Avoid, avoid, avoid the pre-made bags of popcorn kernel, seasoning, and oil combo. It seems like a good idea and a cheaper way to go about it, but buying the kernels, some flavocal, and popcorn coconut oil is actually cheaper, but that isn't the reason I am telling you to avoid the pre-measured bags. Avoid them because the inner space of this unit has very little play room. Getting the quite bulky bag of oz. pre-mixed stuff inside and over the pot is more than a little cumbersome, but dropping 1/3 cup of coconut oil and 1 cup of popcorn with a two tablespoons of flavocal makes the pot easier to load up. I got the bags and I will finish using them at some point, but they are NOT convenient. Tasty? yes, I am not knocking their flavor at all, but they do taste the same as what I listed, so that is an alternative for you folks. Now on to the positives. 1. The pot works well and wipes down easy. It was a bit trick loading the pot into the machine the first time. The brackets holding it in place are a little narrow and you have to push out on one just a little bit (not hard at all) to open it up enough to sit the pot inside. Once there, it is ready to go, no fuss and it runs quite well. The stirrer is solid and does a good job of moving the corn around without scraping the bottom of the pot, it sit barely above the surface stirring all the corn wonderfully while keeping the bottom of the pot free from any lingering kernels. 2. Easy to clean. Some people complain about this, and it becomes easy to tell who has worked around popcorn machines and who hasn't. They want to scrub the pot super clean each time after use. That is madness. A popcorn machines pot is like a cast iron skillet. It has to work its way to making awesome popcorn instead of doing it right out the gate. So, how do you clean it? Wipe it down with a damp rag or paper towel. Only apply a lot of elbow grease and anything else if you are putting the machine in storage for an extended period of time. The cleaner you would use for such a storage would be water and vinegar and never layer pour water directly into the pot or submerge it. It has electronics that will be fried if you do. Vinegar and water can be used to cut the grease and clean the inside of the box as well. Don't use anything harsher as this is something is used to prepare food after all. You wouldn't coat your silverware with formula 409 would you? 3. Counter top friendly. This machine, unlike its bigger brothers the Lincoln and the Roosevelt is small enough to fit on most counter tops under cabinets and do its job fine. Running off a standard (American) outlet for every feature is also a nice plus. 4. This machine looks stylish. It really is a good conversation piece as well an easy way to make a quick snack for unexpected guests to munch on. I had a group of five people over who tore into this machine with ravenous hunger. We didn't even make it halfway through the second drop. It makes a bunch of corn and keeps the house smelling wonderful. 5. It cooks fast. First, about cooking, despite what those pre-made packs say, never dump the corn, oil, and seasonings in all at the same time. That is madness and leads to super chewy popcorn with no crunchy, instead you add the oil and then you have some choices as to what to do next. Add a kernel and wait for it to pop, watch the pot and wait for the oil to start to bubble slightly, or wait for the oil to start steaming. Either way you got about two minutes to three minutes to wait. I just wait for steam and my popcorn comes out fine, but any of these methods work fine so pick the one you like, the result is the same. ADD CORN TO HOT OIL. When the corn is added to the hot oil it will pop the whole pot in about three minutes. Give the size of this unit it can only hold about two drops. I wouldn't risk anything more because of the door gap I mentioned earlier allowing the corn to spill out and two puts it butting heads with the metal tray. 6. Ease of use. It isn't hard to make popcorn at all. I have given you some pointers and while it may seem like a lot information but it isn't. Just do the following. Turn on the warmer and the kettle heat (but not he stirrer), add the oil, wait for the oil to warm, turn on the stirrer, add the corn and the seasoning, when it stops popping turn off the kettle heat and stirrer, dump the kettle and repeat if you want some more. 7. The built in warmer keeps popcorn fresh and hot for hours. It just mellows in its own littler world, not quite as hot when it first came out of the pot, but still darn fine and very tasty. On the whole, I like this machine, I love the popcorn it makes, and I recommend it for others. It has some design flaws keeping it from being perfect and it might not be for everyone given those flaws. A two year old watching the machine pop popcorn and catching a hot kernel to the face is quite the problem, so just know the problems before you get the machine. If you want a good pile of popcorn though? This does the trick.
