Cuisinart EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker (Red)

We eat more popcorn now than I ever did before in my life! This popper is so quick and easy to set up and use. Even on nights when we are all too lazy, within seconds we pull this out and set it up, and within minutes (maybe three?) we have a big bowl of hot freshly popped popcorn. This continues Cuisinart's reputation for high quality and reliability. Clean up is quick and easy, and this fits nicely in an appliance garage. The only feature I do not like compared to a prior Cuisinart air popper is that the top of the chute is closed off and one must remove the cover to add the kernels. It is inconvenient but in no way stops us from popping popcorn almost every night. And we love the red color!

When I was a kid we had an air popper that we used pretty frequently. It's been a long time since I have had air popped popcorn and I wanted to try it again. Microwave popcorn just doesn't taste the same to me, and generally comes coated with all kinds of fatty flavorings. Corn popped in a pan tastes good but is kind of a pain to make and makes a big mess. So far I've used it 6 times and this popper does a great job popping almost all of the kernels without making a mess. You can make up to 1/2 a cup of popcorn kernels at a time, although if you use premium popcorn (Orville Redenbacher and the like) you shouldn't use more than 1/3 cup as it pops up bigger than cheap stuff. I had one instance where the popped corn got stuck in the chute and that was when I made a full 1/2 cup at once. It is well designed in that the clear plastic top part does not snap in or anything, it just sort of sits on top so if the chute gets clogged it just pushes the plastic up. All I did was pick the top piece up a little and let the extra popcorn fall into the bowl and then put it back on and everything was good. Got some extra popcorn on the counter but no big deal. This appears to really only be a problem if you use to much popcorn. Keep in mind that 1/3 cup of premium popcorn is enough to fill a fairly large bowl (I think about 16" wide by 10" tall) and if you should need more than that, the entire popping process takes under 2 minutes to complete so just throw some more in there after the 1st bowl is done. Pros: -Pops almost all of the kernels. Maybe a dozen unpopped ones left in a bowl. -Very fast, done in under 2 minutes. -Has an on/off switch, witch a lot of the other air poppers on the market do not have. -Easy to use Cons: -The red color isn't the most attractive. I wish there had been more color options to choose from.

Popper does not work properly. On first try, the popper ejected 90% of the kernels unpopped over a period of 10 minutes. A competing brand of air popper I owned years ago popped all but one or two kernels, and did it in 5 minutes. The kernels I used first time on this Cuisinart came from a previously opened package. It occurred to me that the kernels might be stale, and that is why they weren't popping. So I bought a new container of Orville Redenbacher's kernels today and tried again. Same story - 90% of fresh kernels were ejected unpopped over a period of 10 minutes.

Awesome popper with 2 caveats. First, put no more than 1/3 cup kernels in at a time. Doesn't matter the brand. This will produce about 8 cups of great popcorn. Second, the design allows some unpopped kernels to go into the bowl until the popping starts. So, since I don't like unpopped kernels, I tilt the machine back a bit until it starts to pop. This has a crucial feature - an on off switch that the Presto does not have. Since we used to pop a cup at a time, we just go through 3 cycles and that's way quicker than the stove top method. Even using the same amount of butter still makes for a healthier snack. By the way the butter melter inset at the top is useless but the machine redeems itself. We've been making popcorn 3 or 4 days a week for the last few months and no complaints at all except the caveats above. Update I've had this a little over a year now. Still works great and have almost eliminated unpopped kernels. Too few kernels and the air blast can fly them right out of the tube and into the bowl. Too many will clog the spout. I was putting a level 1/3 cup and got kernels flying. I started using a not quite full 1/2 cup. Now the weight of the kernels keeps the bottom ones from flying and the bottom ones break up the air current so the top ones stay put. I get a few in the bowl, but very few. I make 3 to 4 batches a week and it works flawlessly. I will also recommend a butter spray made by Winona Pure and available at Amazon. Zero calories, no saturated fats. Canola oil, butter flavor and organic coloring. Quite tasty too.

The EasyPop Hot Air Popper works very well. I previously had another hot air popper years ago, can't remember brand, and it did not have an on/off switch, this one does. The other difference between previous popper is that the butter warmer at top sits on a completely closed seat. The previous popper had this area open, allowing hot air to escape from top of machine. The butter melt dish sits within this area. I don't use butter so I don't use it. It's not too loud, has some noise but not super loud. Has a max fill line inside of popper and a manual with clear instructions for use and recipes. Great quality material. In my opinion the cost is justified. Received in the Cuisinart inner box, well packed, and an outer thick cardboard, Cuisinart labeled box. Very satisfied with purchase.

I’ve had several hot air popcorn makers in my lifetime, and I have seen an experienced the same problem with everyone of them, and that is that they tend to throw unpoped kernels everywhere. The simple remedy to this is that I have always had to tip the machine backwards slightly and hold it there until it starts popping kernels to fill up the hot cooking chamber, so it can no longer just throw, or I should say blow kernels out of the front of the machine. Once it gets going, it can be returned to a Level position and it works pretty good. This is just the common problem with hot air poppers. This seems to be well-made and easy to clean and use. It has a surprisingly low noise level as compared to some of the other ones I had so I am very happy about that… My last one worked for over 10 years with no problems, except for having to be tilted at the start. I hope this one will endure well like my last one. I think there is a solution to this and that would be a very light weight vented plastic gate inside of the plastic cover top of the unit that would allow expanding popcorn to easily push it out of the way and yet keep kernels that were not yet popped in the machine.

Not as good as the broken popcorn maker it was intended to replace. There's nothing keeping the popcorn kernels in place, so they blow straight out of the popper every so often before they've popped. When the popcorn starts popping, the unpopped kernels REALLY start to fly free. Even ignoring all of the kernels that escape, there are a lot of kernels that the popper won't pop. The butter warmer is a nice idea, but don't rely on it to try to MELT butter unless you only put a couple of tablespoons of butter in there. The popcorn chute doesn't even direct popcorn traffic into a bowl very well -- in general, it seems that they just ignored every actual function of aerodynamics and just designed something that "looks like it works". It looks quite nice, for sure! It works just BARELY well enough for me to not go through the hassle of returning it and buying another new popcorn maker. I have to prop this thing up in the front with a book (Or whatever's handy) to keep kernels from flying out in the first stage of operation (Before anything is popping). Once it's popping, there's nothing at all you can do to keep the unpopped kernels inside. On the bright side (I mean, it's gotta be a silver lining to SOMEone...), it's so annoying to use that I don't bother to make delicious popcorn NEARLY as much as I used to. :(

This has been a great air popper. I have a small once serving silicone air popper that works in the microwave that works really well; however when it's time for movie night at home, it takes too long to make enough for the whole family - I saw this air popper and it seemed to have good reviews so I gave it a try. It has worked really well. Easy to use, easy to clean and does not take up too much room in the cabinet. Pops nearly every kernel. We definitely have been using this quite a bit and it basically does just want I wanted it to. Also, I haven't had any issues with burning kernels hitting me or the kids. I have it turned to the side so that if a loose kernel goes flying it will hit the wall, not us....but even still, the only loose kernels that fly are far and few between and they are always popped so, not really able to do much damage. One word of advice, you may want a popcorn bowl that is a slightly bit taller so that it can hold all the popcorn and maybe catch those that fly out. My bowl is a bit taller and that may be one reason why flying kernels haven't really been an issue. I plan to send out a couple of these as Christmas presents along with unpopped kernels and some flavored shakers. What a nice housewarming present !!