The Best Waffle Maker With Removable Plates

A waffle maker with removable plates has a lot of advantages over regular models. First and foremost, the removable plates are easy to clean and rinse off under running water. Secondly, the removable plates are often interchangeable with other types of plates such as grill plates, griddle plates, or pan cake plates.

If you’re shopping for a new waffle maker, we urge you to opt for a model with removable plates. They’ll save you a lot of time (and money), and with the best model you’ll get the most amazing waffles that are crisp on the outside and deliciously spongy on the inside.

For this buying guide we selected the Cuisinart WAF-300P1 Waffle Maker as our favorite waffle maker because of its many qualities. If you’re in a hurry, this is hands down the best waffle maker with removable plates on the market. And it has pancake plates too.

Identifying the best waffle makers with detachable plates

When a waffle maker has removable/detachable plates, you’ll benefit from a user-friendly design that’s easily cleaned and rinsed off after use.

However, when shopping for the best waffle maker on the market, you want your waffles to be cooked to perfection as well.

After days of research and a rigorous review process, we concluded that these are the most important factors to consider if you want the best waffle maker:

• Performance
• Ease of use
• Safety
• Build quality

The most important feature of a waffle maker is – obviously – its ability to make perfectly crispy yet spongy waffles with a perfect, uniform browning.

We also want our waffle maker to be easy to use, and that’s where removable plates come in handy. Cleaning a waffle maker can be a nightmare with batter sticking everywhere, especially Belgian-style waffle makers, but if the plates are removable you can either dunk them into your sink and let them soak, or easily rinse off any residue with a nylon brush and a touch of dish soap.

Safety is our main priority too, and for those who tend to forget unplugging their waffle maker an automatic shut-off timer comes in handy.

Last but not least we want our waffle maker to be of a decent build quality, and it’s even better if it doesn’t cause a significant markup in the price. Fortunately, most waffle makers are of an adequate build quality, mostly because it’s such a simple device after all. A waffle is just a couple of heat coils under a non-stick metal surface and a plastic housing – no rocket science needed.

Best overall: Cuisinart WAF-300P1 Waffle Iron

What we like: Whenever we’re shopping for a new product, one thing strikes us every time: the fewer features a product have, the longer it lasts. While this might not be true in all cases, we found it to be true with most of our kitchen appliances.

The Cuisinart WAF-300P1 Waffle Maker is a beautiful, simplistic, and extremely user friendly Belgian Waffle Maker that’ll put a smile on your face while cooking your favorite snack.

What we like the most about this waffle maker are the removable plates and how they easily lock into place with a simple spring mechanism. After use there’s a button on each side that you can press in order to release the plates and remove them, and in a matter of seconds you’re all done. Plates are dishwasher safe, so there’s no need to scrub them manually.

With this waffle maker you can make four rectangular Belgian waffles, or with the pancake plates inserted you can make four little pancakes at a time.

There’s no timer on this waffle maker, but instead there’s a temperature control with 6 settings.

We believe this is the best waffle maker with removable plates, and though it isn’t the cheapest of the bunch it surely isn’t the most expensive either.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: At this price range you can get waffle makers with a built-in timer, so we felt a little disappointed that this wasn’t built into this model. It’s also worth noting that these rectangular waffles are slightly smaller than “normal” round waffles, but fortunately you can easily make another batch.

Best splurge: Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler + Waffle Plates

What we like: Technically not a waffle maker but a contact grill, the Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler works amazingly well for waffles too with the optional GR-WAFP Griddler Waffle Plates inserted. These plates are sold separately, but they aren’t overly expensive and turn an already amazing kitchen appliance into an even more amazing appliance.

Although the Cuisinart Griddler serves multiple purposes and works wonders with practically everything you can imagine, we’re going to focus on the waffle making with this review.

With the removable waffle maker plates inserted, you’re ready to make delicious, crispy waffles exactly the way you like them. The control knobs allow you to set the temperature you want for your waffles, perfecting the doneness exactly the way you like them.

Personally we like waffles that are brown and crisp on the outside while soft and fluffy on the inside without being dry, and fortunately this appliance meets our criteria by cranking it up to just above 400 degrees F and cook it for almost 3 minutes before pulling them out.

