Have you and your family captured the theater experience at home? Got a large flat-screen TV? Installed a killer sound system? Now, you might be ready to complete the movie experience with a home popcorn machine. Just imagine movie night with your family and friends, a great movie on the big screen and that wonderful, mouth-watering aroma of freshly popped theater popcorn wafting through the room. If that’s got your attention, you’re not alone.
 
Interest in popcorn machines for the home has increased. Visit most warehouse stores and you’ll find a variety of popcorn machines. And while the traditional red is a popular color for these machines, you’ll also find a black popcorn machine to be a stylish addition to your home theater. As tempting as it might be to just plop your money down on one of these cool looking popcorn makers, it’s best to do a little research to determine what size would best fit your needs. If you purchase a popcorn machine with a kettle smaller than your needs, you could find yourself constantly popping popcorn instead of watching a movie. And before you know it, you’ve got a useless home decoration and microwave popcorn on movie night. Not very exciting.
 
The volume of popcorn popped is based on the size of the kettle. In most warehouse stores, you’re sure to find a 4 oz popcorn machine and possibly a 6 oz and 8 oz as well. For most homes, these are the best sizes. In order to determine the best size for you, consider how much popcorn you actually eat. Nutritionists consider a proper serving of popped popcorn to be 2.5 cups, which is 1 oz of unpopped popcorn. However, a typical small bag of movie popcorn is about 7 cups. A medium bag is approximately 11 cups and that large tub is around 20 cups of popped corn. So, with all that in mind, let’s how much volume popcorn machines produce:

4 oz popcorn machines: Creates 10 cups of popcorn per popping session (usually around 3 minutes). For a couple or small family that typically shares a medium-sized bag at the movies, this would be just about right.

6 oz popcorn machines: Produces 15 cups of popcorn per session. For a medium sized family, this would work. If you have friends over, you’ll probably have to make two batches.

8 oz popcorn machines: Pops 20 cups of popcorn per session. This is for the family that always buys the large tub at the theaters. Also, if you have frequent guests, this would be the perfect size.

And while you might not always need to pop at full capacity, the popcorn kettles can produce lower volumes of popcorn. So if you have a 6 oz kettle, but just want a 4 oz serving, just place in the appropriate amount of popcorn, oil and seasoning.
 
So, when buying a home popcorn machine, size does matters. Be sure to consider how much popcorn you need to pop before buying one.