Customer reviews from cuisinart.com
Cuisinart - Ice Cream and Gelato Maker - Black/Stainless Steel
Average customer rating
4.7
(412 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 412 reviews
5 Stars
335
4 Stars
54
3 Stars
13
2 Stars
2
1 Star
8
95%of customers recommend this product.
(
324 out of
341)
Customer Reviews for Cuisinart - Ice Cream and Gelato Maker - Black/Stainless Steel
Posted by: Dei (like 'day')
Verified Purchase:Yes
Last year I got into home made ice cream, using a gifted "old school" Cuisinart machine. It was awesome and fun - until I had to wait a WHOLE DAY for the bowl to refreeze.
This lil guy made all that go away! I can prepare a mix, "churn" it into ice cream, wash the bowl* and make another mix almost immediately! Is there such a thing as too much ice cream? No. There is not.
Tips:
DO NOT OVERFILL. That will dump liquid down the outside of the bowl, which will make it freeze into the machine. Not good
Turn the machine on, set the timer & let it run for maybe 1-2 minutes before adding your mix. It gets the sides of the bowl nice & chilled so the liquid gets cold faster.
DO NOT OVERFILL. That will dump liquid down the outside of the bowl, which will make it freeze into the machine. Not good
Turn the machine on, set the timer & let it run for maybe 1-2 minutes before adding your mix. It gets the sides of the bowl nice & chilled so the liquid gets cold faster.
POUR SLOWLY - this also helps get a nice, even chill to your ice cream as it's churning.
KEEP IT CLEAN - of course you'll wash the bowl, and lid, and blades - but don't forget to wipe down the well where the bowl sits, as well as the thin lip/rim where the bowl locks into. Those get sticky icky (I make a lot of sorbet so... sugar water) and the buildup will not only be unsanitary it could probably jam up the machine too.
*KEEP IT DRY - if you're going to make back-to-back batches, be sure the bowl is COMPLETELY dry before putting it back in the machine. IT WILL FREEZE and lock the machine up.
Consider mixing in your mix-ins by hand. I made a lovely vanilla, dropped in a handful of mini M&Ms about 2 min before the end & they got all busted up. Tasted fine but looked kinda ... tan maybe? Just not pretty.
The machine is back heavy - BE CAREFUL lifting it, this is not something you want to drop.
Only question I have: the "sorbet" blade has one smooth side & one with teeth. Except the teeth go around "backwards" when it's churning, where I assumed they'd be pushing through the mix. My sorbets are fine so I guess whatever? just seemed odd & I wonder what purpose is served by backward teeth.
Last thing:
ENJOY THE HECK OUT OF THIS!! I know I sure have and I hope I will for a good long time!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: PalisadeGal
from Connecticut
Gender:Female
Verified Purchase:Yes
I wasn't aware that ice cream makers had come so far since the old hand crank rock salt variety! I started researching the ones where you have to freeze the bowl, but my freezer space is limited, then i found this one. It's more pricey then the frozen bowl ones, but I can make one batch right after another with no waiting. Some people complained about how hard it is to clean off the ice cream spills over. You just need to follow the instructions and don't overfill it. I take the bucket out of the machine to fill it so i don't spill, and keep an eye on it while it's churning. If it starts to come up too high that's a good indication that it's done.
I love that it has 2 different paddles, for both ice cream and gelato. I've made both and they've come out great! I started with a simple recipe that came with the instruction book, and have made several batches from recipes I've found online. The machine is bigger and heavier than I expected, but I have room for it on my kitchen cart. I highly recommend this product!
