Microwave Popcorn Maker by Thomas Rush (Orange)

I have used this popcorn maker about 7 times since I got it and find it makes popcorn quickly, with no mess and no odd smell from the container. The popcorn pops up fluffy with hardly any unpopped kernels in the bottom. It stores compactly and is a cinch to clean if I use oil in it. With oil or without, I get great popped corn every time. I like the handles on the sides, they are a nice feature. Many other similar poppers don't have any handles, so you would have to hold it by the hot sides. This is a very good buy for the quality, materials and design. I replaced a Presto Orville Redenbacher popper which uses the paper inserts. This is a much better popper and I I highly recommend it.This is an update. I love this so much I bought another one of these for a gift. I have used this many, many times and can only say good things about it. The best popper I've ever used. It has held up beautifully after a lot of use, and is as good as new. I did, though, make holes in the lid myself so the moisture can readily escape, but probably not necessary for good popcorn.

I always told my kids that hate and love were strong emotions to waste on inanimate objects,but I think I just might have to say that I really love this popcorn maker. I didn't understand the hoopla when I could use a brown paper bag and make really tasty popcorn in my microwave. And I honestly have to say that popcorn cooked that way might be just a little better. BUT this is proving to be foolproof and produces good popcorn easily. I put a generous teaspoon of coconut oil in the bottom, some salt, 1/4 generous cup of popcorn kernels in it, set my microwave for two minutes, and I can walk away if needed with no fear of burned popcorn. Yes, there some unpopped kernels, but they are in the very bottom and easy to ignore. One reviewer said not to eat out of the bowl as it gets nasty. For a while, I poured my popcorn -- and yes, it is all mine -- into a bowl. The last couple of times I decided to wash one less dish and use this bowl. It is a little floppy, but it works just fine for me. It washes easily either by hand or in the dishwasher. I do wipe it down with a paper tower first, and that seems to get rid of the oily residue. I would recommend this with no reservations at all.

My popcorn popper is red, but that's not a big deal This item works very very well, I actually run my 1100 watt microwave an extra minute to finish popping all the kernel. The weird thing is you have to put the lid off kilter so that steam escapes - not sure why they didn't poke a hole in the top for you. I did, and it works much better. It folds to be more compact (I live in a small house) so I am pleased with that feature. It's easy to clean. You can use whatever kinds of popcorn kernels you want in it. You do NOT need any oil to pop popcorn (in fact, do NOT add oil!). So if you're looking for a low fat popcorn option, this could be for you. I use it, but when I transfer the popcorn to a bowl, I slather it in butter, because hey who doesn't love butter? So again, with the one adjustment in the lid, this item works great.

First a little background. I had two Catamount Glassware CG4526 Classic Design Microwave Corn Popper, 2.5-Quart, Red before this and both of them broke off at the handle. One of them I was just cleaning and using the handle to turn the glass around with the sponge inside. The second broke when a light plastic dish fell on the handle from less than 6 inches above it.So it was time to look on Amazon for a new microwave popcorn popper since I do not want any PFOA and I hate the time it takes to use an air popper. After looking at all the positive reviews for these silicon poppers I decided on the Thomas Rush version. I took it home, gave it a quick wash and threw a 1/4 cup of popcorn in it. In less than 3 minutes, about 2:30, the amount of popping slowed down enough that I stopped the popping. The results were a really great fully popped bowl of popcorn. My wife and I both loved it and there were less than 20 orphaned kernels left. With the Catamount popper I would have over 40 kernels using the same batch of popcorn.The only drawback for the popper is do not leave the popcorn in the popper because it builds up a nice static electric charge. I took it to work. After popping a batch and snacking on it for the next two hours there was a snow storm of little popcorn shards sticking to everything every time I took a few kernels to nibble on. So dump it into another bowl as soon as it gets down, or down it as soon as possible.

Bottom line, works as advertised. Makes decent popcorn both with or without oil the only issue being it always leaves many kernals unpopped. As far as the bowl goes...I have other collapsible/soft rubber items but they are not as soft as this one is which is a negative in my opinion. This thing is so flimsy its hard to handle. To make matters worse, it gets extremely hot in the microwave, flimsiness + scalding hot "handles" not really a good combo. If there is a redesign I recommend adding some harder rubber/plastic to the handle area at least so there's something firm to hang onto - even better if its heat resistant so you could actually pick-up by after microwaving. Many people mentioned the lid as well, is pretty stupid not to have vent holes, would solve the problem. I tried placing it unevenly many times but sometimes still made vacuum...othertimes, tilted completely to one side letting popcorn out of bowl. Eventually got tired of having to fiddle with the lid so much I got a meat skewer & poked six holes in it, in a circle pattern, about midway btwn center & outer edge. Now I don't have to mess with lid at all.