I just fired up my newest iron, a very vintage Sunbeam with a cast iron
waffle plate. AT one point, reaching behind to unplug it when I
finihshed, my arm grazed the outside and youch, it burned me real good.
The outside top was far hotter than the inside ever got with the Black
and Decker non-stick I tried and hated. I fail to understand why no
current manufacturers offer a cast iron waffle iron? Non-sticks cannot
be heated too hot, lest they ruin the non-stick surface, and non-stick
pans should never be heated without something in them to temper the
heating, yet a waffle iron must be heated before adding anything, so
this is so contradictory to me. My cast iron was at 437 degrees
according to the when I started cooking last night, and these waffles
came out wonderful.

My last one finally burned out the heating coil. I still have it, and
if I can find a source for a replacement coil, I would love to fix that
one back up, at at least I have a good one again, now.

jt