Which ice cream maker is best

Read our full Cuisinart iced dessert maker review. Pros: Small and compact, pre-freeze bowl fits neatly in freezer, classic design Cons: Noisy.

Thanks to clever and imaginative design, the whole bottom half of this ice cream maker goes in the freezer. This not only saves space on the kitchen counter, but means there are fewer component parts to find — or lose! Ice cream and sorbet were very well made. Both were light and smooth, and made in 25 and 30 minutes respectively. This model has a 1. The controls are simple and easy to use, though the screen may be a little small for those who struggle with their eyesight. Read our full Lakeland digital ice cream maker review.

Pros: paddle scrapes closely to the bowl, large bowl capacity Cons: loud. This stately, brushed-steel-effect ice cream maker has a 2-litre bowl capacity, so with 1. The paddle supplied is thick and robust, which meant that our ice cream came out soft, creamy and whipped. Our lemon sorbet was smooth and had a delicious fizzy sherbert mouthfeel.

Our ice cream was a soft-serve texture, and was nicely whipped and creamy. Read our full Vonshef stainless steel ice cream maker review. Pros: Small and compact, easy to assemble and clean, budget-friendly Cons: Freezer bowl is quite large, struggled to make sorbet. The Sensio Home ice cream maker is a great option for anyone short on space and budget.

Like the Lakeland model, the bottom half of this ice cream maker goes in the freezer. Ice cream took 35 minutes to churn and was thick and creamy. It also stood up to further freezing well. After two tests over two days we were left with slightly cloudy sorbet mix. Stick to ice cream with this model. Read our full Sensio Home ice cream maker review. One of our favourite things about this ice cream maker is how quiet it is. While some models on this list make loud mechanical whirring sounds, this little thing purrs along quietly as it churns.

It has a thick and robust paddle. Despite taking nearly twice as long to churn ice cream than the manual suggests, our vanilla ice cream eventually had a soft, whipped texture.

But for classic ice creams this is a great choice. Read our full Lakeland stainless steel digital ice cream maker review. Pros: self-freezing so no need to find space in the freezer, clear and easy to use buttons, different paddles for ice cream and gelato Cons: Quite noisy. This ice cream machine has its own refrigeration system, saving you from having to freeze a bowl in advance, and it can make around 1.

Plus, it automatically shuts off before your ice cream becomes too hard, ensuring your dessert is the perfect consistency every time. Its only limits are the size of your imagination and its stainless steel mixing bowl. Make ice cream faster with the Cuisinart ICE, which can whip up 1. This freezer-bowl machine comes in several different colors, and it has an updated mixing paddle that makes delicious frozen desserts more quickly.

The Cusinart Ice Cream Maker is simple to use—just freeze the bowl ahead of time, then add in your ingredients and turn it on. No messing around with ice and salt. Depending on the recipe it makes the same amount as a regular box of ice cream from the store. The Yonanas Machine is most commonly used with frozen bananas, but you can put berries, mango, chocolate, and other ingredients in it, as well.

I actually find the end product to be more like ice cream than some of the low-fat ice creams you buy in the store. It is delicious. Rolled ice cream—also called stir fry ice cream—is extremely popular right now, and you can make this unique treat at home with the Whynter Frozen Pan Roller. The machine has a built-in compressor that cools the work surface down to just 10 degrees, which instantly freezes your ice cream mixture.

This ice cream maker has a sleek stainless steel housing, and it has four suction-cup legs that hold it tightly on the counter as you work. It only takes a few minutes for it to cool to temperature to be ready to use and a few more minutes to make the ice cream, so I can have my own homemade ice cream of whatever flavor in less than 10 minutes.

To make ice cream with it, you put an ice cream base, ice, and rock salt inside the ball. The ball is made from a durable plastic material, and it can make one pint of ice cream at a time.

The best advice I can give you is to put in lots and lots of ice with the salt. And then the ICE But just to be clear: the differences are quite small. They can all make fantastically smooth ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt.

If you're still unsure, my advice would be to first think about what capacity you're likely to need as that's the biggest difference between the machines. So if you don't need to make more that 1. My tests suggest that the improved dasher design does make a difference to the freezing time and therefore the smoothness of the ice cream.

