A submerged combustion melter 10 is arranged with a vertical melting chamber 11, which may be cylindrical, and at least five submerged combustion burners 21-26 in the bottom base 13, the burners so spaced apart from each other and from the walls and angled from the vertical that in use a toroidal flow pattern can be achieved, providing intensive mixing. The claims also pertain to a method of melting a vitrifiable material from solid batch by submerged combustion melting.