Close your eyes and picture this: It’s a lazy Sunday morning and the smell of vanilla-laced batter hitting buttered grates is wafting through the air. Sitting in front of you is a gorgeously golden, crispy-yet-plush waffle, each pocket in its gridded surface glistening with syrup like tiny sticky-sweet tide pools. Sounds ideal, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that you have the power to make this dream a reality. But you’ll need a waffle maker to do it.
Take it from food director Chris Morocco: “You either have a waffle iron or you don’t but should get one. Those are the two main conditions of life.” If you find yourself in the latter camp, this article is for you. After polling the Bon Appétit test kitchen staffers for their top picks, two options quickly emerged as front-runners for the Best Waffle Maker. And before you go on about your lack of counter space or unwillingness to drop upwards of $100 on a single-use kitchen appliance, let me just say that I hear you, and you’ll be happy to know that one of the best waffle makers out there (and a favorite among many BA staffers) takes up hardly more space than a hefty cookbook and rings in at a modest $60.
Maybe you’re skeptical about the need for owning a waffle maker at all—it does just have one primary use (though we have it on good authority that some people out there are using theirs to make paninis). But the truth is, if you want to have any hope of recreating the scene I painted above, this is the appliance you’ll need to do it. You can make rice without a rice cooker, toast without a toaster, and cookies without a stand mixer, but there’s simply no way to make a waffle without a waffle maker. So give yourself the gift of hotel-like breakfasts from the comfort of your own home, whenever you want—you deserve it.
Skip straight to shopping for the best waffle maker:
The best overall: All-Clad Stainless Steel Belgian Waffle Maker, $220 on Amazon (skip down to read more about it)
The best for your budget (and cabinet space): Presto FlipSide Waffle Maker, $60 on Amazon (skip down to read more about it)
The Cadillac of waffle makers: All-Clad Stainless Steel Belgian Waffle Maker
We’ve waxed poetic about All-Clad’s cookware for years, so it’s no surprise that its appliances are also top-notch. If you’re in the market for the best waffle maker money can buy, look no further: In the words of Chris, “the All-Clad waffle maker is the last waffle maker you ever need to own. It is unimprovable, at the top of its class, yet so simple that you won’t need the instruction manual to use it.” We love the luxe stainless-steel finish (the same steel that goes into the brand’s beloved skillets), the easy-to-use dial with a whopping seven different browning settings, and the removable drip tray that catches excess batter. But most of all, we love that “it just makes great waffles,” as Chris says, “with crisp ridges and deep impressions for holding on to all the toppings you can dream of.” They’re what BA contributor Ashley Mason likes to call “company waffles”: You know, the kind of wonderfully tall, crispy-on-the-outside and fluffy-on-the-inside, evenly golden waffles that will impress whoever you serve them to, whether it’s out-of-town guests or just, well, yourself.
Like any high-end appliance worth its salt, the All-Clad takes the guesswork out of the task it was assigned to do. An indicator light and audible beep will let you know when the machine is preheated, after which all you’ll need to do is pour your batter into the reservoirs (the nonstick plates mean there’s no greasing required), close the machine, and your work is done. The indicator light and beep will go off again to let you know when your waffles are ready to be doused in syrup, or whipped cream, or whatever you fancy. The 4-square model makes four full-sized, hotel-quality waffles, which means less time standing over the kitchen counter and more time enjoying your leisurely brunch. It also means everyone in the family gets a steaming hot waffle at precisely the same time—read: no crispy waffles getting soggy on a plate while you wait for the rest of the batch to cook. If you live in a smaller household or are worried about storage space, there’s also a more inexpensive 2-square version that will take up less real estate on your countertop and offers all the same functionality and performance. And if you’re willing to splurge a bit more, All-Clad makes an option with dishwasher-safe removable plates for extra easy cleanup. The choice is yours.
The space-saving budget pick: Presto FlipSide Belgian Waffle Maker
The Presto FlipSide may be a budget pick, but it’s also the top pick of many BA staffers. One such staffer is associate food editor Kendra Vaculin, who had previously lived a waffle maker–free lifestyle. “In my small kitchen,” she says, “I can’t allocate the kind of space that a big Belgian waffle maker requires to what is, in reality, a one-trick pony appliance.” That was until Epicurious staff writer and product tester extraordinaire Wilder Davies introduced her to the Presto FlipSide after he tested it for an Epicurious product review (in which it scored top marks). “The FlipSide is compact but still makes a nice-sized (not mini!) waffle, so I don’t feel like I’m compromising,” Kendra says. It stands upright when stored away, making use of valuable vertical space and taking up about the same amount of cabinet real estate as a family size box of cereal.