Pros: Works fast; easy to use; durable
Cons: If you don’t use it for a while, dust can get in through the feed tube; just put plastic wrap over it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
First posted 8/28/2000
I bought this to replace our old, broken Krups Ice Cream Maker. I chose the Cuisinart because…oh, who am I kidding. Because it was the only ice cream maker that cooking.com carried. Oh, yes, and I’ve had lots of good experience with the Cuisinart brand.
First of all, a brief summary of how these ice cream makers work: You freeze a certain bowl in the freezer – it has a liquid chemical between the walls that absorbs and holds the cold very well. You generally freeze it overnight. You attach this to the motor housing, put a mixer paddle in, press start, and pour in your ice cream mixture. After a little while you press stop and scoop out your ice cream.
The Cuisinart wins in almost every way over the Krups. First, the freezer bowl is smaller, so it fits in the freezer more easily. Don’t let this fool you though – the Cuisinart makes the same 1.5 quarts that the Krups makes. The bowl is just designed better.
Second, you just drop the paddle in the bowl with the Cuisinart. It’s designed so that it can’t help but stand upright. The Krups requires you to awkwardly try to fit the motor into the paddle, which likes to try to fall over instead.
Third, the “feed tube” on the Cuisinart is actually this plastic dome that you just settle over the whole thing. The feed tube is larger than that of the Krups, and you won’t be as likely to spill stuff.
Fourth, the Cuisinart only took 30 minutes to chill the same amount of ice cream that took the Krups 45 minutes. Not only that, but the Cuisinart says that you can do two consecutive batches if you want, whereas the cold of the Krups wouldn’t have held up that long.
Fifth, the Cuisinart is more durable and better-designed to not get damaged in the first place. The Krups machine we had needed to be replaced because something got set down on the motor housing and it cracked. The motor housing was very awkwardly shaped, and didn’t really sit well on a shelf. The Cuisinart is very sturdy, and will easily stand and stay put on a shelf.
Sixth (convinced yet?) the Cuisinart freezer bowl needs something like 6-24 hours to freeze. The Krups bowl usually needed at least two days. This means with the Cuisinart, you don’t have to plan things as far in advance.
We’ve replaced our Krups with a Cuisinart, and we believe that we have traded up in every way. If you need an ice cream maker, I heartily recommend the Cuisinart.
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