And the gelato and sorbet was also noticeably different too. But if you can't or they're not available in your country , don't worry because in my tests, the ICE makes desserts that are almost as good and is usually available at a lower price too! I think Cuisinart make the best freezer bowl machines. As far as I'm concerned, there's no doubt about this. However I can think of one situation where I wouldn't recommend a Cuisinart ice cream maker.

And that's if you already own a KitchenAid mixer! KitchenAid produce a freezer bowl that you can use with your stand mixer to make all sorts of frozen treats. It works in the same way as the other freezer bowl ice cream maker. So the bowl is lined with a special liquid gel that sets hard in the freezer.

Once frozen, you attach the bowl to your mixer which powers a dasher that churns the mixture. My experience using the bowl with my Classic Series KitchenAid stand mixer has been very positive and I've found it makes ice cream that is just as smooth as the Cuisinart machines. This is because the motor on a KitchenAid is so powerful, it's able to keep churning the mixture for much longer than most other machines,.

However, I know that some people have had negative experiences with this attachment. These are generally related to the blue gel leaking from the bowl or the bowl not fitting to their particular mixer properly. Given than the bowl itself usually costs about the same amount as the Cuisinart machine, whether it's good value for money is debatable! However if you already have a KitchenAid, it makes such good frozen desserts that I think it would be crazy not to go with this attachment!

Choosing a compressor machine might seem more complicated than choosing a freezer bowl machine: there's loads of different models and there isn't one brand that dominates. But if we look a little more closely, it's actually a lot simpler than you'd think. I like to divide compressor machines into three distinct tiers In the top tier are domestic machines from companies that also make commercial ice cream makers.

These machines provide commercial level build quality and components, scaled down for domestic use. In the second tier are domestic machines from long established and well known consumer brands. These ice cream makers are designed and built specifically for those brands. And they're aimed squarely at the domestic market.

In the third tier are domestic machines that are made to be white labeled by other brands. Any brand can order these machines with slight cosmetic changes and then market them as their own. And when we look at it this way, there are actually just three significant players in the compressor machine market:. Musso are an Italian company that have been making ice cream machines since the 's.

There are only two machines in my top tier and they're both made by Musso! The Lello Musso Lussino is a 1. The Lello Musso Lussino also know as the Mini is the smallest and has a 1. While the Lello Musso Pola also known as the Stella is a bit bigger with a 2 quart capacity. The Lello Musso Pola Stella is the bigger, 2 quart brother of the Other than their capacities, the two machines are pretty much the same.

They both feature commercial level build quality and components. You don't get any fancy control panels or programmable features. Just two buttons and a manual dial. The buttons turn the compressor and the motor on or off. And the dial sets the timer. Lello Musso Lussino has a very simple, manual control panel. Unlike most ice cream makers, there's no removable bowl with the Mussos. The ice cream is churned in a depression in the body of the machine.

This makes the freezing more efficient. And it also makes it easy to clean! So they're pretty simple. But the frozen desserts I make with them are incredible. These Musso machines are the the only domestic appliances that can make the sort of ice cream you'd eat in a top quality restaurant. Seriously, I think the desserts these machines make really is a level above what you'll get from any other domestic machine.

The only drawback to the Musso ice cream makers is the price. They are usually eye wateringly expensive. Lello the only domestic machine with an integrated bowl and a metal dasher. Some people have suggested that while the Musso machines do make fantastic frozen desserts, they're not that much better than those from other domestic ice cream makers.

So they don't justify the extra cost. I disagree entirely. For me, the Musso machines are on a totally different level in terms of quality.

Every machine below them makes desserts that are broadly the same. But when you taste the ice cream, sorbet, gelato or frozen yogurt from a Musso machine you know straight away that this is something else Apart from the Musso machines, the Smart Scoop is probably the most expensive domestic machine you can currently buy. But unlike the Musso machines, the Smart Scoop is very much a domestic appliance and is in my second tier of compressor machines.

What sets it apart from other domestic machines and apparently justifies the extra cost is a huge array of automatic settings and fancy features The Smart Scoop is the only domestic machine with an automatic pre-cool feature, 12 distinct hardness settings for different types of dessert, and an intelligent keep-cool program that will keep your frozen dessert at the desired consistency for up to 3 hours after it finishes!

