Popcorn machine recommendations - Page 4

Jeff,

From what I can tell, the feet are not adjustable on the Cineplex stand. This is just based on the stock photos and the info provided on the manufacturer's website. Since, I am not allowed to open my Cineplex machine and stand until Christmas, I am unable to confirm...lol. I wonder if it would be possible to add adjustable feet onto the stand, like the feet you see on washers/dryers.

If anybody else knows whether the feet are adjustable or not, I would be interested in reading about others' experiences with the stand, and if you have issues with the door. Our machine and stand are going to be sitting directly on some thick carpet.

I stole that idea from BigMouthInDC.

Nope, mine clears just perfectly. No more bending over.

Thanks PC, long time no see around here! Hope all is well.

I have this same popper. I ordered mine from Costco and it's working very, very well. I highly recommend this unit. Mine came with the trolly base and cost about $300, if memory serves.

what is the inside top of the Gold Medal machines made of ? Ive had a cheap one bought off ebay 5 years ago and the tops rusting from the salt and the lack of cleaning right after popping. With the Gold Medal do this?

Not sure about the Gold Medal machines, but the Paragon units state "Stainless steel food zone with tempered glass."

I'll admit to doing that a few times too.

Randy, that is a great looking base, I will probably build something similar, but full sized. Really nice trim work, and great idea to make it the perfect height.

Dave1969 from what I remember in my research, I think the Gold Medal and Paragon units are both built from stainless steel... correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

My GoldMedal is stainless.

thanks

So after popping in something like the Paragon Cineplex do you need to let the popcorn sit for a bit to dry like you with the Stir Crazy Deluxe per the review linked from this forum? I like the idea of popcorn at 1/6th the cost but can not see baking the stuff at 200 degrees for 30 minutes to get the texture right.

It seems to be a matter of personal preference from what I've read. Some like to make it early and keep it on the warmer for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, and some like to pop, scoop, and eat fresh. The best news to me was that it's still good days after you pop it. I always (when they have it) get a free refill on my bag when we leave the movies and take to home and snack on over the next day or two, and this will be even better.

I'd like to know about anyone who has modded their door though, there was some mention of drilling holes in the upper part to let more steam out while popping. If that plan actually happened, an update would be awesome.

That's pretty much what I've been reading, too. And I'm excited about the popcorn tasting great the next day, too. Just turn on the heated deck and enjoy.

I just crack the door and let the steam out. Our dog sits and worships the popper until a stray corn flys out the door.

Well, I FINALLY got to open up my Christmas present yesterday, a Paragon Cineplex 4 oz. popcorn machine and stand in the antique copper finish. I am really impressed with the fit and finish of the machine and stand. The machine and stand are not very big, but they fit perfectly into the space afforded in our basement.

First of all, the two boxes were packaged very well, a high quality foam was used as packing material. There was not a scratch or blemish on either piece. The stainless steel pieces even still had the paper/backing on them from when they are cut. There were small pieces of blue tape holding parts secure during transport. I am very impressed with this "Made in the USA" product.

The stand came fully assembled. It does have adjustable feet. It was really easy to place the machine on the stand. All I had to do was align the rubber feet into the large holes in the top of the stand. Then it was a matter of placing some bolts into other holes and securing them with wing nuts. Everything lined up perfect.

The machine was packaged with a yellow popcorn scoop, two premeasured Country Harvest 4 oz. packets, instructions, warranty card, a couple of decals, and the hardware for securing the machine to the stand. I haven't had a chance to use the machine yet, but I am hoping to be able to do so tomorrow night.

All in all, the machine and stand were not cheap, but I wouldn't hesitate to order from Paragon again. Once I get to make some popcorn, I'll be able to put the machine through the paces to see how it really functions.

Are any of you guys using a range hood over your popcorn machines? I'm putting the bar cabinets in and I added an exhaust pipe in the ceiling above so I could vent out the popcorn smell.

After researching many machines I got for Christmas a Paragon TP4 machine. The look of the machine is awesome, the kettle is top notch. The taste of the popcorn with coconut oil is awesome. However I do have some criticism and wanted to post them. Overall all the machine is good so if you don’t want to hear them read no further just go but and buy it, it is a good machine.

1 the kettle has a pin to remove it that is great for cleaning but there is no way to disconnect the power cord so it hangs there and whacks the side it would just make sense to have plug you and pull out so you can take the kettle out of the machine instead of cleaning it and pulling on the wire. Would make replacement a lot easer as well.

2 The door is horrible. This is the worst part it makes the whole machine feel cheap it is a really thin piece of flexy plexy glass. The stainless steel catch try can scratch it, there should be a protector there or a better design. My door had a deep gauge within 20 min of people looking at it and playing with the tray with out the door fully open. How hard is it for them to put on a glass door or at least a thicker plexy glass door so it doesn’t feel cheap.

