I first saw your photo on Instagram, I thought, “Why do people think everything is better when it’s made on a waffle iron?

This is not the quickest machine, taking just over four minutes to heat and seven minutes to produce waffles. There are five different function menus, including classic waffles, Belgian-style, chocolate, buttermilk and a custom option. At 1600W, this is a powerful machine, but if you love waffles and have the space, then this is an efficient and reliable option.This is definitely the simpler route and may be a fraud of a recipe, but one bite and I think you’ll forgive me. The supermarket is jumping on the cool breakfast bandwagon with their latest release, which takes inspiration from the street food of Hong Kong. I took a simple cake doughnut recipe and slightly altered it to make the dough work for cooking in a waffle maker. The Progress waffle maker may be the cheapest on the test, but it delivers thick, tasty waffles every time.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and the waffle maker can be up and running in minutes. The deep, wide plates can take lots of batter so we had to experiment with quantities to get it just right. If you let it cool to the point at which the sugar cools down completely, you’ll have a tough nut – it’s the nature of hardened caramelized sugar. This heats up reasonably quickly – in about three minutes – but waffles take longer than average, probably because of their size. We could also make sure the machines were able to maintain temperature and cope with making a number of waffles in a row if cooking for a group of people.There’s no denying the Sage No-Mess is a good-looking, quality machine that's simple to use and, as the name suggests, does not make a mess. The waffles themselves are among the best we tried – and we dutifully chomped through dozens for this test. I’m not a huge doughnut fan (I know, I know) but I LOVE Belgian waffles and what you described totally sounds like a waffle I’d be down with. The Cuisinart 2-in-1 waffle and pancake maker has a large footprint, makes great waffles quickly and easily, and looks great on the worktop. This is one of the most expensive waffle makers we tested and is aimed at those who are really serious about their snacks.