If you are a waffle lover, you may have considered investing in a waffle maker. You might not want to go to a restaurant every time you get a craving for a waffle, and frozen waffles just don’t taste very good. Making your own waffles at home can also be less expensive and healthier than eating store-bought waffles. The frozen waffles you buy in the grocery store can be full of additives and preservatives that you really don’t need to eat. So if you’re in the market for a waffle maker, how do you go about choosing the right one? That’s exactly what we are going to cover in this brief waffle maker buyers guide.
Start with a Budget in Mind
You can get a cheap waffle maker for about $20. You could also go high-end and get a commercial quality machine with a lot of bells and whistles for over $100. Of course there are many good waffle makers on the market that are somewhere in the middle, from the $30 to $50 price range.
Think about the Features You Might Be Interested in
Consider the size of waffle maker you might need. You can get waffle makers with a large diameter that make large waffles. You can get waffle makers that are very deep so that you can make waffles with the ability to hold a lot of syrup, butter, berries, or other toppings. Some waffle makers are only able to make one waffle at a time but there are other waffle makers that can make 2 or even 4 at a time.
Some waffle makers have browning jobs that let you dial in your preferred darkness. If you like your waffles to be light and fluffy but someone else in your family likes them to be dark and crispy, the browning knob is a feature you may want to look for. Other features you might be interested in are pushbutton keypads, LCD screens, and various lights and buzzers that will tell you when the waffle maker is ready for your batter and when your waffles have finished cooking.
Generally speaking, the more features your waffle maker has, the more expensive it is going to be. With your budget in mind, think about some of the features you might want and then start shopping around and comparing prices.
Compare Prices and Research Customer Reviews
Shopping for a waffle maker online is an easy way to compare prices and features very quickly. A local store will have a limited supply of waffle makers, but searching online allows you to compare nearly every waffle maker currently being manufactured. Many websites will allow you to sort items by price, so it will be easy to pull up a few waffle makers in your price range and then you can compare the features that those waffle makers offer.
Shopping online also allows you to quickly research customer reviews. Getting input from people that have purchased various waffle makers is like having your own private team of product testers working for you. People who have used various waffle makers are happy to tell you what they liked or didn’t like about a particular model, and this information will make it much easier for you to make your decision.
