Ice Cream and Gelato Maker | Makes Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet, Frozen Yoghurt | Stainless Steel | ICE100BCU

Amazing piece of kit - makes the finest ice cream you'll ever eat, with minimal effort and you don't have to keep waiting 12 hours for a bowl to freeze! Believe me, once you've had this ice cream, you'll never want to touch any commercial variety again (not to mention goodness knows what additives.) This is a heavy chunky machine that you probably won't want to keep dragging in and out of a cupboard (and it really shouldn't be moved around anyway) so you ideally need permanent space on your worktop. I've sat mine on one of those black oven liners so I can easily slide it aside when I want to clean the granite worktop underneath etc. When the machine arrived, I left it to settle for 24 hours before using it. Next day I made a batch of strawberry gelato and blackberry/mango gelato, using the gelato paddle - pic attached shows the strawberry. The results were out of this world - smooth, creamy and full of fruit. I used one of the online recipes from the excellent 'Ask Chef Dennis' website using fresh strawberries, half full-fat milk/half double cream, lemon juice and granulated sugar (I used less sugar than the recipe called for, as the fruit was quite sweet.) And that was it. No messing about with egg yolks and making custards. You can substitute virtually any fruit. I don't find this machine excessively noisy at all - it's a lot quieter than even most kettles and you can easily talk over it. Some people have also marked this machine down because they say the ice cream is hard to remove from the paddle but I had no problem with that at all - I just used two small silicone spatulas. TIP: get a teaspoon ready to just eat the residue left on the paddle - it's too good to waste! Getting the lid in place can be a bit of a knack but once you've got it, it's very easy - just make sure the small lock icons line up on the lid and the machine. The handbook is very clear and well-written. It's got a small but good selection of basic recipes but I find the (free) 'Ask Chef Dennis' recipes much less of a faff to prepare and give great results. Although the handbook states that 1 litre is the total maximum quantity you should make at a time, I'd actually recommend using slightly less because as the mixture freezes, it expands massively and depending on what you're making and how long your chosen cycle is, it rises right to the very top of the bowl. If your paddle squeaks as it goes round when the mixture starts thickening, a tiny drop of cooking oil or butter on the top part of the paddle spindle where it touches the lid should stop it. You'll probably have to re-apply the oil every time though because it will come off when you wash the paddle. All in all, although this is a relatively expensive machine, it's solidly built and imo worth every penny. My only regret is not buying one much sooner.

This is a wonderful product. I have used my Cuisinart FreezeEase Ice Cream maker many times and I an delighted with it. I am diabetic so I make the ice cream without any sugar and I use creme fraiche or low fat healthy yoghurt. The ice cream is delicious. It is ready in under an hour and there are only 3 pieces of the machine to wash. The paddle, the bowl and the lock handle. Everything else only needs a quick wipe with a damp cloth. Love it

Fantastic ice cream maker! Made several types of ice cream including some with mix-ins. All came out delicious and a lot easier than my old freezer bowl maker as I didn’t have to remember to freeze bowl the day before. The best part is using your own everyday ingredients for any type of ice cream you can dream up. You can control, to a certain extent, how you want your ice cream to taste. Making ice cream doesn’t take as long with this type of machine either. Pour your cold cream base into the insert, set timer and start. Ice cream churns a lot quicker (40-50 minutes) and it keeps ice cream cold for a bit so you don’t have rush to get it into your container. The consistency of ice cream is a good deal better than freezer bowl IMHO so you can eat it straight away or put it in the freezer for a few hours to harden. Wash and dry insert and paddles after and machine is ready to go for the next batch. There are a few minor issues that I found while using it. Pouring the ice cream base directly into machine was a bit messy so I took out the insert to pour the base in and then re-inserted it back into the machine. It’s also a bit fiddly to scrape out just churned ice cream from the paddles but I just use a small spatula and a spare plate on the counter. The unit itself is quite big so you need a bit of counter space near an outlet. I had put off purchasing this since last year due to the price and size but I treated myself a month ago and have absolutely no regrets (except for the extra cm’s around my waist!). If you love ice cream all year round, have people to share it with and have the space, this Cuisinart ice cream machine is a great little investment.

