Waring WMK300 Belgian Waffle Maker, Brushed Stainless

I can't say enough about the quality of the Waring Pro. It makes excellent waffles. The construction is everything the engineer in me wants in a waffle iron. A drawback to this unit is that it takes up quite a bit of room. As was suggested in another review, we store our Waring on the counter top where it looks great.We have now used the waffle maker for almost a year and find we have waffles for lunch often. My review is slightly changed to reflect more of what we have learned over the last several months.My wife and I are not accomplished chefs so we struggled with recipes. Thus I want to comment on three things: seasoning the grids, recipes and cook time.Regarding seasoning:The directions indicate seasoning with cooking spray or oil; we initially preheated the Waring and then sprayed the grids with Mazola Canola/sunflower spray. We were never happy with the way that worked (we may have been too generous with the spray). My wife finally used a spatula and paper toweling and wiped between the grids. The waffles are coming out fine.It is important to re-season the Waring which we do about every three months. We found out the hard way what happens when you don't re-season; the waffle stuck to the grids and it wasn't fun getting it out. The directions in the manual tell you what to do if a waffle sticks. It is worth reading.Regarding recipes:We tried about four recipes before my wife went to the library and found the following recipe in a newer Betty Crocker cookbook. This is the only recipe we use.WAFFLESPREP: 10 MINUTES (MAKES FOUR BELGIAN WAFFLES)1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour1 tablespoon baking powder1/4 teaspoon salt2 eggs1-3/4 cups milk1/2 cup cooking oil1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.2. In another mixing bowl, beat whole eggs slightly. Beat in milk and oil.3. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just till moistened (batter should be lumpy).When mixing this batter, my wife followed the above instructions. For the oil she used Canola oil. Using a whisk proved to be a better way to mix the batter. The recipe says the batter will have some lumps. It did, but they were not there at the eating.We preheated the Waring Pro using a 4-1/2 setting and did not use any oil or spray to re-season. I use the measuring cup that comes with the machine and fill it with batter 1/16" over the fill line on the cup. I pour the batter in a circular motion about 3/4" from the outer edge of the grids.By accident, I found out that the amount of batter you put in the Waring is sensitive to where the temperature knob is set. The knob was inadvertently shifted to 6; I didn't notice. I poured batter into the unit and it rose a whole lot! In the end no big deal but now I check the setting when I turn the unit on.I can never get the whole base to fill when pouring in the batter so I gently move the handle back and forth so the batter can flow in one direction and then the other to fill all the grids. It takes me about 30 seconds to fill the grids, close the cover and turn the waffle iron over. I then bake the waffle an additional four minutes.About cooking time:I depend completely on the clock for the time to cook, 4-1/2 minutes total. The signal from the Waring Pro comes very early and even monitoring the steam from the batter is not adequate.Using the above, you will have Belgian waffles with the looks and taste that will make you proud!Extra Waffles:When you have extra batter, bake the waffles, let them cool, wrap individually in aluminum foil and freeze. They keep for several weeks and reheat well.

The price on Amazon was great and I really enjoyed this unit when it worked. I would make waffles every weekend for the family. Unfortunately, I had it replaced under warranty twice (the warranty is one year from purchase). The final unit stopped working about 5 months after the warranty expired. For those counting, that's three units in less than one and a half years. It appears from reviews (and my experience) that the common problem is that it just stops heating (always in the middle of cooking a waffle too - what a mess to clean out). For those of you considering this, only give credence to the reviews from those who have owned it more than one year. Too many reviews here from short term owners. It works well initially, but won't last. I certainly won't waste my money on any other products from Waring. For those of you who still think the price is worth the risk - the warranty service is relatively quick and friendly. I imagine that the company would go belly-up if they extended the warranty past a year.

My Waring Pro has cooked hundred of waffles without complaint until a screw which connected the iron with the hinge fell out and made it a bit loose. I check with Waring to order a new part but no, they only sell the electronic board, no other parts are available. Dozens of waffles later I suffer hinge failure in the middle of making waffles. The second screw (of 2) fell out totaling disabling the iron. I can understand why they might not sell parts - the thing is really hard to take apart and would be very difficult to re-assemble without some special screw starters as there are several that are really deep. Thankfully I didn't have to take it apart that far. When you open the iron there are two self tapping screws on each side near the hinge. They screw into a plastic boss that is part of the hinge. The screws are small and don't have much to bite into. It's not surprising that they eventually give way. The solution is to get four 6-32 flat head screws preferably stainless 1 1/4" long and a 1/8" bit. If your iron has already given way you will have to tape it together back into the original position. Try putting the old screw back in even though it won't hold, you're just checking alignment. Take drill bit and drill from the screw side al the way through the hinge and avoid your hand. The new screws should screw tight in while grabbing a good amount of plastic to hold firm. Don't over tighten and strip them out. I expect that they will work this way for a few hundred more waffles. If these screws get loose just get a 6-32 acorn nut (they look better but you can use a standard hex nut) and screw the threads into the nut. I did this not only on the original side that failed but also did the other side in anticipation of a failure there.UPDATE May 11, 2015Screws continue to hold without complaint. Be careful when looking at Waring waffle makers. Models that look the same can be very different in execution. This model has a couple of issues (fuse and screws) but these are easy to fix and the repairs are durable. I would especially be cautious concerning the double waffle makers. This WMK300 draws 1200w while the double sided versions draw 1300-1400w (different models). I previously trashed a 1400w Kitchenaid double sided waffle iron because it couldn't truly brown the waffles. I see no reason why a similar Waring unit would do any different. As it is this model makes them pretty quick.One thing that greatly affects performance is the waffle batter you use. Carbon's Original Golden Malted Pancake & Waffle Flour is a commercial mix sold mostly to restaurants in bulk. Amazon offers it in 33oz cans for about $20. This should be good for a couple of months. In Texas waffles are often improved by the addition of pecans. I get 2lb bags of whole pecans at Costco and chop them up. Buying chopped pecans in the grocery store only monetizes something that would or should have been thrown out. Although Carbon suggests water I use milk. I then add a cup of chopped pecans to the mix.