Looking ahead to the summer ice cream maker worth having or not

millymouse

Hi I've been thinking about buying an ice cream maker and I would like to know your views. Are they worth having or just another kitchen gadget?. Do you have one and do you use it regularly? If so which one would you recommend and why. Thank you

DigForVictory

There are art least 3 levels of ice cream maker so it's worth comparing like with like.
Simplest using ice & salt, walloped by hand, can be done by a determined child - cheap, little if any special kit needed, but it's pretty tiring. (This may not be a Bad Thing.)

Most midrange machines require a pre-frozen bowl. Dunno about you but my freezer space gets squabbled over, and remembering to put the bowl in 24 hours ahead? Not my specialist subject (!) & anyway the impulse for homemade icecream means plural bowls in the freezer "just in case" & that's expensive.

Finally the device that is in fact a small freezer, but makes icecream. Impulses can be indulged, exotic varieties can be made as soon as you can afford the ingredients, but where the devil do you store the thing in the months when icecream is less in demand & will it do Anything Else? (Nope.)

Me, I'm holding out for the latter. Someday, some better off person will decide it does not bring them joy & I am on the lookout for that (briefly) unloved device. I yearn to make icecream to spec, for the near terminally picky, for the special event, person whatever - but until then I am not going down the "it's only a 24 hour wait" path, I am prepared to sit & wait & watch then lunge for the device that allows me to indulge wild impulses.

All the best with your searches & if you do go for the middle range gizmo, try to keep it under £50 unless it has a lot of bowls included?
Best of luck!

MallyGirl

I have one. It is rarely used. It is the sort where you put the whole base in the freezer - we rarely have enough space in the freezer to fit it in

Islandmaid

My DH bought me a Cuisineart automatic Icecream machine for Christmas - it is wonderful and the Icecream made so far is delicious.

Negatives - I'm not sure I would have bought it for myself at £200 plus the cost of the cream/eggs/milk etc it is not a cheap alternative. You do need to chill you base mix to get best results. It is a huge machine, about the footprint of a microwave.

Positives - homemade Bespoke flavoured Icecream on tap just press the button and go...

peachyprice

Depends which type you're talking about.

If it's on of the fairly cheap ones where you have to freeze the bowl the day before then use the electric motor to churn it, I would say no. I have one, and while it does make amazing ice cream it doesn't make enough and you have to remember to freeze the bowl first. There's no spontaneity unless you have space to keep the bowl in the freezer all the time.

One of the super duper expensive all in one machines that you can just plug in and make ice cream, now one of those I would die for, but I don't think they're worth the £100's they cost. Every year I look out for a used one on Ebay, I haven't been lucky so far.

I believe there is an ice cream attachment for the Kenwood Chef, but again the bowl has to be frozen and I don't thunk it makes any more that the other freezer types.

VfM4meplse

Its nice to personalise flavours but ice-cream is not an everyday food (in theory). It's much more economical to use the first method, which involves staying close to the freezer and beating the crystals out of it at regular intervals.

[Deleted User]

I own a gaggia gelataria and it is my pride and joy, always kept out and a good 15 years old. It is steady as a rock, even when making ice cream with mallows and nuts in it. Last ice cream I made was with kefir. One of the gadgets I will never part with, not ever

millymouse

Thank you all for your input I think maybe it's an idea I'll put off for a while it's not worth hundreds for the super duper machine I may as well just buy the ice cream. I have the kenwood chef could maybe look into the attachment later on thank you peachy price but I think it may be just another kitchen gadget that I would probably use now and then and leave on the shelf. I have in the past just bought these kind of things on impulse and regretted it later the ones I use however like my Panasonic bread maker, tefal actifry, halogen oven, slow cooker and kenwood chef are used almost on a daily basis and would replace them in an instant. ,

Slinky

Like Kittie, I have the Gaggia. At a cost per serving, I dread to think how much it costs, way cheaper to buy posh icecream. But I do love making my own, even though it's an occasional treat rather than always being used.

bouicca21

Personally I follow a Mary Berry recipe that does not require an ice cream maker at all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/no-churn_ice_cream_72012

It really is delicious.

Use vanilla flavoured sugar rather than vanilla extract (you put a vanilla pod in the sugar container and let it infuse, never have to use vanilla extract again).

suki1964

There's always the old fashioned way of beating the ice crystals out every hour by hand

I think we have had two ice cream machines pass through this house, mother does like a gadget, both have ended up in the charity shops