West Bend 82308 Stir Crazy 8-Quart Corn Popper, Black | 
| Brand: West Bend
List Price: $54.99
Buy New: $51.95
You Save: $3.04 (6%)
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 9323
Color: Black/Transparent
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Size: Height(with cover) 9" Width - 13.5"
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.2
Dimensions (in): 13.3 x 13.2 x 7.6
Warranty: 1
MPN: 82308
Model: 82308
UPC: 072244823080
EAN: 0072244823080
ASIN: B0000CCY10
Availability: Usually ships in 3-4 business days
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| Features:
| • | Motorized stirring rod stirs kernels | | • | Non-stick interior | | • | Built-in butter well | | • | Cover flips to become serving bowl | | • | UL listed |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
8-Quart Stir Crazy Corn Popper. Motorized stirring rod stirs kernels to yield 25% more popped popcorn than other poppers. The built-in butter well on the cover melts the butter and sprinkles onto popcorn as it is being popped. The clear see-through cover flips to become a serving bowl. The base is coated with non-stick coating for easy clean up.
Amazon.com Review
A good size for parties, families, and popcorn junkies, the 8-quart Stir Crazy popper from West Bend uses a motorized stirring rod to maximize popcorn yield and minimize cooking time. The rod sweeps the kernels over the popper surface so that the kernels are evenly distributed over the oil and heat. This design yields up to 25 percent more than other models, while popping takes just seven minutes, and unpopped kernels are rare. The popper also includes a dual steam vent and butter well in the lid for minimizing condensation and buttering the corn while it pops. When popping is finished, the lid doubles as a serving bowl. Safe for countertop use, the Stir Crazy has a nonstick interior for easy wipedown, and the base nestles into the cover for tidy storage. It measures 14 by 12 by 9-1/4 inches and comes with a 90-day warranty. --Emily Bedard
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 Buy the 6 Quart Size instead! July 28, 2004
L. A RIVERA (Boston, MA USA)
188 out of 190 found this review helpful
The Stir Crazy is a wonderful popper. This is the second one I've purchased. The previous one served my family for 15 years and only needed replacing when the cover/bowl was dropped and cracked.
When I saw the 8 Quart size I was eager to upgrade from the 6 quart size. The additional $10 price seemed well worth it for the amount of popcorn my family consumes. I did not discover the problem until I received the popper a week later.
The shape of the bowl makes all the difference. I assumed that it would be the same as the one on the 6 quart popper but it is quite different. (see photos by pasting this link in to your browser- http://www.westbend.com/westbend/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkon=section&linkid=6 ) Rather than being a sloping dome shape, the bowl is shaped more like a cooking pot, which in and of itself wouldn't be so bad, but there is a 'moat' shaped valley that runs around the perimeter of the top of the bowl (when it's on the popper) that collects and condenses the steam. Once the popcorn is done popping and the bowl is inverted, the kernals that fall into that area get wet and soggy. This is a problem I never had with the 6 quart size.
To top it off, West Bend charges $10 more for this 8 Quart size. Even though the only change is the size of the bowl. The base and even the box are identical (which explains the need for a change in bowl shape). I called West bend to share my comments and they offered to sell me a 6 Quart bowl for $13 including S&H. Pretty funny considering I'd already paid $10 more for the 8 Quart.
My recommendation.. But the 6 quart size. You'll save money, you'll have crisp popcorn and it's so simple and easy to use that a second batch is no trouble at all.
 Enjoy cheap nonstick surface coating with your popcorn March 3, 2005
Hairball (Houston, TX)
64 out of 66 found this review helpful
I like to use gourmet black popcorn (smaller kernels, much tastier and crunchier popcorn) and this machine worked fine for that as well as regular popcorn (although it seems to have a tougher time with the saller kernels getting stuck under the stirring wires). All in all, it does a good job without burning the popcorn and leaving very few unpopped kernels.