While you certainly don't need all these automatic settings and extra features to make great frozen desserts, they can make things a little easier, especially when you're starting out. As you get more experience, you may find you override the hardness settings and use the machine in manual mode. But many people will appreciate the fully automated experience the Smart Scoop can provide.

No, I don't think it does at all. In my tests it actually made coarser ice cream than both the other compressor machines and the Cuisinart freezer bowl machines. I think this is due to an under powered compressor: it can take up to 40 minutes to freeze each batch. You also need to be careful to not accidentally cause the compressor to turn off before it's finished more information here.

The Smart Scoop has a better build quality than most other domestic machines and it's made by a renowned company. And while Breville only give you a one year warranty, at least they'll pay for all transport costs if the Smart Scoop needs to be returned under that warranty. But really, the only reason to choose the Smart Scoop over any other domestic machine is all the automatic settings and advanced features.

If they appeal to you, then it's a good choice. If you don't think you'll need them, then you're probably better off with a cheaper machine that will make smoother ice cream. While Cuisinart make plenty of freezer bowl machines, they only make one compressor ice cream maker: the ICE Cuisinart ICE basic functionality but great performance. There are no automatic settings and no fancy features.

In fact the ICE is not super user friendly! The LCD display is basic and hard to read. The buttons are not very tactile. And the uni-directional time controls make it difficult to set the timer. There's no automatic pre-cool, no hardness settings and the limited keep-cool feature is next to useless!

However it does make good ice cream! Better than the other domestic compressor machines? In my tests yes, but not by a massive amount.

But only slightly smother than the white labeled machines. However it's always much cheaper than the Smart Scoop and as we'll see, there are other reasons to be wary of the white labeled machines. The ICE is also made by Cuisinart, a very reputable company that provides a generous 3 year warranty 5 years in Europe! It's true: if you need to make use of the warranty, you'll have to pay for the postage to Cuisinart and also contribute to the return costs. But Cuisinart are the only company that provide more than 1 year warranties on their frozen dessert makers.

White labeled ice cream makers are those that are manufactured by one company, which then makes them available for other companies to market as their own. And because a lot of the companies that market these machines appear out of nowhere and then disappear again in a couple of years, getting reliable customer service can be pretty hit and miss.

However in the US, Whynter has been around a long while and has a good reputation. And in Europe, Unold is the same. There's no automatic pre-cool and no automatic hardness settings. And most of them have the same 1 hour keep cool functionality, which as always is pretty useless. All Foshan Nordika machines have the same basic functionality. However, they tend to do the basic things really well. The LCD displays are crisp, bright and informative, the control panels are easy to use and the compressors and motors are quietly effective.

So what are the frozen desserts like? Well, they're pretty good! In my tests they were no better that the ice cream you get from the ICE But they were not significantly worse either. Both of these machines are white labeled ice cream makers and they performed really well. The motors were efficient and reasonably quiet. The dashers left very little frozen mixture against the sides of the bowl. And they both made smooth desserts in around 25 minutes!

So why don't I wholeheartedly recommend them? Well I have serious doubts about their construction quality and their long term durability The sound was noticeable, but it was not irritating like the high-pitched whine of the Nostalgia or the Cuisinart ICE And the beep of the timer was loud enough for us to hear.

The machine is nearly cube-like, with an attractively modern stainless steel housing with black accents. It can be a pain to lug in and out of a cabinet every time you want to use it. If your kitchen space is limited, you may have trouble finding a place to store this thing, but the same could be said for all of the compressor models we tested; you just need to decide whether committing to one of these hulking machines is worth the effort.

Since , it has consistently made the best ice cream in our tests. Musso is an Italian company that sells home and commercial ice cream and gelato makers, and the experts we spoke with have also used this machine in professional settings.

Thanks to a more powerful compressor that allows this machine to freeze the mixture faster than other compressor models we tested, the ice cream we made in the Musso Lussino had an intense creaminess reminiscent of store-bought premium versions.

The difference was evident when we scooped out the finished product: It was stretchy, like gelato, and visually smoother, with not a trace of gritty ice crystals in a spoonful. All of the recipes we tested—custard, Oreo, and vegan coconut—were outstanding from the Musso Lussino. This machine was one of the fastest of all the models we tested, taking 20 to 22 minutes to churn.