I love that it has 2 different paddles, for both ice cream and gelato. I've made both and they've come out great! I started with a simple recipe that came with the instruction book, and have made several batches from recipes I've found online. The machine is bigger and heavier than I expected, but I have room for it on my kitchen cart. I highly recommend this product!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: RicoSuave
Verified Purchase:Yes
I was not happy with the design, needed routine cleaning maintenance and end result quality of the ice cream and gelato. As the half filled canister churns and freezes the mixture spills over into the machine gears. If you don’t disassemble it and clean this out it smells like spoiled milk. In use the gelato I made according to their recipe was not smooth and has noticeable ice crystals right out of the churn.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: Bradley S
from Olney, MD
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
It didn’t work so I returned it and bought a different brand
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: Timo
from Phoenix
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
Cuisinart says, ‘Savor the Good Life,’ and that’s what it is when you can make ice cream and gelato at home. I made the Strawberry ice cream to break the machine in. Wow, the family was thrilled with the results. Everyone commented on how good it tasted. Since, I’ve made vanilla, chocolate and peanut butter cup. All delicious. I’m making lemon gelato as I write this review. It’s more of a process to make gelato, but just enjoy the process and look forward to the results. The appliance itself is built like a tank. It has a 3 year warranty which is outstanding. It’s a simple design and not complicated with unnecessary features.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: 1scoop1
from McHenry IL
Gender:Female
Verified Purchase:Yes
I bought this ice cream maker so I could make my own low carb sugar free ice cream. I’ve made 6 batches of Keto ice cream so far and after a slight timing adjustment after the first batch I am so happy with this machine. Mix all my ingredients in a blender first then right into the ICE-100 they go and 25 minutes later I have yummy ice cream! The machine is sturdy and well made, and quieter then I thought it would be. It cleans up very easily too. Love it!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: DocSSN
from Austin, TX
Gender:Female
Verified Purchase:Yes
I am really enjoying this machine. I tried a less-expensive brand, but that was a disaster (it didn't work); the Cuisinart worked like a charm from the first batch of gelato. Yesterday, I made THREE different gelati in the space of 3 hours (after allowing ingredients to chill in the refrigerator overnight), and they were all a big hit with my company.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
Posted by: stpaul
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
I bought this to replace an old electric that uses ice and salt. Saying that, I can't be happier with how easy it is to make ice cream now - no ice, no salt, no mess, machine is quieter, and I can make batches continuously. What's not to like? Well, there are a few things that I will nitpick.
First of all, the machine is fast. I can churn a full quart of ice cream to 21-degrees F (my target temp for the smoothest ice cream) in about 40 minutes. I actually set the timer on the unit to 40 and almost always I hit my target a few minutes before it stops. That's great. In order to find out if I'm at 21 degrees, I have to put a probe in the ice cream. Not a huge deal but the comparable machine made by Whynter actually gives you the ice cream temperature as it is cooling so you don't have to turn off the machine and use a probe thermometer. That's a nice touch that I wish this Cuisinart had. Another thing that I don't like about this machine is the size of the bucket. I wish it was just a tiny bit larger. I have a lot of recipes that make "one quart" or "one generous quart" and I can't fit all my mix in this ice cream maker. The one time I did put it all in, the ice cream was pushing up against the lid before I got to 21 degrees. So I've had to modify my recipes to use fewer ingredients OR I need to churn in two batches. I realize this is a minor thing but I'm only over by about a half cup of mix. I just wish Cuisinart would have given a bit more room for the ice cream to expand.
One thing I'm on the fence on is the bucket design. Cuisinart's and Whynter's designs are completely different. The Whynter has a hole in the bucket where the paddle goes down through the middle so the bucket is just a bucket and has no parts that actually churn the ice cream. Cuisinart uses a bucket that has some sort of sealed mechanism. The outside of the bucket has a toothed coupler that slots into a toothed coupler in the bottom of the freezing chamber. The churning paddle sits on a hexagonal piece of metal that spins and churns the ice cream. The good thing about this design versus the Whynter design is that you have a LOT more room to scrape out the ice cream. The bad part of this design is that sealed unit on the bottom of the bucket. I have no idea how that will hold up and I already have concerns because after I have washed the bucket I have found water seeping out from around the gear. If water is getting in, then how long before it starts leaking ice cream? Time will tell. (I wouldn't say Whynter's design is better though. They give you a special shaped paddle so that you can get the ice cream out of the narrow channel in their bucket so they know it's a pain to work with. Nice that they don't have that sealed unit but there just isn't much room to work with the churned ice cream.)
The Cuisinart unit is pretty heavy and felt heavier to me than the Whynter unit. So it feels solid. As I said earlier, the unit is quiet and no more noisy than a mixer or other kitchen appliance. It comes with two paddles, one for ice cream and one for gelato which is a nice touch.
Finally, despite these small things I really like this ice cream maker and am glad I bought it. If it had a temperature sensor and had a slightly larger bucket for churning the ice cream, it would be perfect. I'm happy with it as is but would be even happier with these design changes. Even so, it's a solidly build unit and I highly recommend it. If you buy a lot of ice cream from the store and have thought about churning your own, buy this unit. You'll be happy you did.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com