CuisinartIce Cream Maker Machine, 1.5 Quart Double Insulated Ice Cream Machine, Sorbet and Frozen Yogurt Maker, Ready in 20 Minutes, ICE-21RP1, Red

I got this ice cream maker because I wanted to make flavors I can't get in the stores, like Green Tea Ice cream. Making your own ice cream is a great way to make it as rich or as simple as you want, or as guilt-free as you want, too. I've never made my own ice cream before this, and I was a bit nervous about buying another appliance just for this, but I really like Green Tea ice cream and the store bought stuff just wasn't hitting the spot. Anyway, after reading the reviews on several ice cream makers, this model appeared to be the best overall for value/cost and ease of use. It was also said to be not as noisy as the others.Once I got it and made my first batch, I was amazed at how easy it was to use. I followed the directions, as well as read the helpful reviews here that had a lot of good tips, the main one being to make sure that your bucket is frozen solid, at least 24 hours, and that your ice cream base mixture has been chilled to be as cold as possible. My first batch only took 12 minutes, much quicker than I thought it would be. I didn't find it to be noisy at all when running, I could certainly talk, and hear over it - it's just a mechanical hum noise, and it's not on that long.One tip, get a plastic or nylon, NOT silicone or metal, scraper to scrape the sides and bottom of the canister to get the rest of your ice cream out. I say no silicone because it's too soft to scrape the sides effectively. Most of the ice cream is like soft-serve, but the sides and bottom will have a layer of hard frozen ice cream. I use a Cuisinart pot scraper that's handheld, no handle, and it has a rubber edge and a nylon edge. The nylon edge easily scrapes off all the ice cream from the sides and bottom. Clean up is extremely easy, everything washed by hand. The ice canister will still be frozen and you can wash it out and put it back in the freezer so you can make another batch sooner, but it has to be dry of all water before you put it back in the freezer. This isn't easy to do when you rinse it out and the remaining water freezes right away before you have a chance to wipe it dry. I just wash it and air dry it, it thaws out, but I only make one batch at a time anyway. Once dry, I do keep my ice canister in the freezer so that it's ready to make ice cream whenever I want, but that's something that's optional depending on how much room you have in the freezer.Overall, I'm glad I got this model. I was lucky to get it on sale at $49, and it's worth it at that price. The other models that have the freezer motor in them are more convenient in that you don't have to worry about freezing the canister in the freezer ahead of time, but the cost is much more expensive, and the appliance is much larger than this one. For a small family of occasional ice cream eaters, a quart at a time, this ice cream maker is perfect.

This ice cream maker is amazing! If your new to making ice cream then I would get this ice cream maker. It's so easy to use and the results of the ice cream that come out are fantastic. Another plus if you like to eat lots of ice cream then you'll save money making your ice cream at home. The process of being able to watch your own ice cream being made is neat too. Tonight I made Vegan Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream and WOW! The vegan ice cream's at the store have nothing on this. (Pretty sure if your not a vegan though that dairy ice cream's at the store will have nothing on what you can make.) The taste of the ice cream is much more flavorful,fresher, and creamier. As far as being easy to use you just put the bowl in your freezer to freeze. (I left mine in for 24 hours before making my ice cream. Make sure the liquid you hear in the bowl is frozen before you use the bowl.) Afterwards put your machine together, turn the machine on, and start adding in your ice cream mixture. 20 minutes later you have delicious ice cream. Now the ice cream comes out like soft serve so if you want it more firm just take it out of the machine put into a freezer safe container and freeze for 2 hours before serving.A few recomendations though before you get started. Make sure you don't put ingredients that are hot, warm, or room tempature into the machine. Try to chill your ice cream mixture beforehand like 3 hours or overnight. The ice cream comes out creamier this way. The colder the better. Today I chilled my ice cream mixture 8 hours before using. Makes sure to use PURE EXTRACTS when using those. The artifical ones seem to mess up the freezing ability/texture with ice creams. Make sure to add nuts,chocolate chips,sprinkles,cookies and so on the last 5 minutes of the process. If you use alcohol also add that at the last 5 minutes. It too will affect the process of the ice cream. If you try to make your ice creams less fattening by using products with less fat your results aren't going to be as creamy and will have a different texture. For example I use unsweetened almond milk and canned coconut milk which makes it very smooth and creamy. If I use rice milk instead or other lower fat nondairy milks the result are completely different. This ice cream maker is a good price, produces wonderful ice cream, easy to use, saves money and is FUN!

But rather expensive. Quality and ease are there. If you're an ice cream fancier it's way more healthy to make your own

The media could not be loaded. So far, it's made ice cream perfectly. The recipe book is very helpful, I've been making all of my concoctions based on the book but have made slight variations in flavors here and there. The ice cream is perfect creaminess and consistency every time. It's typically not a very messy process except for one time, I may have had too many mix-ins and it ended up overflowing. The cleaning process is pretty easy, not many nooks or crannies to get into. Easy assembly. Happy with the price I paid. Paying more, you'd get more features but there's nothing complicated about this process so I'm happy I selected this model which does a great job making ice cream.

Love the ease of use and quick results. Removing the finished ice cream from the paddle is a bit tricky though. Still, I would definitely recommend this machine