Comments on: Unitasker Wednesday: Movie Time Kettle Popcorn Maker

By: PJK

PJK — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:06:20 +0000

If you’re going to use a paperbag in a microwave (which I wouldn’t, personally) PLEASE watch it carefully and stay nearby. Depending on the wattage of your microwave, it is very possible for the bag to catch fire. If it does catch fire, unplug the microwave but keep the door closed until the fire burns itself out.

I’m really surprised no one mentioned the regular air poppers. I have a small air popper that doesn’t take up too much space -it fits in the cabinet above the fridge- and it makes a large bowl (more than you’d get out of a brown lunch bag in the microwave). I think I’d rather have the bowl that goes in the microwave, though, because it can nest with other bowls. I’m a big popcorn fan, but even I would never dream of getting the gigantic uni-tasker featured above.

My friend does it on the stove top, but it kind of “ruined” her pan - I think she only uses it for popcorn now.

By: Liz Kay

Liz Kay — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:41:43 +0000

You could also just make your own microwave popcorn in a paper bag.

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:30:17 +0000

A purchaser should be aware that there is probably a lot of clean up with this device. A better alternative, I think, is a microwave popper device, which is basically just an easily cleaned bowl and surface device. The taste of the popcorn is identical.

By: V

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:18:54 +0000

My kids spotted one of these while standing in a very long and slow moving line-up to the till at a local home furnishings store. They proceeded to spend the remainder of the time within the store nagging me to buy it and asking me why I refused to shell out my hard earned cash on it. The question that got people behind me in line chuckling was, “Dadda, what’s an abomination?”

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:37:11 +0000

OMG - I got one of these as a gift. . .its been in my attic ever since (going on five years now) mainly because of guilt because the person who gave it to me is near and dear to me. Its stored next to the smore maker given to me from the same person, we’ve recently decided not to exchange gifts anymore - lol!

By: PNWGal

PNWGal — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:15:41 +0000

Popcorn is my not so secret vice. I love it! If I could live on it alone and get all my nutrients I would. I don’t have a dedicated machine, but I do have a dedicated pan (I make mine on the stovetop too). It is a small sauce pan that has a beautiful tempering that comes with 20 years of hard use. It is my unitasker item that I will never get rid of!

By: Cari

Cari — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:44:20 +0000

I second the vote for stovetop popcorn. I’d make fun of the people who think microwave popcorn is the only alternative to these crazy machines, except that I was one til a couple years ago! Thank you, consumer culture…. Seriously, get out your saucepan and some oil and do it the old-fashioned way. Tasty and super cheap.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:06:07 +0000

We rented one of these things, and the cleaning of it was crazy, another reason to highlight this as a uni-tasker, I go with ease to make, ease to clean.
But on the other hand, my kids would LOVE this, they can go thru a box of mic popcorn rather quickly. this would be fun around Christmas time, to make popcorn balls, string popcorn and enjoy an evening watching It’s a Wonderful Life.

By: Penny

Penny — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:46:26 +0000

I have a small popcorn maker, but its never seen popcorn in it. I use it to roast my own coffee beans. I get my green beans at half price now, so the investment AUS$40 or so is completely worth it!

By: Noel

Noel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:40:37 +0000

My local rent-all center has a large standing popcorn popper that would be good if you need to make a lot of popcorn for a fundraiser or crazy party.

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:55:00 +0000

I have a different Unitasker for popcorn, the Whirly Pop ( http://crfrankpopcorn.com/whirly.htm ) and I love it. I got it as a gift and at first I was thinking it was just more clutter, but I really love it. The popcorn is way better than microwave and just as fast to make.

By: hillary

hillary — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:29:13 +0000

my dad has one of these, but the bigger kind. he uses it constantly! he gets home from work and wants to watch a movie and so he throws in some fresh popcorn and it is soo good! seriously, this gets used at least twice a week at his house and when our whole family gets together we use it probably everyday. the smell is amazing and it tastes like fresh movie theatre popcorn. unitasker for many, but for my dad, it’s his baby. ha!

By: mdizzle

mdizzle — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:26:41 +0000

WOW!! Tis true! This is a unitasker item if ever! But I do have to say… it is a money maker! kin to the coffee maker.. I’ve often considered the investment.. but the time it would take to earn it back would be nuts!
at 7 cents a serving to sell a bag for a whole dollar!!

come on man!! get the kids out there .. let them earn their keep. Yard Sales and Street Fairs and fundraisers!!… Pop Pop Pop SELL SELL SELL!!

By: nola

nola — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:16:23 +0000

shannon - you actually don’t need the special bowl to do regular popcorn in a microwave. i just use a brown lunch bag, cover the bottom with popcorn, and hit the preset ‘popcorn’ button on my ‘wave. works like a charm.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:34:02 +0000

I find microwave popcorn kind of unplesant with all it’s chemicals. I found a unitasker that works for me (I make popcorn once to twice a week – to crub the chip craving) in bowl with a special lid that you put plain popcorn in and microwave it. It just sits in my mixing bowl in my cupboard so doesn’t take up too much space. In two minutes perfect microwave popcorn without all the yuck that comes in the pre-packaged stuff… it’s cheaper and I can do whatever I want with it, flavor wise.

I think Amazon has one for like $8 or something.

Oh, and I would so join People Against Microwave Popcorn;)

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:23:16 +0000

For 20-25 people, sure, but for smaller gatherings, whats wrong with good old-fashioned stovetop popcorn? Big pot, little bit of oil, then salt. You can make it as plain or as buttered up as you want, takes very little time (few minutes per pot), very little cost.

This message is brought to you by People Against Microwave Popcorn.

By: Celeste

Celeste — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:02:28 +0000

I think any popcorn tastes better than the microwavable pouched stuff, but it is totally possible to make plain popcorn in the nuker.

This is a unitasker for sure, but kind of a fun thing with kids. The gallon capacity would be nice for times when you want to make popcorn balls for a kids’ party, though. Maybe if you hosted gatherings or meetings a lot it would be used more often.

By: mr. Obsession

mr. Obsession — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:36:16 +0000

Finally, an honest-to-goodness Unitasker to wash the Juicer-madness from my palette.

Good one! I never understood why these were necessary once microwave popcorn was available as an option.

By: boardmadd

boardmadd — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:21:50 +0000

The sad thing is, I *do* have one of these (it’s not as big as this one, but it works and looks very similar). It sits on top of our kitchen hutch and is more of a “decorative” item than anything else. I don’t remember the last time we actually used it, since my family tends to like the microvave popcorn better. I will say, though, if you want to have air popped popcorn with *nothing* else added to it, so that you can prep it any way you wish, it does the job quite admirably.

By: Nina Katarina

Nina Katarina — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:58:55 +0000

A friend who hosts movie nights got one of these for his Friday parties - when you’ve got 20-25 people over for an evening it makes sense.

Once he had kids and stopped the parties, it didn’t make sense any more, so he donated it to his kids’ day care for their Friday afternoon snacktime.