Cuisinart ICE-50BC

Most of the reviews hit it on the head: This is a great ice cream machine. I've had this machine, and used it quite well for over three years now (bought in 2006). You do not need to pre-freeze anything,… add salts, stir, churn, belabor, struggle or babysit it at all. Just create your own proper ice cream mixture (a true custard is best for ice cream), or sorbet...whatever...and add it to the machine and away you go...in less than an hour you have wonderful soft-serve ice cream (yeah, you still need to freeze the ice cream in your freezer for a while to get the best results, so what? - if you keep it in the machine too long it will over-freeze thus crystallizing it and the texture will be off...don't say I didn't warn you!) Yeah, yeah...it is heavy, and it...WOW...it makes NOISE! Holy Cow...it makes noise...The NERVE!!! LOL So if you can't lift anything (or enlist someone who CAN lift things) or absolutely HATE any noise, at all...then get something more passive, go do your Yoga and Chill-ax somewhere safe and happy, noise free. But if you want a really great fire-and-forget ice cream machine with built-in compressor and no-brainier attitude...then this is your go to frozen dessert remedy. OK, well, my first one arrived busted. It made strange rattling sounds and it never got cold at all...so I blame the shipper for rather rough handling. Amazon made it good though, an easy return/replacement and the second one worked as it should have to begin with. Now, when I'm working away in my office and I hear this distinctive roar from the direction of the kitchen...I know I'm in for a treat. I think the NOISE is wonderful!...and the end result is always awesome.

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Having been an ice cream lover for quite a while I figured it was time to upgrade from your standard ice and salt ice cream mixer to something with a little more "heft". Pros: Easy to clean: nuff… said. Automatic shutoff for motor arm: Great feature to not wear out the motor arm when the ice cream finishes. Ability to make "batch after batch": This is a nice ability, however, do not get the outside of the bowl wet when switching out as it will pretty much freeze in place and you will have to wait for the mixer to defrost before it can be removed. Cons: Loud: I normally set it up in a room I wont be going into for at least an hour since the arm and compressor are both quite loud. Even with the door shut you will probably be able to hear it. Weak Mixer Motor: I was really surprised to find that the motor in the arm about half the time just doesn't cut it and I am left with a hard packed frozen outer shell with gooey innards. Heavy: Since it takes up so much space I tend to use it and put it away. Since I have to move it around so much it would be nicer if it was lighter. Poorly designed lid: The lid to the bowl cracked the first time I used the maker and personally having a 1x3 inch "Ingredient Spout" into the bowl is not something that I would have designed in. The see-through lid could be a nice feature but tends to frost up making the gaping hole into the bowl a nice way to check on the ice cream. Overall: If I had to do it all over again I would probably purchase something cheaper with a stronger mixing arm. While Cuisinart usually does a great job engineering their products I feel they missed the mark on this one. I miss the joy of looking into the bowl and seeing wonderful frozen curls of freshly churned ice cream. P.S. To add insult to injury the price dropped the day after I bought it, but I guess that's life.

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Most of the irritating noise is coming out of the top. Go get 2 big fluffy beach towels, color not important. Place on top of ice cream maker being careful not to block air vents on the side. This kills… 50% of the noise in general and about 90% of the grating high frequency noise. Additional containers and paddles are cheap. I bought extras so that I would have a second batch ready to freeze as soon as the first was done. This saves a lot of time especially when you didn't answer the bell and it continued to freeze. Once frozen you can't extricate the ice cream or the paddle until it warms up. Having an extra container allows you to continue making ice cream while practicing on your cursing skills as you finish cleaning up the first. For those that immediately answer the bell (I'm not making this up), take the container out, pull the paddle and scoop out the ice cream you are definitely smarter than me. It is to the machine's credit that it continues to freeze waiting patiently for some dim bulb to pay it some attention. It is far more noisy than a digital clock but far quieter than either beagles or dachshunds. In the end it makes ice cream faster than I can eat it. Life is good.

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