Homemade Ice Cream – there’s something special and above all fun about making your own Ice Cream!
Picture this – It’s a hot summer’s day (okay, I know it’s the UK, stay with me here), you want something cool, refreshing and tasty, you most definitely want something you know is good for you, especially for the kids.
You dive into the freezer and find a handful of ice lollies from last summer, a couple are stuck to the side of the freezer partially merged in with the ice, and you find a couple more that appear to have half melted, refrozen at some point and reshaped into what looks like a piece of multi-coloured plastic with odd blobs sticking out! Hmm, disappointing! Then you find a tub of ice cream and think, Yes! Only to open it and find it frosted over, full of icicles and barely any ice cream left! Not quite what you had in mind and you’re still craving something cool, refreshing and tasty!
What if you had an Ice Cream maker and could whip up a frozen treat quickly?
The question is though, what is the best Ice cream maker to purchase?
Choosing the Right Product for your needs.
If you go onto Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any search page and type in ‘what is the best ice cream maker’ you’ll find page upon page of items to choose from. Prices range anything from £30.00 to £350.00 for the standard ones. When you start looking at the professional range – prices can keep on increasing into the thousands, but that’s another review for another day.
In this review, we are looking for what is the best ice cream maker for home use.
So we know we can expect the price to be in the £30.00-£350.00 range depending on needs and preferences, but what are we getting for that?
How Do I Know What’s Best For Me?
With so many products to choose from, you will want to consider a few things first.
- Ease of use – “Are there quick step functions or I do need a degree in engineering to understand the user handbook?”
How often have you purchased an electrical appliance and spent hours, if not days, weeks, or months (okay, not quite, but you know what I mean), trying to locate the basic functions? You want an appliance that is going to give you some quick and easy-to-use functions.
- Speed of process – “I want ice cream now!”
Life is busy for us all, especially for parents, often juggling work/family life and trying to strike that perfect balance. We don’t want to be spending any more time than necessary making ice cream. Ideally, what we want is to be spending as much time eating and enjoying it (That said – making Ice Cream can be incredibly fun, engaging and educating and certainly something you can get the kids, and the whole family involved in).
- Capacity – “I want lots of ice cream!”
Ice cream makers come in different sizes, so have a think about yours and your family’s needs. Do you need a small, medium or large ice cream maker to meet your needs?
- Cleaning an Ice Cream maker – “I’m not planning on spending all day cleaning it!”
Much like the Speed of process subheading, we want to check and see if our appliance is easy to assemble and disassemble, if it’s dishwasher friendly (of course not the electrical components) and can be easily cleaned after use.
- Affordability – “How much? It’s just an ice cream maker!”
It is important to source an ice cream maker that’s both sensible in price and value for money, but one that will meet your needs and expectations. Budgets can vary immensely.
Let’s Take a Look at Some Ice Cream Makers.
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Make delicious ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and frozen yoghurt. 1.5L capacity.
FAST – At the touch of a button you can enjoy delectable homemade ice cream.
EASY CLEANING – Your ice cream maker is really easy to clean afterwards.
Fun kitchen activity for your little ones as you can make ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yoghurt that they are sure to love. Comes with a 2-year warranty.
Reviews;
- This Ice cream maker enables you to make not only Ice cream but Gelato, Sorbets and Frozen Yoghurts too.
- The paddle provided to churn the ice cream mixture appears to fail frequently. Reviews state ‘Plastic and flimsy.’
- Large 1.5L bowl for larger batches of ice cream.
- The inner bowl provided for your ice cream mixture needs to be put into the freezer prior to making any ice cream, if not the mixture remains a runny slushy consistency. The recommended time to pre-freeze the inner bowl is 8 hours, reviews however suggest overnight/24 hours+ is more realistic.
- Inner bowl size – this may not fit into everyone’s freezer, so check the dimensions first.
Overall this product does the job, however, customers express it’s not very effective and there was lots of fiddling around with pre-freezing and with different components of the product.
Create the delicious dessert of your choice in just one hour. 1L capacity
LCD Display Control & Timer – With 4 modes and keep cool function.
Built-in manual to guide you on how to use the machine.
The transparent lid allows you to check the production status of ice cream at any time.
