KitchenAid KICA0WH

At first glance, I didn't know if it would work that well, but I put my doubts aside and, with my husband, set about making the ice cream. We used a hand blender for the first part. That was a big… mistake. It whips too much air into the mix. Then we dumped it into the mixer. The ice cream maker attachment worked just like it's supposed to. When done, it's really too soft to eat right away. You have to put it in the freezer for about an hour, but it's just like I remember when my dad used to make it with the hand crank machine years ago. We'd go to a pick your own peach farm, and then come home and make fresh peach ice cream. I think we'll make that next.

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I researched a LOT before I bought this, specifically whether to buy the KA attachment or just get a separate ice cream machine - the final determination was my desire to NOT bring another appliance into… the house, since I already have a Kitchenaid mixer. I have a chest freezer, so freezer space is not a concern for me, but honestly, the bowl is about the same size as a half-gallon of store-bought 'scream. I made my first batch of vanilla bean ice cream today and it's awesome! Silky texture, amazing vanilla flavor (I bought 2lbs of vanilla beans very reasonably on another Internet site) Some things I learned, and advice I offer: 1. Find out when your mixer was made - I got my mixer in 1989. The box reads "fits all KA stand mixers" BUT the KA website tells you it won't work on 1989 or earlier models (which message, btw, you can only see if you click "buy" on the KA website). When I called KA to find out if my mixer was made before 1989, I was told they could not determine what part of 1989 my mixer was manufactured and it may not fit, so she suggested I buy the attachment, try it, and return it if it didn't work. I got lucky and it fits! But I bought it from a local store, so I could return without paying shipping. 2. I expected the drive mechanism of the attachment (the part that goes onto the spinning part of the mixer head) to fit securely onto the mixer, but it falls off unless it's engaged with the dasher. At first I thought it wasn't going to fit the mixer, but it works. 3. I put the bowl in the chest freezer for 15 hours (just couldn't wait any longer!) I also chilled the batter overnight. This is all in the instructions, and I wonder if the people who don't get good results don't chill the batter and/or don't have the freezer set cold enough to fully freeze the bowl? 4. Pouring the batter into the bowl with the dasher moving around in it is tricky, but I have a nice mixing/measuring cup with a big pour spout on it. I have the old two-piece plastic pouring shield and it is a little too big to fit perfectly around the ice cream bowl, but it works well enough to make it easier to pour the batter into the bowl. I suppose pouring the batter could be messy without these two items. 5. The FIRST time you hear the mixer make a sound like the tilt-head is trying to come up, STOP the ice cream making process - this is the mixer telling you it's done making ice cream: the batter freezes on the sides of the bowl and the dasher can't rotate any more. If you continue (like I just did) the dasher disengages and it's hard to unlock the tilt-head. I am excited about making flavors of ice cream you can't find in the stores and I am very glad I bought this attachment.

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For starters, there's a simple problem with this ice cream maker that should have been obvious to me before I purchased it. Ice cream that use ice and salt to freeze the batter get colder over time,… allowing the ice cream to churn for a good while before the it is cold enough to be frozen. This product is at its coldest from the start. It will only get less cold from there. Your ice cream will freeze instantly when you pour it in the bowl and may cause the dasher to stop spinning almost immediately - even if you follow the directions by starting the dasher before you add the batter. Furthermore, it's almost impossible to make two batches in a row. The freezing bowl simply won't be cold enough by the time the second batch starts. And you have to freeze it for 15 hours before you can use it again. Getting past this immediate flaw, lets talk about everything else that's wrong with it. The dasher, as I mentioned, must be in motion when you pour the batter in. Unfortunately, its really difficult to get the batter into this bowl while its on the stand with the mixer in motion. I got batter all over my mixer, on the counter, everywhere. It needs a spout to pour the batter into from the side. No such accessory exists - and if it did, wouldn't it be sort of ridiculous to have to buy accessories for your accessories? The dasher is turned by a drive-assembly that does not attach to the pin of the mixer. Your just supposed to press it up onto the motor head where tiny rubber tabs on the side will hold it in place. This doesn't work well at all. The drive-assembly doesn't fit well onto the motor head, so it just pops off while the mixer is in motion, as soon as the batter offers any resistance - which it does immediately, because as I said, this mixer is as cold as it's going to get from the moment you begin. You end up with batter that hasn't churned properly and that is frozen solid to the sides of the bowl but is still liquid in the middle. Even if you can keep it spinning, the drive-assembly slips out of place and causes the dasher to turn at a bad angle, and also causes your mixer to make some really disturbing noises. In the end, you end up with a big mess in your kitchen, ice cream that hasn't expanded to its full size because it wasn't churned properly, and the threat of damage to your very expensive mixer. I switched to this mixer from and ice and salt mixer because I figured it would be louder, cleaner, and less work. now I'm switching back to the ice and salt mixer because its just as loud as the noises this mixer makes while working, it works better, and I can make as many batches of ice cream I want in a single day as long as I have ice.

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I absolutely love my new ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer. It's sooo easy to use and came with some awesome recipes to try it out. I also found a few recipes on [...], one of my favorite… websites. I have made mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream so far and llloooovvveeedd both of them. Very yummy. I love being able to utilize my stand mixer for more than just mixing. I also have the slicer attachment, food grinder attachment and the fruit/vegetable strainer attachment and love them all.

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I am a professional pastry chef, this was purchased for home use. I am not using the product incorrectly. Due to a fatal design flaw, the dasher stops churning the ice cream well before even a soft serve… consistency is reached. That means you must freeze the ice cream before it is fully churned which creates large undesirable ice crystals. Furthermore, in spite of the "Hassle Free Guarantee" I was hassled for a good forty five minutes, told I was using it wrong and I didn't know what I was talking about. Ultimately had to speak to two supervisors to return the product.

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