Hard to get a perfect waffle
592589
It is hard to get a perfect waffle with the vertical waffle maker. If you fill it enough to get a whole waffle, there is a lot of waste in the neck of the waffle that doesnt cook perfectly. If you fill it so there is no mess or waste, you only get part of a waffle. If you don't mind that, it makes an excellent waffle! The waffle iron is easy to store and takes up very little cabinet space.
3722439
Waffles are pretty thin but it does the job. Really messy but that ok a small food trey works well for fast clean up.
4751804
I bought this to make Chinese Egg Waffles exclusively.

Overall: not the cheapest kitchen gadget I own, but does make egg shaped waffles nicely.

Pros: waffles are consistent each and every time.  Easy to use.

Cons: Even though the maker gets hot enough to cook the waffles, the heat isn't high enough to make them crispy.  That's my major gripe with this product.  After I cook it, the waffle is soft (tasty, but not crispy).  I have to place it in the oven for a few minutes to make it more crispy.
766471
I read the instructions carefully, and they freaking weren't kidding about spraying down the surfaces before EVERY waffle, no matter how many you've flung through the thing. The plates are wicked non-stick, but the nonstick only goes so far to release the waffle from the plates. That extra bit of fat (either from the nonstick cooking spray, or from brushed on oil) lets the cooked waffle release. I used their recipe, but modified it so that it's vegan. Instead of using eggs, I used chia seeds + water (1 TB chia seed per egg, +1/4 cup water per TB of chia). Instead of dairy milk, I soaked 1/3 cup of almonds in 1 cup of water, and ground it with the soaking liquid in a blender. I did not strain it. Instead, I added a bit of vinegar (about 2 TB) to the ground almonds + water to make it like a buttermilk, and added the other liquid ingredients to that mix before blending the whole mess together to form a creamy emulsion dealie.

The suggestion to use a bit of cornmeal and cornstarch in the dry mix was brilliant. It made super crispy waffles. I used about 3/4 of the heat. Medium ended up with waffles that were too white. Between each waffle, shut the lid, and let the machine get back up to heat again. It will beep to indicate when it's ready to get the next dose of batter. The instructions never say how much batter to put. I measured, and about 1 cup is enough to fill the plate, but not end up overflowing outside. I used an ice cream disher thing to get proper measurements of the batter.

The machine takes about as long to heat up as it takes me to put together the batter, so that was no problem at all. Next time, I will mix the dry ingredients together, and leave them to sit. Then, the next morning, I will just throw all the wet ingredients into the blender, and hit blend. It'll make the batter forming much quicker. Then, while waiting for the waffle iron to heat up, I'll put on a pot of coffee, and nuke the maple syrup or fruit compote (I used 3 cups of mixed frozen berries, a couple of TB of sugar, 1 TB of lemon juice, and let them boil together; after the liquid was released from the berries, I added 1 heaping TB of cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water, and the whole thing thickened up nicely). It makes it way quicker to get breakfast sorted out.

It's especially nice, because the waffles are done in like three or four minutes. They get cooked to perfection really fast. This means that I was able to have breakfast on the table in about 20 minutes on a weekday morning. Sure makes the spouse feel special when you can do that.

If you get some time, start experimenting with savoury waffles too. Because of the nonstick surface, you can really go to town with adding cool additions. Like, use a basic waffle batter without very much sugar in (or no sugar at all, if you can help it), and throw in some finely chopped olives, frozen corn, chopped parsley, some black pepper, some chopped jalapenos, and throw that sucker into the waffle iron. It'll make an awesome open faced sandwich base. Or, if you slice the quarters into wedges, you've got a really neat looking little appetiser.

The possibilities are endless. I tried a gluten free batter, using rice flour, chickpea flour, tapioca flour, and ground flax seeds, and it came out pretty wonderful too. I had to bump up the fat from 1/2 cup to almost 3/4 cup, but my gluten free friends were thrilled.

All in all, this is a handy little luxury tool to have around the house.
232024
I wanted to like this so badly. I really love the removable plates, that's it's best feature. However, it didn't fully cook the waffles. They were extremely pale color. We tried it several times hoping it would get darker with each use as the direction states, but it did not. The waffles were not brown or crisp, the were soft and pale in color. This was our 3rd waffle iron in the past 15 years and we unfortunately had to return it and replaced it with one without removable plates and non flippable that we bought on sale at Kohls.
1554786
Good little 1/2 inch waffle maker for the price. You are not going to have those pretty golden all over 1-1.5 inch waffles from this machine; you will need to buy one of the fancy ones for that.  I believe my new waffle iron is working as designed, however I had to take some additional steps to get a decent waffle that was slightly crispy outside, at least 1/2 inch thick and sufficiently brown.

