Get yourselves one of these:
The Whirly Pop is FANTASTIC!
My best friend is a popcorn fanatic and he refuses to eat microwave or air-popped popcorn - only eating stove top style. The problem though is that it would burn his pots slightly, took a while and left a lot of kernals unpopped.
In comes the Whirly Pop as a christmas gift. We were all skeptical but it was like magic! No buring, fast popping, dry & full puffs and uses virtually every single kernal. IMHO it cannot be beat. (Do not use more kernals than the instructions though; while it seems like too little, because it uses every kernal, it really really grows into a mess if you add a little extra... )
We bought ours at Williams Sonoma at Chinook Mall for about $30.
Claeren.