Waring Commercial CAC174 Waffle Fork for Waring Waffle Irons. Easily removes Waffles from The Waffle Iron Without Scratching.

I purchased this for my home after having good experiences with similar waffle makers at the Marriott Courtyard and other hotels. I have two standard waffle makers that make large square waffles that are about half as thick as a good Belgian waffle but lack the crisp and light quality that a good Belgian waffle has.So why consider a "commercial" product for home use? Frankly, it was the reviews here on Amazon of the homeowner products that gave me pause. While many owners liked them, there were always a smattering of users reporting that theirs suddenly stopped working or simply started falling apart after the minimal warranty period expired. The need to maintain a high-current rotating electrical connection as required on these devices worried me as well. I can imagine a cheap implementation of this connection quickly failing. Over the years I've found that buying lower quality kitchen appliances doesn't pay in the long run. Most of the cheap "as seen on TV" appliances I've owned have long since hit the trash or are stored in some dark corner in the basement. So, I was willing to pay up for this with the hope that it will just work and work reliably for many years. Time will tell...So, two things I've learned after 4 separate sessions of waffle making with this machine. First, and most important, is that it makes wonderful waffles and does so consistently. There is nothing I could imagine changing regarding the quality of the waffles that this machine produces. I use  Golden Malted Pancake & Waffle Flour, Original, 33-Ounce Cans (Pack of 3) . I highly recommend this mix if you like the traditional malted flavor waffles. The waffles this appliance produces are medium brown and crisp on the outside, yet airy and tender on the inside. I used the recommended number 4 heat setting but you can adjust the crispness on a scale of 1 - 6 to suit your preference. The waffles release cleanly from the cooking plates without needing anything sprayed or brushed on the plates to prevent sticking. I don't expect you'll have such good results if you substitute any kind of vegetable oil for the butter in the waffle mix recipe, or if you use a vegetable based cooking spray. More on that later. This machine only takes 4 - 5 minutes to warm up and can produce up to 50 - 7" waffles per hour. It beeps when it's initially warmed up enough to start using. Separate green indicator lights on each of the two cooking cavities light when it's waffle is ready to extract. One waffle is enough for an average adult if you are serving side dish like hash browns, bacon, etc. Two waffles should satisfy even a hearty appetite. For kids, the waffles are easily separated into halves or quarters. One other thing I like is an easily removable drip tray under the rotating cooking cavities that will catch any overflow. But if you use a measuring cup to add the correct amount of batter you won't ever need the tray. I haven't gotten as much as a drop of excess batter on mine since I started using it.The cons are setup issues and a strangely curious warning. The user guide is the biggest problem. The guide says, "For initial use, it is important that the waffle maker is preheated before seasoning with cooking spray or oil." It also states, "Season the waffle grids by spraying with cooking spray or brushing with a flavorless oil". I pre-heated mine, brushed it with canola oil (which is a cooking oil, right?), and let it season for a few minutes. It took me an hour and a half to meticulously scrub the resulting gunk that was stuck tenaciously on all four plates before I dared use the machine. After this cleaning, I then brushed it with some rendered bacon fat to season it properly. That worked fine. I should have known to question this instruction based on prior experiences with vegetable oils on griddles and other high-heat appliances. Use butter, lard, or bacon grease and you should have a much better setup experience. Note that I haven't brushed anything on the plates since the seasoning with the bacon grease and I haven't had any problems with sticking.The other issue is determining the correct amount of batter to use. This appliance comes with one acrylic measuring cup. (Yes one, even though it makes TWO waffles at a time.) The measuring cup has one fill line on it and the user guide instructs you to fill to the line with your waffle batter. This wasn't enough for my batter mix. Of course, your results may well vary with a different mix. The issue I have is that the user guide recommends using 3/4 cup of batter as the optimal amount for each waffle but you get less than that from filling the measuring cup to the fill line. I found 3/4 cup to be a bit too much while the measuring cup was a bit short of what is necessary to fill the plates fully. But like I said, this is a one-time setup problem. Once you figure it out the right amount, you'll be making great waffles every time. I purchased half dozen  OXO Good Grips 1-Cup Angled Measuring Cup  to use to prep the batter so that I can produce waffles at the maximum rate. You might consider doing the same.Note that you won't get the best results by just pouring the batter in the center of the lower plate and closing the cavity. As the user guide suggests, you need to use a small spatula to spread the batter out to the edges for the most uniform results in terms of waffle density and filling the plate to the edges without having voids along the outside edge. Not a big deal, but it was an unsuspected extra step. I suspect that this would be the same for any of these waffle makers and not really an issue with this specific waffle maker.The last item is a note in the user guide in BOLD type that says: "THERMAL PROTECTION - IF POWER IS LOST DURING OPERATION, UNPLUG AND LET COOL 10 MINUTES. PLUG IN AND CONTINUE USE." I'm not sure what bad thing happens if you don't remember to do this when you have a momentary power outage. But I suspect you and I will find out if it happens because who is going to remember this weird warning a year later when the lights flicker during waffle making?Overall, the quality of the waffles and ease-of-use of this waffle maker far outweighs the minor one-time setup issue I experienced. I would recommend this appliance to anyone who wants a good-looking, quality waffle maker that consistently produces five-star Belgian waffles.

