PARAGON Theater Pop 6-Ounce Popper Popcorn Machine

Solidly constructed and easy to clean. It works as advertised. I have only two complaints: one of the doors has been mounted visibly lower than the other, and there isn't a separate light switch, meaning after you pop the corn, if you want it to stay warm, you also must have the light on. In a family room on movie night, this would be a definite negative. You have to unscrew the bulb if you don't want the glare reflected from the TV. Other than that, I'm overjoyed with it! It makes batch after batch of movie theater quality - better, even. I hesitated the longest about the fact that the kettle is anodized aluminum instead of stainless steel, but I needn't have worried. It performs perfectly well and is clean in a moment with the wipe of a cloth. Don't buy a popper without a heating tray. The light bulbs are just for show. At only 50 watts, this machine keeps the popcorn fresh and warm for at least 24 hours.Update: I've had this machine now for over a year. It has been used on an average of 2 - 3 times a week. This past Spring, I took it to a car rally and served over 70 with it. It has performed perfectly throughout. Now that the "new" has worn off, I'm more tolerant of the misaligned door. I still would wish for a separate on/off switch for the lamp. Even so, it cleans up beautifully and makes mountains of great-tasting popcorn. Now, whenever I go to the movies, I scoff at the overpriced popcorn! I can have better at home. Without a doubt, this is one of my all-time favorite purchases!Almost four years of regular use and no problems. Still my all-time favorite purchase.Over 7 years and still going strong.

After a lot of pop corn machine research, I finally settled on the Paragon TP6. High quality, made in Iowa. Not cheap, but as with most things in life you get what you pay for.The machine was packaged well and arrived undamaged. No assembly was required, just removal of some protective stickers. We've used it once so far (on the same night it was opened), and it worked great. Clean up of the kettle was much easier than I expected. Keeping the stainless steel floor will be a bit more work (mostly because I want to keep it scratch free), but it is easily removed.I bought the Paragon-brand coconut oil and corn, and a container of Flavacol. No complaints about the quality of these products. However, its important to realize just how much a gallon of coconut oil is (A LOT) and that it has about a 4 month best-used-before date. We really enjoy popcorn, but I doubt we'll be able to work through this much oil.We'll be ordering the cart soon, as the tempered glass and thick sheet metal construction makes the machine heavy, and awkward to move around by itself.Overall, the entire family enjoys the machine and I'd highly recommend to anyone that can appreciate the difference between a cheap and commercial product. This thing is build to last.

I'm revising my review on this product based on the excellent customer service at Paragon. They responded to our complaints about the two models we returned and replaced it. They even had us talk to an engineer about our issues so they could avoid those problems in future products. We tested it last night and it worked perfectly. I'm still giving it 4 stars because we shouldn't have had issues with two previous machines but we are happy with the one we currently have and expect many years of enjoyment out of this product.Original Review:I've made thousands of purchases from Amazon over the last 12 years but never felt strongly enough about a product to write a review until now. My husband bought this for me as a Christmas gift during a recent lightning deal. The first time we tried to use it, it blew out 2 circuits and wouldn't turn on. Turns out there was a loose wire on the bottom heating element. We returned it and Amazon sent a replacement the next day. We just tried it again last night. This time it actually turned on and we were able to make a batch of popcorn...until we turned the handle to remove the excess from the kettle AND IT FELL APART! Turns out the screws were missing from the bottom of the kettle! I can't imagine why a machine that costs this much money would be so poorly made!

I'm a popcorn fanatic and trying to eat healthy. Popcorn is actually good for you. It's the stuff you put on it that's unhealthy. So I bought a 5 gal pail of raw/pure/extra virgin coconut oil from Nutiva. It's also the best oil for high heat. I buy the 50lb bag of yellow popcorn seed from Sam's Club or Gordon's Food Service (about $17). You can also buy the Flavacol seasoning. Flavacol tastes awesome and adds color but it's not healthy. It has no iodine (which you need), salt is good for you if you consume the right kind and don't over do it. So the best to use is Himalayan pink crystal salt, then probably sea salt after that. Sea salt is really cheap. I use a 1/4 cup of oil, 6 ounces of corn and maybe a 1/4-1/2 of Tbs of salt, depending on your liking. This is the healthiest popcorn on the planet.You heat the kettle up for 4-5 minutes with the lid down, add oil first, then seed, then salt. 3 minutes or so it'll start popping. I think the 6 oz pops about 1.5 gal sized Ziplock bags, (the bigger 1 gal size). I bought two 33qt sized dog food bins from a pet store. They are see through and seal tight. I keep the seed in one and the popped popcorn in the other. Or you can use a thick heavy storage bag or a thick trash bag to store popped corn if you make a lot at a time. Otherwise the 4oz popper might suit you better. I used this at a garage sale and made money from the sales. People loved it.I love this machine. It's built solid. Looks great and you'd think that the top would get hot but it doesn't. I store things on top. I have no complaints. It arrived quickly and undamaged.