This machine is everything we wanted and more! I absolutely love being able to make my kids some soft serve ice cream! I have recommended this to all of my family and friends! 5 stars just doesn’t seem like enough!
I already had Cuisinart’s smaller ice cream maker, but thought it would be fun to have this version with the dispenser. The dispenser sometimes works, but usually does not, and Cuisinart’s solution is to open the top and scoop the ice cream out with a spoon. That is messy and inconvenient and no fun at all. I recommend the smaller version, which takes up less counter space and is easily stored in a cupboard when not in use. I feel I wasted my money on this one.
The machine, itself, works fine. However, users should make sure they have sufficiently frozen the mixture before putting it into the machine for mixing. As it stands, all the ice cream has to be eaten within 10 to 15 minutes or it will start to melt in the receptacle. The machine would be much better if the receptacle was cooled. The ice cream would last longer.
The 1.5qt bowl does not make a large quantity. A lot of work to put together the whole thing for 1.5qts. Plus, the soft serve dispenser does not dispense well at all. It plops out the ice cream rather than a smooth and consistent stream.
The ice cream maker is really awesome. We have made strawberry and mint so far and both have turned out better than expected. The only downside was that the chocolate chips I had did not dispense properly. They fit through the guide, but they got stuck in the chute. A quick pulse in the food processor fixed that problem.