It gets into the deep groves of a Belgian waffle maker with no issues, easy to use, does not scratch the plates.

WARNING: This review is for the SINGLE Waffle Maker, WW180X. I was shipped the SINGLE Waffle Maker, not the DOUBLE that I thought I had ordered. The seller made it right with me (+1 for customer support!!!).The SINGLE Waffle Maker works great! I wish I had the double, but I don't and it's backordered so I passed and accepted the single maker.Tips: Use a thicker waffle batter. You want a batter you can almost pick up with your hands. A thick batter will cook faster, be tastier, and work better. Thin batters are for pancakes, they take longer to cook, they are wetter, and they don't make as good of a waffle in a Belgian Waffle Maker.Worksmanship was good on the model, it did appear to be a refurbished model due to a dent on the top, scratches on the sides, and one of the screws on the plate is stripped out. I drilled the screw out already and replaced it, works great.

I had a Waring Commercial WW180 waffle maker that broke after 12 years of household use, waffles once a week. The Model WW180X, even though it looks very similar is quite different in design. The price has increased a lot over the years. As with the previous model, this waffle maker makes really good waffles.

I've owned a breakfast restaurant for 10 years. I've learned over that time that I HATE waffle makers. They just don't hold up to commercial use, the top or bottom element dies. WOW, I just looked at my Amazon purchase history and I've purchased 19 Waring waffle makers since 2006, and 16 other brands including, Gold Medal, Star, Carbon, and Kitchenaid. These units have ranged in price from $800 down to $99. After the $800 units die in a few months, I vow to never get burned again and I buy the $99 units that vary in life from 2 weeks to 2 months. Then after 5 or more of the $99 units die I think that maybe I should try the $800 units again. So this time I thought I'd try this unit here, the Waring Commercial WW200 - which is mid way between the $800 and $99 units. I bought this unit in September of 2013. It died in January 2014. (side note - I purchased the extended warranty on this machine for $37.98 - guess what? That warranty doesn't kick in until AFTER the Waring warranty expires - I've never had a Waring unit make it to 6 month mark) Ok- back to the story. So this unit died in January 2014. I had to call Waring who DID send out another unit promptly - thank you. TODAY... that unit died, and I'll call Waring in a minute. So... the bottom line for this review is this. If you use these units for your home, you are "golden". If commercial, expect about 2 months.I wish Waring would let me buy a case of elements - then I could start fixing the 19 bad units (kidding, I don't keep them) and save a ton of money - wait a minute... What am I thinking? I shouldn't waste my time fixing waffle makers, I should be selling food and running my business.

This thing is fantastic! Makes the best waffles ever. Compared to the consumer-grade thing it's replacing, well, there's really no comparison. I think it's because it keeps up to temperature better (all these kinds of things switch on and off by a thermostatic control) and heats evenly. I'm hoping I'll never need to buy another one - so this is my "terminal waffle maker". Granted, it's a commercial type unit and very expensive as a consumer item, but I've become convinced that all of the consumer items (in almost every product category) are cheapo-junk. I'm committed to waffles for breakfast every day, so springing the bucks was a no-brainer. Also, I find that it is seriously easy to clean.

Happy with my purchase, it gets into corners makes cleanup so much easier, I have to clean my waffle maker after each use and this brush made that process so much easier and faster for me. Definitely recommend this product.