The biggest advantage with the Cuisinart Griddler is of course the versatility. Most of us don’t make waffles more than a few times every month, so with the Griddler you can make grilled cheese sandwiches, paninis, quesadillas, burritos, tacos, and you can even heat up a frozen pizza because the top plate can be locked in different heights.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: What we found a little odd is the lack of a ‘ready’ light. Instead you’ll have to guess if it’s ready or not, which takes a little bit of practice. For the removable waffle plates they aren’t as deep as other plates, so your waffles are a little bit thinner than with other models.

We’ve also found ourselves fiddling a little too much with locking the plates properly in their sockets before use, it takes a little practice to get it right.

Best on a budget: Krups Easy Clean Belgian Waffle Maker

What we like: The Krups Easy Clean Belgian Waffle Maker keeps its promise regarding the name, as it’s definitely very easy to clean and maintain.

For our value pick we found this wonder from the German brand Krups. Krups goes all the way back to 1846, but fortunately their kitchen appliances have all evolved multiple times since then. As of this day, Krups still stands out from the crowd as a proper, innovative manufacturer of solid quality products.

It is therefore no wonder that we were delighted by the performance of their Easy Clean waffle maker, which we thought make some of the best Belgian waffles with just the right amount of crispiness and sponginess to our liking.

We really appreciate the fact that the plates are removable, so after making a batch of waffles they’re easily popped out and placed inside the dishwasher for a quick, easy cleaning.

With the Krups waffle maker you’ll get four rectangular waffles at a time, and you can customize the browning and crispiness by turning the knob on the right side. Choose between five levels of browning if you like – our favorite is the highest setting, because we like our waffles crispy brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Because it’s an affordable waffle maker, it doesn’t offer a lot of bells and whistles. It has a green ‘ready’ light that turns on when it’s ready, and as we mentioned you can adjust the temperature by turning the knob on the right side.

On a final note we’d like to add that we’re positively surprised by the stainless steel/black design because of how well it holds up, and the lid lock enables it to be stored upright without falling.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: A few users complained about the loud, annoying alarm sound when the waffle maker wants you to pull out the waffles. The alarm sound goes on for minutes, even if your waffles aren’t done yet, and your only option is to pull out the plug and replug it afterwards.

It isn’t as quick as other waffle makers either, so expect to add a few more minutes for that delicious golden brown crust.

Best flip waffle maker: Hamilton Beach Flip Belgian Waffle Maker

What we like: There are plenty of good reasons to opt for the Hamilton Beach Flip Belgian Waffle Maker, but most importantly because of the flip feature.

With the flipping action you’ll get even crispier and thicker waffles with a more dense yet fluffy texture, which is a desired quality in a perfectly baked waffle.

What we like the most about this waffle maker besides the removable plates and flipping mechanism, is the drip tray situated directly below the actual waffle iron. The drip tray takes away the mess when overdosing the iron, which is a common mistake all of us do from time to time.

The drip tray contains any miss you might end up making while creating those delicious Belgian waffles, and afterwards you simply wash the tray in your dishwasher alongside the plates.

We’re in love with the no-frills design of this waffle maker, and if you’re shopping for one with a flip feature the Hamilton Beach Flip Belgian Waffle Maker should be the number one on your list.

FYI: The Hamilton Beach Flip Belgian Waffle Maker with Non-Stick Removable Plates (model 26030) is another model made by Hamilton Beach, which is similar to this one. The difference is with the coating on the plates. You may want to check it out, and see which one suits your needs best.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: Being a rather simplistic waffle maker, the Hamilton Beach Flip Belgian Waffle Maker doesn’t offer a lot of features. There’s no timer, which is odd, but there’s an adjustable browning switch on top of the waffle maker instead.

What also bothered us a bit, is the bulky nature of the design. Obviously, since it’s a flip waffle maker, it needs a stand in order to do the actual flip action. However, the Hamilton Beach waffle maker is fixed to the stand and doesn’t come off, meaning you’ll have to make room to store it as is.