My big issue with this machine is that the cooking surface is incredibly CHEAP! So cheap, in fact, that the nonstick surface has flaked off of about 20% of the cooking surface of my machine. I first noticed this when the ridge that the stirring wire sat on was rubbed clean of it's nonstick coating. Soon, larger areas of the pan (at the edges of the stirring area) began flaking off. Now, I don't know how much to believe about the dangers of these surfaces, but I can be sure that ingesting it cannot be good. Also, the exposed aluminum surface that is below the nonstick leaves a nasty grey film every time I use a paper towel to wipe it clean, which I'm sure ends up in the popcorn as well. If you are concerned at all about this, I would not buy this machine.
Another lesser issue is that the dome does not ventilate steam very well and it ends up condensing on the inside surface of the dome and getting the popped kernels wet. Not too big a deal, but annoying.
 WARNING: READ BEFORE YOU BUY! April 30, 2006
BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA)
37 out of 38 found this review helpful
A decade ago, I purchased one of these poppers. The combination of the machine, Orville popcorn & oil made for the best popcorn I have ever tasted. People came over for surround movies and raved. People at work raved. Everybody raved. A great product, right?
Two years ago, we bought a second unit. We discovered that in the interim of the two purchases, the bean-counters had gnawed away like termites at this formerly-fabulous product, cost-cutting it into something that might actually be dangerous. Let's step thru the changes:
It used to come in a sturdy box; now it comes in a flimsy card board shell. Not a big deal.
It originally came with a three-foot electrical cord, but that has been reduced to a 12" one. This is annoying, because (as a custom cabinet maker friend of mine pointed out) you don't want the oil-laden steam emanating from the top of the popper to coat the varnish on your overhead kitchen cabinet doors. It will eat the varnish and ruin your cabinet doors. Not good.
However, here is the real show-stopper: Within a year of purchasing the new unit, the Teflon coating on the cooking surface of the popper began to FLAKE OFF.
Oil & popcorn go into popper, Teflon flakes off, flakes stick to oil and popcorn, which you then consume. I don't know about you, but digesting Teflon particles ain't on my agenda.
The 10-year old popper? No flaking. Which means that whatever Chinese manufacturing plant churning these out either started coating the cooking surface with less Teflon, started using an inferior grade of Teflon, or substituted something cheaper than real Teflon. All, of course, to squeeze a few extra pennies profit per popper.
Needless to say, new popper went into the trash. The old one is still working like a charm.
BEWARE.
 Believe the hype! Passionately Perfect Popcorn. March 15, 2006
tron3 (New Jersey)
30 out of 31 found this review helpful
Received my popper today. I carefully measured 3 tbls of peanut oil and 3/4 cup of Orville Redenbacher gourmet popcorn. It actually yielded a full 8 quarts! So did Jolly Time, though the instructions say to use 1 cup of regular popcorn for 8 qts.
Left over kernals? Amazingly 2 unpopped, 3 partially popped. Thanks, Orville! Sure, your results will vary, but never again will you find all those wasted kernals. Gourmet popcorn isn't cheap and now I make more with LESS!
It rubbed off some of the non-stick coating, but I did try pulling the stirring wand back a little to keep it from touching. It does not come with a measuring cup, but that isn't a design defect, so I can't hold that against WestBend.
I spent $90 this past Christmas for one of those movie-type kettle poppers. It was more mess, wasted tons of popcorn, and MUCH harder to clean. Never again!
The "Crazy 8" is a closed system, so hot kernals do not fly out and pop in the bowl, causing popcorn to scatter. Just stay nearby to listen for the corn to stop popping, and it will be PERFECT. There is some moist popcorn near the bottom of the bowl, but you get delectable popcorn down to the crumbs.
Once the popper cools, unscrew and rinse the stiring wand, and wipe the plate clean with a damp cloth. Then clean the bowl with warm soapy water.
