Great Northern Popcorn Machine - 8oz Commercial Popcorn Popper with Stainless Steel Kettle, Kernel Tray & Warming Light - Perfect for Movie Nights, Parties & Concession Stands (Black)

This popcorn machine is awesome!! I ordered it last week on I believe Thursday morning and with Prime it arrived early Friday afternoon. I wanted the stand also, but that would have delayed delivery until after the weekend and I wanted it for a last minute 10 year old birthday party we planned for Saturday evening. I chose this particular machine because I could go back at a later date and order the stand, which seems to not be the case with the other models. If you don't get the stand at the initial order then you're out of luck. Also, I wanted a black, 8oz machine and this fit the bill. Anyhoo, my package was packed very well. There were no dents, scratches, cracks or dings in the metal or the glass. I would advise to tip the box slightly over and open it from the bottom and slide the box off the machine. That seemed to work nicely to remove it from the box due to the large Styrofoam pieces. Setup was quick and easy, the doors slid right into place as well as the tray that catches unpopped seeds. The light bulb was installed already and not broken. I think this is considered a large machine, but it isn't near as big as I thought it would be, which is good. It fits nicely on a table I have in my kitchen. It will not slide under upper cabinets. It came with a manual, a large scoop, two measuring spoons for oil, a kernel scoop as well as popcorn bags(50) and popcorn containers( I thought 4, but I can only find 3, maybe a party guest managed to take one?). The paint did not rub off or wash off the containers like some reviewers experienced (I hand washed them) and are a good size larger than the popcorn containers you can pick up at the dollar store (the one on the left). The bags are huge and hold a lot of popped corn. After popping an 8oz pre-measured popcorn/oil (not included, but pictured)pack, 8 ounces of corn could have easily filled only about 6 of those bags, so to stretch one batch for ten 10 year olds, the bags were filled about 2/3 and I immediately made a new batch because I knew they'd be back for more. It heats up pretty fast, so if you use the pre-measured packs(not included, but pictured) I would cut the kernels and the oil apart and have the oil open and ready to pour/squeeze in as soon as those smoke ribbons appear, which with my machine did not take 4 mins. It was maybe a little over a minute. I suggested you cut the package apart because the kettle opening when installed and ready to use is quite tight (and really hot) and trying to put in the oil mix with the kernels hanging off the side can get a bit awkward. The kids enjoyed watching the kettle overflow with popcorn like at the movies within 2-3 mins after the kernels were added. I did notice that leaving the warmer bulb on to keep the popcorn nice and hot did result in a few burnt spots on some of the popcorn at the bottom, not a huge deal and it didn't smell, but my 4 year old refused to eat the ones with tiny burn marks on them. I guess to remedy this, one would need to stir the popped corn from time to time. Cleanup wasn't too bad. I ended up making about 4-5 batches that day before cleaning it the first time and I just used a damp paper towel and wiped it out. I was concerned that it wouldn't be good enough due to the oil and butter flavoring, but the only thing that's still on the machine after that day are fingerprints on the outside of the glass that I've not worried about. Overall, this was a great buy and we plan on using it often, probably every weekend as my kiddos love popcorn and I refuse to purchase microwave popcorn.