As with the Cuisinart ICE, that speed resulted in fewer ice crystals and a silkier texture. Like most of the machines we tested, the Musso Lussino is simple to use. Its design is super sleek, with gleaming stainless steel housing and parts plus a built-in bowl with a 1.

You assemble the machine by screwing on a nut that secures a metal dasher in the middle of the bowl and then placing the domed plastic lid on top. The machine is an elliptical shape with curved corners, a design that gives it a mid-century modern vibe. It has separate buttons for freezing and churning that illuminate when on, and you have to switch both of them on to actually make ice cream.

You can pause churning to add mix-ins or check the doneness of your ice cream. You need to wipe the machine out with a little warm soapy water, being sure to wipe it again with water to rinse it completely.

Lastly and optionally, you can sanitize the machine with a restaurant-grade or food-service sanitizer spray these may be hard to find online in small quantities, but you may be able to pick up a bottle in a restaurant-supply store. Armed with two bowls and a few absorbent bar mops , we found that cleaning the Musso Lussino took just a few minutes, but the task was still a little awkward compared with washing a bowl in the sink.

The Musso Lussino is also huge and heavy. It weighs about 40 pounds and measures about 12 inches wide, 17 inches long, and And again, the Musso Lussino is expensive. But if you like to make ice cream for family and friends on the regular, or if you want to up your ice cream production, this machine is the best you can get for home use. The Musso Lussino comes with a one-year warranty, which is a bit short given the hefty price tag.

Alabanza suggests finding a local repairperson who can help fix a compressor machine if you have issues down the line. Professional machines churn ice cream more quickly at lower temperatures, preventing ice crystals from forming. But you can take some steps to greatly increase the quality of your homemade ice cream, mostly by making sure it stays as cold as possible through every part of the process.

The most important thing to do is to chill everything—your tools, ice cream base, mix-ins, and even storage containers—before churning, because when ice cream freezes faster, fewer ice crystals form. The colder your freezer, the quicker your ice cream sets, which helps reduce the formation of large ice crystals. Make sure to thoroughly chill your base in an ice bath or in the fridge overnight before churning, too. Be sure to add them when the ice cream is nearly finished churning, to prevent them from getting soggy and sinking to the bottom.

Keep in mind that ice cream expands as it churns and you whip air into it. Our picks took 20 to 45 minutes to churn our chilled base, so start checking on your ice cream after 20 minutes.

If you drag a spoon through the base, the spoon should leave a valley behind. When you remove the ice cream from the machine, it will be edible but too soft to scoop. Try to move quickly to avoid melting , which can cause ice crystals to form. Tightly pack your ice cream in a container to prevent any air bubbles from forming.

That air plays a role in both texture and flavor delivery. It helps give ice cream a lighter, smoother mouthfeel, and it can enhance the flavor. Commercial ice cream overrun can range from the super dense to the light and fluffy. Your best bet is to get a good ice cream maker that churns fast enough to produce smooth, aerated ice cream.

Ice cream is frozen milk; when it melts, it can leave a sticky film that becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Make sure to clean and dry your machine thoroughly after each use, wiping down the base, knobs, and dials, and getting into any nooks and crannies.

The experts we spoke with recommended spraying machines with a restaurant-grade sanitizer spray to be extra safe, but such sprays can be hard to find in small quantities online you might have better luck at a restaurant-supply store.

You can also hand-wash with warm, soapy water. You can wipe down the machine with water afterward to remove any lingering smells or tastes that could affect your next batch, and then dry the machine. Bae recommends wrapping a bowl with plastic wrap to keep it clean and to prevent any food or ice particles from affecting your ice cream.

If inserts start leaking or get scratched, you may need to replace them. To scrape out ice cream, Bavishi advises against using a metal spoon, which can scratch insulated bowls.

If you prefer an ice-and-salt option, the Nostalgia Electric Ice Cream Maker With Easy-Carry Handle is more affordable than our other picks and effectively makes ice cream, though it may take longer and create icier desserts. We found this machine harder to use than our picks since it requires breaking up ice before adding it to a bucket layered with salt. The taller, narrower canister was a little harder for us to scrape out and store in the freezer.

And because the motor attachment rests on top of the machine, checking for doneness is more difficult. The old-school design and more involved process may make the Nostalgia a better bet for a fun outdoor activity versus producing multiple batches of ice cream.