Good Question: Should I Upgrade My Ice Cream Maker?

Have you made ice cream yet this season? We have, just once, but we're looking forward to lots more. Here's a question from Delairen on ice cream makers:

I need help choosing a new ice cream maker and was hoping you guys might have some words of wisdom for me. I currently have a Cuisinart freeze-the-bowl style ice cream maker, and although the results are passable (barely) I'm hoping to take a step up. I have a budget of about $300 or so (plus/minus) - and was considering the Cuisinart ICE-50BCE, but I was wondering if there was something I might be missing to finding the perfect balance of quality/price.

Here are our reviews of the two ice cream makers under discussion:

• Cuisinart Automatic Ice Cream Maker - The scoop: Inexpensive ice cream maker; needs to have the bowl frozen between batches, so at least 12-24 hours have to elapse between batches. But still makes a great creamy-style ice cream, especially when the base is enriched with eggs and well-chilled.

• Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker - The scoop: Much more expensive (4x at least) but comes with an internal compressor that chills the ice cream while churning. You can make batch after batch, consecutively. It makes a slightly creamier ice cream, since it freezes more evenly, but it's still nowhere near a commercial model. You still need to tweak your base for its shortcomings.

Delairen, upgrading your ice cream maker will not make a huge difference in the quality of your ice cream; tweaking your base recipe will go a lot further in that. Homemade ice cream is all about compensating for the shortcomings of home ice cream makers with bases that will freeze well. Our favorite ice cream base (amazing texture) is linked below.

But upgrading will really help you make ice cream more conveniently; you don't have to pre-chill the base (although it still helps) when you use a machine with a compressor. Just make sure you have the space; these machines are big and heavy! (And loud.)

There are other similar models, too, to answer your final question, but Cuisinart really has a lock on this market. This was the most affordable version I could find, when I was looking for one about a year ago.

Which leads me to the final, most important point: This is exactly the sort of gadget you want to buy used. The model I have runs $400 on Amazon; I bought it for about $100 used, and it works perfectly. This is one of those things that people buy and then promptly get rid of. So yes, upgrade if you can find a used version that still works well.

Readers - any better options for Delairen?

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(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (5)

I've been looking on Craigslist for this exact ice cream maker for the last 3 months, and have not seen it once. In fact, if you search the model number on the Craigslist site nationally, you do not get a single result. And the few on eBay are all in the mid-200 range and after shipping will end up costing more after shipping.

I thought the exact same thing - it's a novelty item people probably think is a great idea but use once and then leave sitting there. So, why aren't they all over eBay/CL?

I picked up a similar, though non-Cuisinart, compressor ice cream maker on Craigslist for $75; I had that search in my RSS feed for about 4 months before I found it. It was new (apparently it was a gift that had never been out of the box). It's been great, and mine at least isn't any louder than the microwave (I have a Lello Junior).

But, though you don't have to pre-chill the mixture before it goes in, you should be aware that it takes quite a bit longer with a mixture that's even just room temp.

Keep an eye on the used products on amazon.com too, sometimes you see stuff a little cheaper there than on ebay or craigslist. Although, right now I don't see the Cuisinart ICE-50BC super cheap on amazon. Maybe towards the end of summer?

I use a Lello Il Gelataio compressor machine inherited from a late uncle--he bought it in the late '80s or early '90s, and it still works like a dream. No prep necessary. I do wish the bowl were removable--as it is, I have to get in there with a sponge (I believe many of the current machines have removable bowls).

I briefly had the Cuisinart ICE-50BC but I was not happy with it's performance. I returned it and got a Lello which is much, much better. I highly recommend one of the Lello machines. The Cuisinart is crap by comparison.