Sure, I could nit pick about the small things, but once you had the over salted bag popcorn, burned microwave popcorn, the dry air-popped corn, or wasted tons of corn in kettle poppers, you know this is the best. Corn would have to pop in nature to be any more perfect.
TIP: Don't put the dome on until the very first kernal pops. (It won't jump.) Then place the dome on, others follow quickly. This creates less condensation on the inside of the dome, making the popcorn drier when fully popped.
It's a "BLUE RIBBON" Popper!!! March 17, 2007
R. Woods (USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
My wife and I purchased our West Bend Stir Crazy 8-Quart Popper from Amazon in February 2007. Before that, we endured that "microwave" c**p for years, and then only on a rare "have to have it" basis. Before that, we owned a "Hot-Air" popper. These outfits are aptly named for their sad claims of making "edible" popcorn. Having tired of all that, I decided to surf the net for new poppers and liked the West Bend 8-Quart model, basicly for its 8-quart capacity and small footprint. Incidentally, 1-oz of kernels = 1-qt of popped corn, so this popper will use 1-cup of kernels to give you 8-quarts of unburned buttery popped corn, and leave a mere 5-20 kernels unpopped! You can also pop less than a full batch. So, how do we rate it? WOW.WOW.WOW!!! These little words quickly sum it up! We have been popping corn every day now for about 4 weeks and have already defined a simple "clean-up" procedure that can be completed in about 2-3 minutes, and that's right after you finish popping! The design is sturdy and functional, and the clear dome is heavy enough to contain all of the action inside the popper, and inverted, to become a substantial fancy serving bowl. Just as important, I have found the right combination of popcorn, oil, and salt, and the technique that equals (or better yet) surpasses that fabulous "Theater Popcorn" that we all find irrestable, yet woefully expensive outside our homes. And yes, the brands of your popcorn, oil, and salt are just as critical as their proportions. Are you wondering what it costs to pop 8-quarts of fabulous popcorn?... Less than a dollar!...about 70 to 80 cents plus 4-5 minutes of electricity. I'm serious! Get this popcorn popper and you, too, can increase your family's health and its wealth! Yum! Yum! Yum!!!
UPDATE 08/24/07: My Recipe for Theater Popcorn & Tips for Cleanup:
1-cup Popcorn (Weaver Gold from Popcorn Supply Co.)
1-oz Popit-Plus Canola Oil (" " " " ")
1-tsp Flavacol Butter-Flavored Salt (" " " " ")
2-oz NAKS Colored Coconut Oil (Snappy Popcorn Co.)
Add all of these ingredients to the popper and turn it on. Popcorn will pop with a wonderful "Theater Lobby" aroma and produce a rich buttery-white color. I transfer the batch to a lidded rectangular 8-qt plastic container and cover and shake for 5 seconds to fluff the puffs, then set it aside to cool while I clean the popper.
Clean up is easy and only takes a couple of minutes! Spritz the clear plastic dome with a cleaner like Formula 409, then use a wet sponge to clean and warm water to rinse. Wipe it dry with a paper towel. Now, grasp the base of your hot cooker with its left "ear" and brush off loose residue into a trash can. Set the base into your sink with its right "ear"
dropping down into the drain. The base will actually stand vertically by using its power socket as a tripod. Now, the decision is yours. You can use your sponge or a wet paper towel to clean the teflon surface (with no cleaners), or do what I do now and have been doing every day since March 2007... I move the sink spout to the other sink, and turn the hot water ON with a medium-low pressure. Then I use the sink sprayer on the teflon surface only, while the base remains standing on its own. Unbelievably, all of the debris that is on the teflon rinses into the garbage disposal in seconds with plain water, no wiping and NO DETERGENTS! When I'm done, I lift the base with its upper "ear" and rotate it while keeping it vertical, to allow any hidden water to drain. Wipe all surfaces with a paper towel. Voila! Your cleanup is done and your popcorn is ready!
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