I purchased this for my home after having good experiences with similar waffle makers at the Marriott Courtyard and other hotels. I have two standard waffle makers that make large square waffles that are about half as thick as a good Belgian waffle but lack the crisp and light quality that a good Belgian waffle has. So why consider a "commercial" product for home use? Frankly, it was the reviews here on Amazon of the homeowner products that gave me pause. While many owners liked them, there were always a smattering of users reporting that theirs suddenly stopped working or simply started falling apart after the minimal warranty period expired. The need to maintain a high-current rotating electrical connection as required on these devices worried me as well. I can imagine a cheap implementation of this connection quickly failing. Over the years I've found that buying lower quality kitchen appliances doesn't pay in the long run. Most of the cheap "as seen on TV" appliances I've owned have long since hit the trash or are stored in some dark corner in the basement. So, I was willing to pay up for this with the hope that it will just work and work reliably for many years. Time will tell... So, two things I've learned after 4 separate sessions of waffle making with this machine. First, and most important, is that it makes wonderful waffles and does so consistently. There is nothing I could imagine changing regarding the quality of the waffles that this machine produces. I useGolden Malted Pancake & Waffle Flour, Original, 33-Ounce Cans (Pack of 3) . I highly recommend this mix if you like the traditional malted flavor waffles. The waffles this appliance produces are medium brown and crisp on the outside, yet airy and tender on the inside. I used the recommended number 4 heat setting but you can adjust the crispness on a scale of 1 - 6 to suit your preference. The waffles release cleanly from the cooking plates without needing anything sprayed or brushed on the plates to prevent sticking. I don't expect you'll have such good results if you substitute any kind of vegetable oil for the butter in the waffle mix recipe, or if you use a vegetable based cooking spray. More on that later. This machine only takes 4 - 5 minutes to warm up and can produce up to 50 - 7" waffles per hour. It beeps when it's initially warmed up enough to start using. Separate green indicator lights on each of the two cooking cavities light when it's waffle is ready to extract. One waffle is enough for an average adult if you are serving side dish like hash browns, bacon, etc. Two waffles should satisfy even a hearty appetite. For kids, the waffles are easily separated into halves or quarters. One other thing I like is an easily removable drip tray under the rotating cooking cavities that will catch any overflow. But if you use a measuring cup to add the correct amount of batter you won't ever need the tray. I haven't gotten as much as a drop of excess batter on mine since I started using it. The cons are setup issues and a strangely curious warning. The user guide is the biggest problem. The guide says, "For initial use, it is important that the waffle maker is preheated before seasoning with cooking spray or oil." It also states, "Season the waffle grids by spraying with cooking spray or brushing with a flavorless oil". I pre-heated mine, brushed it with canola oil (which is a cooking oil, right?), and let it season for a few minutes. It took me an hour and a half to meticulously scrub the resulting gunk that was stuck tenaciously on all four plates before I dared use the machine. After this cleaning, I then brushed it with some rendered bacon fat to season it properly. That worked fine. I should have known to question this instruction based on prior experiences with vegetable oils on griddles and other high-heat appliances. Use butter, lard, or bacon grease and you should have a much better setup experience. Note that I haven't brushed anything on the plates since the seasoning with the bacon grease and I haven't had any problems with sticking. The other issue is determining the correct amount of batter to use. This appliance comes with one acrylic measuring cup. (Yes one, even though it makes TWO waffles at a time.) The measuring cup has one fill line on it and the user guide instructs you to fill to the line with your waffle batter. This wasn't enough for my batter mix. Of course, your results may well vary with a different mix. The issue I have is that the user guide recommends using 3/4 cup of batter as the optimal amount for each waffle but you get less than that from filling the measuring cup to the fill line. I found 3/4 cup to be a bit too much while the measuring cup was a bit short of what is necessary to fill the plates fully. But like I said, this is a one-time setup problem. Once you figure it out the right amount, you'll be making great waffles every time. I purchased half dozenOXO Good Grips 1-Cup Angled Measuring Cup to use to prep the batter so that I can produce waffles at the maximum rate. You might consider doing the same. Note that you won't get the best results by just pouring the batter in the center of the lower plate and closing the cavity. As the user guide suggests, you need to use a small spatula to spread the batter out to the edges for the most uniform results in terms of waffle density and filling the plate to the edges without having voids along the outside edge. Not a big deal, but it was an unsuspected extra step. I suspect that this would be the same for any of these waffle makers and not really an issue with this specific waffle maker. The last item is a note in the user guide in BOLD type that says: "THERMAL PROTECTION - IF POWER IS LOST DURING OPERATION, UNPLUG AND LET COOL 10 MINUTES. PLUG IN AND CONTINUE USE." I'm not sure what bad thing happens if you don't remember to do this when you have a momentary power outage. But I suspect you and I will find out if it happens because who is going to remember this weird warning a year later when the lights flicker during waffle making? Overall, the quality of the waffles and ease-of-use of this waffle maker far outweighs the minor one-time setup issue I experienced. I would recommend this appliance to anyone who wants a good-looking, quality waffle maker that consistently produces five-star Belgian waffles.
