a good risk taken--a 4 PLUS
January 26, 2009
I had seen mixed reviews, but took a chance- we are very happy. Haven't had it long enough to decide where I'd rank it between 4 and 5 .
1) SET-UP: this was clear and straighforward. The only difficulty I had was early in use, when I was trying to re-assemble the clear chute back under the lever which opens the ice-cream flow; I had left the lever down and was stupidly trying to jam the chute back in for a good minute before I figured out that the lever handle must be up to create adequate space.
2) MAKING the ice cream: Overall process is simple, intuitive. The liquid may drip through when you initially pour it into the canister, so we start with a bowl under the opening and dump it back in if it's more than a spoonful. We used the basic vanilla recipe with a few variations--there has always been plenty of chill in the frozen canister to make a full recipe without a problem. Even on New Year's Eve, when we made additional ice cream (we had 9 people, incl 5 kids) by adding more liquid in 6-oz amounts as the supply of made ice cream dwindled, we didn't exhaust the freezing capacity of the machine. One can peer in through the open top at the ice cream as it's being made and easily monitor its consistency. The add-in apparatus was a huge hit with the kids. We used mini M and M's, choc. jimmies and rainbow sprinkles.
3) CLEAN-UP: no problems.
54 of 58 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
June 27, 2006
The soft serve ice cream maker works great. I only wish it would come with more thatn one freezing bowl so that you could make more than one batch at a time. It is a good value for the price for making small batches of soft serve at home.
37 of 37 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Fun item.
May 16, 2007
Before purchasing this, I was concerned about some of the negative reviews. Now that I have used it, I don't understand them at all. I assume that those folks didn't allow enough time, or too much time, or something. The only complaint about the product that I have is that too much use of it will make me fat. The first time that I used it, it did take a bit longer than the instructions said, but only about ten minutes. It was probably my fault for not using colder products. I have had to adjust to more difficult things in my life. I am glad that I bought it.
29 of 30 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Soft Serve that actually works
November 18, 2007
I bought a cheaper version of a soft serve ice-cream maker a year ago. The ice-cream was okay but there was no way it would ever come out of the spigot. Bought the Cuisinart hoping for the best and it didn't disappoint. Makes great soft serve and actually comes out and makes a curl on the top. Would reccommend this to anyone.
29 of 36 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Great present!
July 10, 2007
My husband just loved this present for his birthday. Our 3 sons love helping make icecream for dessert. It works great and we've never had any problems with it.
27 of 36 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Good gift for Ice Cream lovers
August 27, 2007
The machine was a gift for my nephew as he always asks his mom to take him out for soft-serve. He LOVES IT! and my sister is thrilled!
It's likely the best present I ever bought my 4 year old nephew!
Good for the whole family too!
20 of 30 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
July 5, 2006
I tried several times to get the ice cream just right to flow through the nozzle into the cone like the picture on the box. Either the ice cream became too hard to flow through the nozzle or the ice cream was too watery and melted fast. I sent my machine back after several attempts.
18 of 21 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Instructions for use
July 4, 2008
Due to less than effective instructions for best results, we were forced to resort to trial and error before achieving the quality that we hoped for. For example.......very few consumers have any idea what temperature their freezer is set for. Very few consumers keep freezer thermometers in their homes. After a careful review, it does indicate that the freezer needs to be at
17 of 35 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
August 16, 2006
I will be returning the product. I saved it for my husband's birthday, but when we went to use it, it doesn't freeze the ice cream right...doesn't come out as firm as we would expect and it melts within minutes of dropping it into a bowl. We have the other Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for the freezer and that works just fine for us. We were expecting this soft serve to come out just like cones prepared at Dairy Queen. Instead, it drops in spurts and isn't as solid - we experimented with letting it freeze up longer, but that didn't work either. Most annoying is the fact that you have a puddle of what appears like the original mix in your bowl within a few minutes of dispensing it out of the machine.
16 of 17 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
Easy to use
February 9, 2007
Easy to use, easy to clean, makes great tasting ice cream. Lots of fun.
16 of 16 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
September 25, 2006
I prepare Soft Serve Ice Cream every saturday for my 4 grandchildren. The machine preforms extreemly well. It constantly produces soft serve ice cream to me and my grandchidrens satisification.
15 of 16 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
too runny to stay on the cone
May 7, 2008
I thought that this ice cream would be able to hold up on the cone, like the ones you buy at a shop. the ice cream is too soft. the canister melts too fast also.
14 of 21 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
May 13, 2008
this machine was a lot of fun to work with. the machine does not get put away, it gets used at least every other nite.
14 of 24 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
May 16, 2008
There's not much I can say as I purchased the Ice Cream Maker as a gift therefor I have no first hand experience with it. However the party that received it as a gift raves about it and claims she has told all her friends about it............JL
14 of 26 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
July 10, 2006
The machines does make soft serve ice cream in about 20 minutes and has the capacity to make enough for my family of three kids and two adults. The only complaint I have is that the recipes are not very tasty. The vanilla is okay but the chocolate is awful and leaves a funny taste in my mouth. Overall I would recommend the machine but I need to work out better flavors for it.
13 of 13 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
July 15, 2006
I was dissapointedas I expected a fully automatic machine. The advertising led me to believe that is what I was ordering. I didn't want to have to freeze the bowls, which I already have a Cuisinart with the same freezer bowls. I do like the style, condiment compartments and operation but still dissapointed with having to have large bowls occupying my freezer.
13 of 14 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
August 16, 2006
It actually takes over 24 hours to make ice cream with this machine. You need to put the cylinder in your freezer the day before you want to make ice cream. I returned mine the day I received it.
13 of 20 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
January 25, 2007
We bought this as a Christmas gift for my parents. We thought it would be fun for them to make ice cream with our children. I'm not sure who is enjoying it more - the kids, or my parents. They love how it puts sprinkles throughout the ice cream - not just on top. We do recommend purchasing a commercial ice cream mix. It is just easier and tastes WONDERFUL!! We all love this.
12 of 12 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
February 8, 2007
Product easy to use. I left the ice cream turining over the 20 minute time suggested so the ice cream was to hard to come down the soft servce spout. Next time i will follow the manufactures directions.
12 of 12 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
June 3, 2007
The kids love it ---works well when the freezer temp. is at or near zero. Before purchase verify that you have a freezer that will hold zero degrees for 12 hours
12 of 13 users found this helpful. Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Report Violation »
