I have had a Stir Crazy popcorn popper for over 20 years as well and mine is finally on the blink. I've asked my kids to get me a new one for my birthday.
A few pointers:
- you can make a batch of popcorn as small as you'd like. To get the correct proportions of oil and popcorn seeds, I select a dry measuring cup, 1/4 - 3/4 size, fill it with popcorn seeds, and then pour the cooking oil over the top of the seeds just until I can see it begin to surface, and then pour the seeds and oil in the popcorn popper.
- if you like butter on your popcorn, the butter well works fairly well, and works best if the butter is soft (room temp) to begin with to ensure it completely melts by the time the popcorn has finished popping. Surprisingly, it's not messy.
- if your popcorn seems too coarse after it's popped, consider trying a different popcorn. Yellow popcorn pops larger and softer but has many more hulls than white popcorn. Personally, I prefer Black Jewel popcorn (black seeds that pop white) and Crimson Jewel popcorn (red seeds that pop white), which seem to have more flavor than white popcorn, but still lack the hulls that yellow popcorn has.
- if you like a crisper popcorn, remove the lid from the butter well while it is popping to allow the steam to escape. Of course, if you are melting butter, be sure to secure the butter well lid before turning it over after popping has completed.
I've never tried olive oil instead of cooking oil, but I'm going to. It works well for frying potatoes, so I'm sure it will be good for popcorn, too.
Little kids love to watch the popcorn pop, just be sure they don't get burned by touching a hot popper.
The bowl is large and somewhat clumsy to clean, and the base is a bit difficult to keep from oil eventually building up (after 20 years) but it's worth it.
I have kept very few small kitchen appliances as well, but if you enjoy good popcorn, this is one you'll find a place for!
It sure beats microwave popcorn, which is not good for you.