KitchenAid KPWB100OB Pro Line Waffle Baker, Onyx Black

Received this waffle iron from Amazon two days ago, after reading the very positive reviews here. I made two waffles yesterday to discard as recommended in the manual, and made waffles for breakfast this morning. The "Waffles of Insane Greatness", mentioned in other reviews, are a very good, and easy, recipe to use; I'll try others in the coming weeks (Alton Brown's Basic Waffle has been my go-to recipe for some time; I'll try it with this iron shortly). They were evenly done with a crispy surface, and tasted great. As other reviews have stated, this is a good-size, hefty unit. It's not unmanageable at all, but you probably don't want to have your 8-year-old get it out for you, either. Shipping weight was listed with UPS at 25.5 lb. Even accounting for its having been triple-boxed, and the styrofoam packaging, the iron itself is probably 22-23 lb. A couple of points. The manual, and other reviews, suggest that 1 cup of batter is appropriate. I found that 1 cup was just a little shy of filling up the waffle, so I'd suggest a generous cup of batter per waffle. I like to use dishers with waffle batter, and two scoops of a #8 are not quite enough to get a perfectly-filled-out waffle. This compares to two scoops of a #12 for my old Waring, may it rest in pieces. This iron preheats very quickly, and stays hot for a long time once you turn it off. It does have a thermometer imbedded in the cover, which the geek in me likes. The geek in me would also like it if the thermometer indicated actual temperatures, rather than just "Cool - Preheating - Ready", but it does give an indication of how hot it is. It's obviously too early for me to tell how it will last, but it appears to be very sturdy. Highly recommended. UPDATE: After about a year and a half with this waffle iron, I'm still very pleased with it. I do have a couple of minor annoyances: (1) the LCD for the timer has a very narrow viewing angle--if you're looking at all off-center it's very hard (if not impossible) to read. (2) the alarm beeper could stand to be a bit louder. For recipes, I'm back to Alton Brown's Basic Waffle 98% of the time--it just makes a great waffle. Cook for 4:30.

I ordered this item Nov 2012 from amazon.com. It is now sitting in my trash bin and I am going to look for a replacement. It made fairly good waffles. I took very good care of it. It is still nice and shiny sitting there in my bin. I bet you'd think I bought it yesterday from just looking at it. I would estimate I used this product 100 - 150 times in the 3 or so years that I owned it. Hardly a 'Pro Line' level of use, I'd say. In the first year, one of the plastic pieces that covers the entrance of the spring-shrouded wire into the back of the waffle iron broke. I fixed that. Then sometime in the second year, I estimate, I had the same issue with the other side. Not a problem; I knew just what to do. This morning, my waffles had to be cooked as pancakes. The buttons for 'Start' timer and 'Reset' timer stopped working. The unit itself turned on. Now, I could have just done what I did last week and used my microwave timer. But I decided to have a go a fixing it. Well, I did get it sort of working again, the PC board inside the unit where that display is in the front seemed to have shifted down and slightly to the right so that the external physical buttons were no longer lined up with the little buttons mounted to the PCB. So I tweaked the receptacle where the timer dial is just a little too hard and I think I pushed the timer rheostat up off the board. I tried to solder it back into place with no luck. It was very hard to solder it because I was not able to pull the PCB out of the waffle maker. The external buttons are essentially melted after being placed into the unit at the factory and that blocked me getting the PCB out without causing more destruction. Okay, so you may not want to mess with your waffle iron like that. I suggest when your start and reset button stop working, use the egg timer until you can get a replacement waffle iron. For waffle cooking, this device was the best I have owned. The waffles did not stick much and they pretty much came out consistently. My biggest gripe with waffle irons before this one was the sticking. I had a few other issues with this waffle iron that I will be watching out for with the next model I buy: 1) The waffle iron is LARGE. It does not fit on my counter in a position where I can see the display head on. Well, I have a choice, I can see the display, or I can open the lid fully. I must have the waffle iron positioned sideways on my counter and I have to crane my neck sideways over the counter to see the display. it is important to see the display, because sometimes when I pressed the 'Start' button, it turned out my timer didn't start. Hmm. That's right. The alignment problem might have been an issue for a lot longer than I realized. 2) The waffle iron is HEAVY. I mistakenly equated heavy with good quality. Lesson learned. Storing this baby is a workout. 3) Once I accidentally turned the waffle iron OFF instead of pressing the Start button. The waffle iron was already hot, I had just pulled out a batch of waffles. I had a new batch of batter just in the iron when I accidentally turned it off. I immediately turned the switch back on, but I still had to wait about 5 minutes or more for the iron to decide that it was ready to cook. -- I was not allowed to press the Start button until it decided, by some logic that I guess doesn't have much to do with the temperature being correct, that it was ready to allow me to start timing. I would not buy this product again. It, of course, is made in China, where plastic seems to be extra brittle. I suppose I will not find an appliance ever again that isn't made in China, but I can at least report to others when something just isn't a good deal. If you need to buy a Chinese waffle maker every 3 years, might as well go cheap, like our outsourcing American companies have done.

I've been making waffles for 30 years, every Saturday. I've owned and used 10 different irons, minimum. This is hands down the worst I have ever owned AND the most expensive too. It worked fine, then after maybe 13 months of weekly use, the machine wouldn't turn on. The iron doesn't heat up without that circuitry, so it's a 10 pound paper weight. I can't discourage purchase of this more vehemently.

I had high expectations for this waffle maker based on the brand, price and reviews. Best waffles weve ever had - i doubled the Waffle of Insane Greatness recipe and set the timer for 4.5 minutes. This waffle maker is easy to use, cooks consistently and super easy to clean up - no stick so a good wipe is all it needs. With three teenage boys, we have to have the double-waffle maker. The waffles are so big, they usually only have one each. This machine is solid and does have a big footprint but we use it often enough that it gets a spot on the counter. However, if you aren't making waffles often, storage and lifting should be taken into consideration. (You won't be storing it up high) Great appliance, I'm very happy with the investment.

This is a well made addition to our kitchen and we have never had waffles that were this tasty or nicely made.

A great appliance that only does one thing but does it well. It will need to be un-plugged after use as it continues to draw power in the "off" positilon.

I use my waffle maker every weekend. I don't think I could live without this thing! It is very heavy and good quality. Perfect waffles for two in a little over 4 min! :)

this I a wonderful product. It works very well and the recipes with are great. Makes waffles very fast and easy.