First, the measure cup provided does not have a sufficient amount of batter (in my opinion) to make a good 1/2 inch waffle,
especially when some of the batter clings to the cup.  So I used about 1.5 of the provided measuring cups of batter so that batter fully covered the bottom before I closed the lid.  You will get that extra edge around the waffle where a little of the batter goes to overflow. (see my pics)

Instructions say brush with oil before using....just use a very very very light brushing of oil (and do not repeat the application). I thought I went light, but my first waffle was icky white.  Honestly, this waffle maker looks like nothing is going to stick even without the oil so I may try it 'oil less' next time.

Set the browner to max.  When set at max it got it brown enough with a little outside crisp (but not that nice even golden brown all over.  not sure that is possible with this waffle maker, despite the photographs they provide)

Make sure you close the lid and get it back to temp (so the green light is on again) before starting the next waffle.

I also used this belgian waffle recipe I found on the web that I thought was quite good:
Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients.  Mix wet and dry ingredients (but just until blended. There can be lumps)
Important**Let sit for 30 minutes before using**
DRY
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
my addition is an
optional whisper of nutmeg
and 1/8 tsp cinnamon

WET
1 cup butter milk
1/3 cup veg oil
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
3007684
I bought this because my dad has one & he always makes perfect waffles. I used this twice so far and if I wait until the light goes off, they are a little darker than I like them and I haven't perfected getting the proper amount of batter in without it coming out the side or getting the waffle out in one piece yet... Guess I need some more practice. :) Overall, I like this waffle maker.
4835634
My boyfriend gave me this because I wanted one that had removable plates that could be put in the dishwasher.  That works great.  I makes fine waffles, but there is one huge issue.  Even sitting in my tiny kitchen, about half the time neither one of us hears the beep signaling that it has finished.  Sometimes it beeps, sometimes instead the smoke detector beeps telling me it's ready, but the waffle will be quite dark.  So be prepared to sit staring at the lights to see when it switches from red to green.  No one has time, for that, Cuisinart, so for that reason, I would not recommend this waffle maker.  Since I'm stuck with it, next time I'll time how long it took to cook and then set my stove timer to warn me when it might silently turn to green.  I'm tired of burned waffles.
1472062
The waffle maker is fast (faster then my old one) and easy to use. The waffles cook thoroughly and even, and slide off the griddles easily. I love ceramic surface, but mine has a few imperfections - bubbles on one side. I am not sure if it is going to peel or crack after a while, but so far it seems to be OK.
The griddles on the waffle maker are not removable, meaning you have to wipe them, and cannot really wash, which I really hate. They seem to be reasonably clean after wiping, but it still irks me.
I wish it had an audible signal for when the waffle is ready. I put the waffle maker on the table and we eat waffles as they get ready, but the whole thing is so large, so it is hard to see the "ready" light coming on.
I tried three of the recipes in the book, and all of them worked very well, with buttermilk waffles being the favorite at our house.
4869334
It does make fun and good tasting waffles. The design of the maker could be a little better. If you wait for the light to go out your waffle will be too dark. I had to experiment with a kitchen timer and a couple waffles to get the waffles to the doneness we prefer. We had family from out of state visit and the Texas waffles were a hit. 3 stars. Pros are its fun unique and waffles are good. Cons are the timer sucks and the price is a little high for the overall Quality.
979587
Most of the recipes sound pretty good,  but the directions were lacking some things. The ingredient lists often call for eggs to be separated, but then the directions simply say to mix them in a bowl together. I'm assuming I'm supposed to treat them like typical waffles, beating the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently folding them into the batter.
There are a few other confusing things here and there. The book has decent ideas, but I wouldn't recommend it for first-time waffle makers.
2841359
This is clearly a top-of-the-line product in many ways, but it also misses the boat in a number of regards that could've made it much more of a pleasure to use.

The thing I like best about it is that there are so many different waffle plates that I only need to have one waffle iron to make a huge variety of things. Multiple types of waffles, stuffed waffles, sandwich maker, and a plate for making waffle cones are all available options. None of them are cheap, but it is nice to have one adjustable unit and be able to get rid of my standalone sandwich maker and waffle cone maker.

The thing I hate most about it is that you need a screwdriver and a reasonable amount of patients to get the plates on and off, and the process feels awkward, messy, and difficult. I have delegated this to my husband every time, because after I make waffles it feels like a reasonable request to not have to deal with this ridiculous process. A more reasonable request would've been that the company get a better designer to figure out this process from the start so that us chefs would not hate using the darn thing!

I really appreciate the dial that adjusts temperature, and I think this feature above many of the other ones is why I am keeping this unit, even with its flaws and inconveniences every time you want to wash or change the plates.