Easy to Disassemble and clean – with only 4 removable parts and easy-to-follow instructions.
The removable lid, ice cream mixing paddle, and bowl make it easy to clean. Measuring only 35.5 X 26.0 X 22.75 cm, the ice cream machine is easy to store.
Reviews;
- This Ice cream maker also enables you to make not only Ice cream but Gelato, Sorbets and Frozen Yoghurts too.
- There is no inner bowl that requires pre-freezing. The ice cream maker as a unit takes care of that.
- Only a 1L bowl size, so smaller batches of ice cream with each use.
- This ice cream maker’s dimensions are quite large so sufficient work space is required.
- Customers expressed that the user manual was not clearly laid out (time for that engineering degree) and pre-set options were not sufficient to create firm-set ice creams.
- Overall, for the mid-range pricing of this product, the reviews appear positive though there are a few disappointing comments noted.
Makes 1.5L of ice cream, gelato, frozen yoghurt or sorbet in as little as 40 minutes.
A professional compressor system means no need to pre-freeze the bowl and no need to wait between batches.
2 mixing paddles, one for ice cream and one for gelato to give your recipe the right amount of air for perfect texture.
Easy to use. Simply add ingredients and switch on. Add extra toppings through the lid during churning such as nuts, chocolate chips, fruit pieces and sauces for a ripple effect. Comes with a 5-year guarantee.
Reviews;
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- This Ice cream maker also enables you to make not only Ice cream but Gelato, Sorbets and Frozen Yoghurts too.
- As with the mid-range product, there is no inner bowl that requires pre-freezing. The ice cream maker as a unit takes care of that.
- A good size 1.5L bowl size for larger batches and it’s fast – only 40 minutes!
- Customers expressed disappointment that the ice cream tended to ‘clump around the paddle’.
- The size again factored in many reviews as this product takes up a lot of space.
- Overall, considering this was the top-end priced product, this isn’t the clear winner.
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In Summary
All the ice cream makers we reviewed enable you to make not just ice creams, but Gelatos, Sorbets and Frozen Yoghurts too. They’re quite varied in size and this is a factor to bear in mind when purchasing one.
The cheapest ice cream maker seems more fiddly and customers expressed dissatisfaction with the end result of their ice creams. The mid-range ice cream maker had more positive reviews, but the handbook stood out as problematic. The higher-priced ice cream maker was not without its faults.
We have reviewed only 3 items; in the lower, middle and top price brackets to give you an idea of the costs and what you get for your money. If you want to see more, then click on the link to see a selection of Ice Cream Makers
===> Click to see Full range of Ice Cream Makers
Did We Find a Winner?
So what is the best ice cream maker? There are lots of options that are available to choose from on the market.
Make no mistake, there’s a lot of fun to be had making and creating your own ice creams. It’s something the whole family can enjoy, be involved in, and get creative with and if armed with the right equipment, there are no limits to the different flavours, techniques and styles you can try out!
We hope this review has helped you figure out what your needs are and what ice cream maker will be best suited to yours and your family’s needs.
We really hope you’re feeling fired up (or perhaps totally cool and chilled – seeing as this is all about the frozen stuff after all), and you’re ready to whip up some delectably, delicious delights!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and we’ll happily get back to you. Even better, if you’d like to share some of your ice cream successes, please let us know how you get on.
Ice cream is a favorite dessert or treat, what is so amazing is having the ability to make your very own homemade ice cream which means you are free to experment. Though I have never made ice cream I think it’s about time that I purchase an ice cream maker. Thanks so much for sharing along with the reviews of these ice cream makers that is a must have.
Hey Norman,
Thanks for your comment. Of course you know I’m already converted, I love Ice Cream and love playing with flavours, experimenting with different techniques etc. I’m currently in the process of making a Lavender and Honey Ice Cream.
Everyone should make ice cream, but of course I’m going to say that! :o)
If you haven’t already, please check out our post How to make Delicious, Indulgent, Homemade Ice Cream which will give you clear concise instructions on how you can make your very own Ice cream. Tailored exactly to your needs.
If you do venture down that icy path (haha), please let us know how you get on.
Keep Cool and Chilled ;o)