Stovetop Popcorn Maker - 6.5-Quart Stainless-Steel Popcorn Popper with a Hand Crank, Vented Lid, and Stir Paddle by Great Northern Popcorn (Silver)

Yup, The Great Northern stove-top popcorn popper is a well made popper. The pot has relatively thick walls, and might be slightly thicker at the bottom. The top is of equally good construction and latches on in such a way that it's quite unlikely to fall off unintentionally. The gears that connect the horizontal crank handle to the vertical stirring rod are pretty beefy, and they're beveled so they ought to last.I would also like to mention how the gears are attached to the shaft, which is not only with a grub-screw/set-screw (hex head), but both the shaft and center of the gears are threaded. I found this out when the stirrer was just a smidge higher than I liked, so noticing the set-screw, I decided to see if it was adjustable. I'm happy to report it's easily adjustable, just simply loosen the set-screw and turn the shaft in either direction. I noticed it's easier to turn if you use the legs of the stirrer to gently get leverage.The only thing I can add is that before I grabbed this popper, I was using my wife's pasta pot, with a strainer in the lid as it was perfect for letting out steam, plus the lid locked in place. I was used to having to let it sit on the bigger electric burner of my hot plate (my gas was shut off because I couldn't afford it) for a full minute and a half before it would start popping. After it started popping, I would have to lift it and shake it every 5 seconds or so before placing it back on the burner. With this new popper, it takes (maybe) 30 seconds to start popping, and it'll even pop using the small burner just fine. The latter wasn't possible with the other pot!It's worth every cent if you make popcorn, even once-in-a-while! Just get it if you're on the fence.

I replaced my worn 25 year old popcorn popper that was similar with this stainless steel version. The gears that turn the inside paddle on this new popcorn popper are larger and should last longer than my old popcorn popper. Measure 3/4 cup is the Max amount of popcorn kernels to pop up. Adding any more is waist and will not pop due to room in the pot.

I had a "name brand" aluminum model of this and since I'm scared of aluminum cooking materials I tossed it out. But I love the design so bought this stainless model. It is less expensive and significantly heavier duty with a much better closure system, metal gears, thick base. Way better than the aluminum one. Super happy with it

Our son turns three next month. One of his favorite snacks happens to be popcorn and we have been going through a lot of organic microwave popcorn. That product is fairly expensive and while it tastes okay coming right out of the bag, it quickly becomes stale and chewy.So I toyed with making popcorn on the stove-top using a large pan. It came out pretty good, and I might even have been satisfied with making it that way had I used more oil. Instead I used the bear minimum and I think it was still too dry. Also, the kernels did not seem to pop up quite as large and fluffy as I had wanted.The last thing I wanted was another large pot to store. However, I figured I would give this product a "whirl" because of all the glowing reviews and because of the item's description, particularly, "Easy Clean Up: Just wipe with a paper towel and store for later use." (more on that later).Last night the popper arrived, fully assembled with the lid attached. It was actually a little difficult to remove the lid and now I find it is a little difficult reattaching the lid. The metal clips really don't seem like they are a long-term solution to the problem. I think it would improve the design ten fold if they threaded the top of the pot and let the vented lid screw on while still allowing a "trap door" to flip open. I am sure it would add expense but would also make the product last longer and be easier to use.I am a big fan of coconut oil. I am a big fan of popcorn. So I added 1 tablespoon of coconut oil , waited for it to liquify in the pot, added 1/4 cup of popcorn and began turning the handle over medium heat on our gas stove. A few minutes later the popping stopped. I used two oven mitts to lift the pot, open the lid and dump the popcorn into a large bowl. I took the salt grinder and gave 7 or so twists to it, and mixed it up a bit.... and the verdict is...Oh my goodness, this was delicious. It needed no butter because the coconut oil was moist enough (and not too coconutty). My wife, who refused to allow me to buy this popper (because I tend to buy a lot of stuff) took one bite, nodded her head and said, "All right!"I also purchased some "nutritional yeast flakes" because I heard so many people saying that it makes a good flavoring to add to popcorn. I made sure to buy the type that is fortified with Vitamin B12 because I am a vegetarian, as is our son (he is a vegetarian in the sense that he refuses to eat almost all foods with meat just being on the list along with pasta, rice, oatmeal, blah blah blah).So I wiped out the bits of popcorn and made a second batch the same way. Only this time, I transferred the popcorn from a bowl to a 1/2 gallon mason jar and dumped some nutritional yeast flakes in it. Then I shook the jar up to distribute the flakes and put the lid on to see how the popcorn would be the following day. Our son asked for popcorn, then went to the kitchen and took the jar off the counter (note to self: Move Jar out of reach because it is heavy glass!) and brought it to his mom, who gave him a piece to try. (Mistakenly, IMHO, telling him she wanted him to try something -- a mistake because that is a surefire way to get him to say "no thanks", or "NO!" depending on his mood). He said, "mmmm" and then proceeded to eat a whole bowl of it.This is not a ringing endorsement for the popcorn however, as he will eat ANY popcorn, even stale microwave popcorn with no additives -- pure cardboard and inedible by adult human standards.I just thought I 'd add the nutritional yeast angle here because if you have not tried it, but like the "smart food" cheddar popcorn type additions to your food, give this stuff a try. It really is delicious and makes for a nice change of pace. Plus, if you happen to be short of B12 in your diet, this is a tasty way of getting it.So why the four stars? Because "Easy Clean Up: Just wipe with a paper towel and store for later use" as described here on Amazon, is changed to "Wash your popper after every use with warm soapy water to remove foods and oils. Thoroughly dry every part." WTF? I was hoping that the oil would sort of "season" the pan and need not be washed out after every use, followed by a thorough drying. Jeez, man, you sell a product and bill it as basically maintenance free, and then tell me you were full of crap? That is not cool. Not in my book.Am I returning the popper? You'll have to pry it out of my dead kung-fu grip, as the popcorn it makes is da bomb. Bomb! Bomb! Bomba da bomb da bomb. So who gets the movie reference? :)**UPDATE** Okay, I've had the popper for eight years now. And it gets a lot of use. The clips work fine, the lid goes on easy. I have no idea what my problem was 8 years ago, but I love this popper. I never wash it, but the housekeeper does once in a while if I leave it on the stove. I just wipe it out with a paper towel and carry on.

I finally wore a hole in the bottom my old aluminum popcorn maker like this one. It was light and conducted heat very well so I was skeptical about this one being made of stainless steel. It took two or three uses of this new one to get used to it, it was heavier and just a little slower heating up, but these minor negatives are easily offset by the features it has: 1: the stainless steel handles the high heat I like to use much better than the aluminum. The popped corn is less likely to burn and there is no more scrubbing burned on carbon like I always had to do with the aluminum pot. 2. This pot is extremely well made. The pot is a little heavier but the lid is very well secured and is almost impossible to detach while shaking during popping unlike the old one where I had to be careful the pot didn't fall off when handling it. 3. It is very well constructed,; set screws on the bevel gears, easy to clean stainless steel, and has a very solid handle/spinner. 4.. I'm not sure if the lid is stainless but it is heavy duty, and finally, the pot holds maybe 20% more popped corn so when I make my normal amount it dumps out easily and not all packed in like the old popper. 5.Much easier to clean.This popper is much heavier than the aluminum ones and I'm up in years and not very strong so it takes more effort to hold & dump it with one hand, so keep this in mindI make popcorn 4 - 5 times a week and I wish I bought this years ago. Get the stainless steel one. This popper is well worth the money!