After having made four batches of Belgian waffles and two batches of stuffed waffles, I have some comments. If you are interested in making Belgian liege waffles, you don't actually need to fuss with making yeast bread as all of the recipe say. I used Pamela's sprouted gluten-free buttermilk pancake mix with some of the liege Pearl sugar and no other adjustments, and it came out great. Maybe not authentic, I wouldn't know since I've never had one, but the Pearl sugar crystallized nicely and dissolved so it did not leave sugary chunks. I did try Pearl sugar in a recipe that did not have as much liquid, and it was not nearly as successful.

I bought a book called Will It Waffle and intend to try some of their recipes and ideas for making savory foods in the waffle maker. One thing that I really want to try that is my own idea is making mashed potato patties, which are basically mashed potatoes with a little egg and starch to hold the whole thing together, cooked on a higher heat in the waffle maker to form a crispy exterior shell. I often fry mashed potato patties and I think this could be a really fun variation.

I also tried Pamela's sprouted grain free pancake mix, and found it a lot less successful for waffles.

A cornbread mix made as per regular instructions and put in the waffle maker, yielded amazing Belgian waffle shaped cornbread, which I cut into sticks and served with melted butter and honey. This was a huge hit and much less messy and crumbly than cornbread muffins.

For stuffed waffles, I found that the most successful fillings were sliced bananas and strawberries, chocolate hazelnut spread, cream cheese, and I made a peanut butter and jelly version that was also pretty good. I think that the more concentrated fillings like the chocolate hazelnut spread, cream cheese, and peanut butter, where the most successful, with the real fruit fillings needing to really be packed in for maximum flavor. I was considering trying to make some manner of sausage pepper and cheese stuffed cornbread "waffles" as my next stuffed waffle experiment.

In terms of waffle forks, I would really recommend the waffle fork from this brand over the cheaper plastic tipped waffle tongs. The waffle tongs look like they would actually remove the waffle pretty well, but they just don't. The perfect waffle fork, while wildly overpriced, is much better.
4639929
How I like a nice, tasty waffle! And having visited enough hotels in my time, I know how well  those rotary-style makers can make a waffle. So, I bought the Waring WMK300A Pro Professional (isn't that redundant?) Stainless-Steel Belgian Waffle Maker here at Amazon.

First, the good news: It can make very nice waffles. The drip tray does a fine job at containing messes and facilitates clean-up. The unit looks nice enough. And the little serving-sized measuring cup is a nice touch.

The not-so-good: Lots more plastic than metal. Rather flimsy rotation yoke. A foldable handle that doesn't really serve much of a purpose except perhaps making it easier to ship in the box. And, in my case, a timer that is totally useless. Once I had heated up the unit, seasoned it with oil, and applied the batter, the "ding!" went off in just 56 seconds when set to the recommended 4 on the dial. "My, what a fast waffle maker!" I thought. But, of course, that's not so. Far from it. I could get my tasty waffles, but only if I timed them myself. (About 4.5 minutes is about right.)

(Sigh.) I wrote Amazon of the problem and asked to send the unit back for replacement. Amazon was super fast in taking the old one away and delivering the new one. Alas, my hopes that my problem was just the rare fluke were quickly dashed. First, there was a small piece of broken plastic rattling around in the unblemished box. I had to search high and low to find where it came from. It belonged to the hinge. I'm guessing it cracked off when they assembled the unit. It was a small bit of plastic, however, and didn't seem to interfere with the function of the hinge, so I went ahead and fired the iron up this morning to make a couple of waffles. *This* time, I also used a precautionary measure of starting the cooking timer on the stove at the same time. Good thing, too. The Waring unit's bell went off in under a minute on the first waffle. About the same for the second. This is nuts! How can you mess up building a timing unit?

So I'm sending this one back, too. But I'm *not* going to bother with another Waring. Maybe their commercial grade maker is better (at over $235 it should be!), but this...uh, "these" experiences with the "Pro" model make me wary of buying anything from them at all.
4068649
The concept is fabulous.  When you can get it to work well, its great.  But the batter has to be just perfect for the results to be worth your effort.  Plan on some major prep and a long breakfast.
4895746
The waffles this makes are too thin for my tastes. Other than that, it works fine. If you like your waffles thin and crispy, you'll like this waffle maker.
4861703
I love the shape of this, but no matter how carefully I prepped, I could never get a cake to come out cleanly.  Maybe someone more talented than myself will have better luck.
3606511
Neat idea and the oven function works fine.  The toaster, on the other hand, can't handle an Eggo waffle.  Thick and fluffy waffles are fine, however a regular (thinner) waffle will fold in half like a taco and get stuck in the machine.  Extracting it is as simple as opening the toaster oven door and fishing the waffle out from the side but be prepared to burn yourself in the process.