Cuisinart WMR-CA Round Classic Review

The Cuisinart Round Classic offers good waffles at a very low price, making it a great option for those that want to make waffles at home for special occasions. If you're looking to make waffles more frequently, however, investing a bit more in a better-constructed waffle maker will likely yield a superior value in the long run.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

Good Waffles, Low Price

This is pretty much the main selling point for the Cuisinart Round Classic. For not much money, you get classic style waffles that nearly match the quality of those made in machines that can cost triple. The shade knob also adds a huge level of functionality over other makers in the same price range, allowing you to manage the outer crust's level of crispiness.

The Round Classic's waffles taste great.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

Some Sacrafices

Unfortunately, you do have to make some sacrifices to obtain the Cuisinart Round Classic inexpensive waffles.

No Beeps

When making waffles, you need to know 1) when the iron is up to temperature and ready to cook batter, and 2) when the waffle is done cooking and ready to be taken off the iron. Most models have some sort of an auditory beep to let you know when you've reached these critical milestones. The Cuisinart Round Classic instead uses a single small LED light that switches from red to green. For preheating this is fine, but having to constantly check in on the light while a waffle is cooking to avoid burning is far less than ideal. Also, for those amongst us that suffer from red-green color blindness, that light is particularly hard to discern.

The shade knob offers a level of functionality, but also has a lot of play and is thus hard to set right where you want it.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

Questionable Construction

The biggest downside to the Cuisinart Round Classic is its build quality. When using it, you can tell that much of the cost savings that led to its low price came in the manufacturing process. The unit itself feels a bit top heavy and unbalanced, and the shade slider has a large amount of play to it. This led us to tinker with it a lot before finding the correct position for our desired shade.

These construction qualms really aren't an issue if you're only going to make waffles a few times a year. We had absolutely no issues regarding durability in making 20 waffles with the Cuisinart Round Classic during our testing. However, if you'd like to make waffles with more regularity, we would predict the Cuisinart Round Classic could give you some issues.

Value

For those that only want to makes waffles at home a few times a year for special occasions, the juxtaposition of the great waffles the Cuisinart Round Classic can make and it's low price tag is pretty great. However, those that want to make waffles a few times a month will likely find a better value by investing in a slightly higher-quality machine. You could spend a little more and get slightly better construction and more user-friendly features in the Presto Flipside, or spend more and get a machine that will likely last a lifetime in the Breville No-Mess.

Conclusion