Here’s why removable plates are a GREAT idea

If you’ve been making waffles for quite some time now, you know that the most annoying part of waffle making is cleaning. You cannot wash the whole machine, and neither can you throw it in a dishwasher. So we settle with wiping the remains with a towel, while trying to cope with the fact that it won’t get completely clean afterwards. You’ve probably noticed the burning smell once you turn your waffle back on after a few weeks inside your cabinet, it’s the smell of old waffles and grease getting burned. We don’t like that.

Fortunately, the waffle gods have spoken to the waffle maker manufacturing industry, that such shenanigans should be stopped. The removable plates were born, and we’re extremely happy with them.

The removable plates are a great help as they make cleaning very easy and quickly done with. It allows us to enjoy the process of making our waffles, without dreading much about the clean-up. If they’re dishwasher-safe there’s even less work to do once you’re done with making the waffles.

On top of that you’re able to replace the plates with new ones if they happen to break, so you won’t have to get rid of the entire waffle maker just because of that.

Why buy a flip waffle maker?

The first question that would probably pop into your mind is, “do I really need a waffle maker?” The simple answer to that is “yes”.

It is especially useful if you’re the type of person who loves making breakfast yourself or just love chowing down on waffles for dessert or a midday snack. It’s very convenient, plus you have the freedom of customizing your waffles just the way you like it.

By customizing, we also mean that you get to choose the ingredients for your waffles. You may go vegan or organic without saying goodbye to waffles completely, and you can add all kinds of ingredients to adjust the flavor exactly to your liking.

The second question that would come to your mind is probably, “what is the difference between a flip waffle maker and a standard one?” or “what makes the flip version better?”

First and foremost, from the name itself, a flip waffle maker has a rotating feature, while a standard waffle maker is your common countertop waffle maker.

So, why is it better? The simple answer to that is because the rotating feature allows both sides of your waffles to be cooked evenly, and get a beautiful crust all around. By flipping, you are actually allowing the batter to settle on both sites of the plates. You’ll get a waffle that is well cooked to crisp on both sides, but still nice and fluffy on the inside.

How to find the perfect waffle maker with removable plates

There are only a limited number of flip waffle makers with removable plates out in the market, and what we’ve included in this buying guide is among the few good ones available.

However, there are still quite a number of waffle makers out there, both flip and standard that has removable plates for easy cleaning.

So whether you choose the standard or flip ones, here’s a general guide on choosing the best waffle maker with removable plates.

1. Decide how you want to use your waffle maker

How many waffles do you want to cook in one batch?

Most of the flip waffle makers only make one large round waffle that can be divided into four.

That amount is usually enough for breakfast waffles and your regular homemade waffle snacks.

But if you have a huge number of people to cook for on a regular basis, you might want to look into getting a proper commercial waffle maker.

Take note that there are also flip waffle makers for commercial use like the Double Belgian Waffle Maker. However, it doesn’t have a removable plate option.

2. Material of the cooking surface

An important thing to consider when you are looking for the waffle maker for your meals, is the material of the cooking surface.

There is a waffle maker out there that have plates made of metal or stainless steel, or coated with nonstick material.

While metal plates are generally more durable, they don’t offer any type of nonstick surface whatsoever.

The nonstick coatings are generally easy to use, and with a little care they will last for many years. Just make sure you don’t use any metal utensils when grabbing your waffles from the maker.

3. Storage

One of the things to consider is the storage space of your kitchen, because flip waffle makers take up a considerable amount of space.

If you have a smaller kitchen, you might want to opt for a compact waffle maker, and giving up on the flipping feature will definitely get you a range of space saving options to pick from.

You can get a standard tabletop waffle maker with removable plates, if you don’t have a lot of free space to store it on.

4. Additional features

Some of the things that you might want to look into is a cool-touch handle and surface, to protect your hands from burning. This is very helpful for people like me who are very clumsy and easily forget the handles and surface could be hot.

Another thing you might want to add to the list is the power-on and ready-to-cook indicators. It is very helpful as you don’t need to keep on guessing whether your plate is ready to cook you a perfect waffle.

A great addition would be adjustable temperature control, this way you can cook your waffles the way you like them.