30th Nov 2024: I've updated this review and removed most of the old stuff since it's just repetition so I'll sum it so far: 3 years and so far so good! I would like to mention I have the US bowl and while cleaning is much easier, I did notice the plastic where the screws are is much worse and now I can't really screw it properly-- it now easily leaks down there. I recommend against using it and sticking to UK's bowl (which sadly you cannot buy as a standalone). Maximum liquid to put in is 750mL before it starts overflowing. You can add toppings easily (US's cover is nicer for that). If the ice cream freezes real fast it will get the machine stuck so be careful with the room temperature being <15°C or having your ice cream have lots of solids. That said mine did survive being stuck but it's not healthy for it. Sound levels: my mother slept 7 meters away from this :) The review remains at 5 stars, and my glowing recommendation to purchase this wonderful machine, but you must remember to clean it. You don't need to spend double for top of the line machines as you'll make the same amount of ice cream (1 liter) as those and the quality will be identical. See you in a year! ---------------- Original review: Video in this review is two in one: noise of the machine during churning, and the lemon ice cream I've made. The second video shows how the ice cream comes out if you let the machine run long enough for the ice cream to freeze. This review is 1.5 months since receiving the ICE100BCU, and I made 6 ice creams using it: vanilla, prickly pear, banana (twice), coffee and lemon. I prefer letting this machine run for 25-30 minutes before putting in the mixture, and then it runs for 20-40 minutes. Noise: Surprisingly it's much lower than I expected. Mostly everything else in the kitchen made more noise. You can hold a conversation right next to the machine without problems. Cleaning: Open the underside: do so by unscrewing the three Phillips screws, taking out the silicon and plastic cover and push the metal from inside the bowl and separate the plastic it houses as well. Wash everything + bowl with water and soap and let dry. Ensure all water is out or it will freeze next time in the machine. So far I've loved every single ice cream that turned out, the banana ice cream in particular is one of the best ice creams I've had in my life. Anyone who had any of the ice creams I've made effectively devoured their share. Definitely no need to purchase ice cream again!

Purchased to replace a much cheaper "best buy" freeze the pot ice cream maker which broke about 30 seconds after it went out of warranty. The most important part is... it makes really good ice cream. I have found that it usually needs a little longer to freeze the mixture adequately than recipes suggest, but the results are smooth, creamy and utterly delicious. The freezing process is considerably better than the previous machine. It's pretty large - about the size of a large slow-cooker, so make sure you have the space to put it away. I don't find it noisy - it does have a compressor, so it was never going to be silent, but it really isn't intrusive. Having the compressor allows you to make relatively larger batches of ice cream - where with the "freeze a large pot" variety, you need to re-freeze the pot. This is quite an advantage. It seems to be pretty solidly put together, and I expect it will provide many years of service.

Easy to use and fast - takes 40-50 mins dependent on how soft or firm you like it. Also it's easy to add chocolate chips or anything else you like during the freezing process. Excellent piece of kit and no need for the 24hr freezing required by other ice cream makes (which in effect are glorified mixers)

I feel sorry for the 1 star reviewers who obviously received faulty machines (or in once case an already used machine! that's not good!) Seriously though, we've had this for nearly a year. We've made sorbet's and ice creams of all sorts with it. The freezer is now full of the stuff (we ARE trying to watch our weight hehe!) Having an allotment that produces a lot of fruit, it's been great to be able to make blackcurrent sorbet, raspberry sorbet, even gooseberry sorbet. It works a treat. Ok, it's a fair point by people that it's a little on the noisy side, so we located ours 'out the back' where the laundry room is to keep it away from main living areas, but you have the advantage that you don't have to have a 'pre-freeze' of the mixing bowl like almost all cheap machines (and some of those the bowls don't fit in people's freezers). You just ensure the ingredients are chilled (though if not you can just leave the machine on for longer) and set it going... it does it all. Once it's thickened up, just scoop it out into tubs (we find the plastic chinese takeaway tubs work wonders) and pop them in the freezer for the final freezing. You do need to keep an eye on it (or an ear open) as it nears the target time because it can suddenly become very thick and start making a screeching noise, which just indicates that it's ready really, and it's just struggling to push a solid lump of ice cream around. Without shelling out extortionate amounts of money for a professional kitchen version, this is actually quite reasonably priced if you have the aim (or need) to make plenty of ice cream or sorbet. (When we bought it it was about £250, and I see it's now £175, so that's even better!)

Every year near Christmas I always promise a extravagant gift/treat to reward myself for making it through and for 2022. This was it. Had a few gift cards and finally hit the bullet and purchased this after it was collecting dust on my wish list. For starters the machine is a beast. The size of a small microwave intact but it feel premium. The recipe book is really useful and super easy to prep the mixture, literally 4mins and a over night set in the fridge before pouring it into the machine. It makes just over 1 litre of ice cream ready to eat in 45 mins. I’ve never tried homemade ice cream but this stuff is amazing and delicious. I’ve made so many different types and had so many compliments. I try to make out it’s really tough to make to feed my ego but it’s so simple so easy and makes the best ice cream. The only bad bit is emptying the ice cream into a tub and not wasting ice cream by removing it tediously from the paddle which is a faff as you need to do this before enjoying the ice cream. Enough from me… if you are contemplating buying this do.. it’s amazing and you won’t regret it. It’s not used everyday but definitely a monthly treat or weekend making and storing different type of ice cream.