3 Needs a vent. The instructions tell you to crack the door when it is pooping to let the moisture out. Really! The popcorn flyes out of the machine on the floor. Maybe in the bigger machines it is not an issue because there is more room around the kettle but in the 4oz because it is a small machine it is. How hard is it to design a vent in the top or side that you can open and close.

4 Now I am being picky, but the stickers are on crooked, I swear they must be drunk when assembling these. So much for American made quality I think I would of preferred a Chinese machine with straight stickers. I need to call Paragon on this one to see if they can send me stickers. Take some pride put the stickers on straight.

5 This is just me but for the price the warming light should be a LED. Or a nice rope light around. It should also be a separate switch and dim so I can turn it on for looks in my HT without turning the heaters on. It is to bright durning a movie now I need to turn it off which I bought the machine to look nice, and when you turn it off it kills the heaters.

6. Warming element is off to one side below it would be nice if it warmed all the popcorn evenly.

7. Old maids tray is useless. It has a couple of holes in the middle but it is not where the popcorn lands in this machine and when you scoop you scoop agents a side so it pushes the unpoped kernels there. So there is more on the machine then in the try when done. The whole bottom hold be a olds maid tray or at least near the corners. Again probably better on the bigger machines.

8. On the pro model it has light up switches. I am disappoited my model does not, it would of been a nice touch and can't cost any more to put in after all this thing is not cheap.

That’s it for now for a company making these machines for years I’m surprised at the lack of refinement in the machine. But the popcorn still tastes good.

one question does the Flavacol regular and the Flavacol Premier Seasoning taste the same. The Premier has no artifical colors which is appealing to me since they don't do anything for the taste anyhow.

I have the Paragon Cineplex model, but it is very similar to the TP-4. In fact, my machine came with the instructions for the TP-4. The kettle power cord can be disconnected from the the machine itself. It is hard wired into the kettle, though.

If the light was LED, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a warming light? I don't think an LED light would produce enough heat to keep the popcorn warm. A rope light definitely wouldn't be sufficient for this task.

I have never used flavacol premier but from what i have read it is supposed to taste the same as flavacol. The premier is supposed to not color your popcorn yellow.

This is always good advice.

The light is not a warming light, the warmer is under the base on the right side. The light is mearly to show off the popcorn.

Trouble is with the door cracked it lets the popcorn out as well all over the floor not allot but enough to be annoying and to get stepped into the carpet. Truthfully it is a minor thing I found a thread of people drilling their doors. I don't want to do that because that would also let the heat out keeping the popcorn warm. Just seems instead of putting in a half ass solutions like keep the door cracked (pardon the language) for a top of the line maker, the bugs if you will should be worked out. Popcorn flying out of the machine is not acceptable to me in a nicely finished HT, maybe in a fair ground it is ok. But I am also a bit of a perfectionist some people it will bug other are happy leaving the door open. Me I like things well engineered and thought through.

Thank you! I tried the plug was just really tight but it can be disconnected. PERFECT!

No, the light bulb is also there to help keep the popcorn warm. Yes the heater under the bottom is the primary heat source, but the light bulb besides being there for "show", it is there to also help provide a additional source of heat to keep the popcorn warm. In fact on some lower priced popcorn machines there is no bottom warmer at all, and the light bulb is the only source to help keep the popcorn warm.

Somewhere I read that their dog like to sit next to the popper and snap up the escapees. At least it is a pet friendly design!

I saw that. I didn't know a dog was a recommended accessory, I didn't see that as an option when I ordered. My cat is pretty worthless might be time to upgrade to a better 4 legged accessory. Can anyone recomend a specific model.

Well, I finally got to open our new Paragon Cineplex popper and fire it up on Boxing Day, and overall I think I'm happy with it. I do share some of programmergeek's concerns about the fine details on something that is a fairly costly purchase, but it does make good popcorn, and that is the main goal.

I have to say I have a bit of a bitter taste after some issues with the vendor for my unit, which I hope to have resolved shortly, but basically I was given a unit that was clearly previously used and charged full price among other things. If anyone is looking to buy one of these in Canada, PM me and I'll share my experience (including any forthcoming remedies) but I don't want to bad-mouth on the public forum, at least until I have some closure one way or another.

*** 01/30/12 EDIT: Issues have been cleared up satisfactorily. See post here. ***

On the bright side, the popcorn tastes great, the machine looks really nice, and I'm just going to concern myself with perfecting my cooking technique. I need to figure out the timing better, on when to shut off the kettle to eliminate the smoke.

Here's a quick pic in its temporary home on the dining room table.

I just bought the Paragon Cineplex.Paragon is doing FREE shipping,a FREE case of popcorn or 5% off purchase and you can get a FREE cleaning disk with purchase over $100.
http://www.paragonpopcornmachines.com/enter.html