bit-tech Shopping: Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker

Rating: 4

Time with product: 4 Days

Strengths: Makes ice cream

Weaknesses: Lot of Work

Summary: The ice cream is a lot of trouble to make, and you have to plan ahead. First, you have to freeze the gel-lined ice cream container at least 24 hours in advance to make one batch of ice cream. Cuisinart describes the consistency as "soft serve," but it is softer than that -- between a Wendy's Frosty and a milkshake. For one batch, I chilled the ice cream mix in the freezer for an hour in advance just to get it to a Frosty consistency. The ice cream tastes very good but not good enough to justify the extra work when I have a DQ just down the street.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 5 Days

Strengths: Makes awesome ice cream in minutes. Fun for the kids to help with and taste test.

Weaknesses: Need to freeze bowl prior to use - long wait for the kids who wanted to make ice cream as soon as we opened the box.

Summary: This machine is very easy to use and set-up. Comes with a manual with ice cream recipes. We plan on taking it with us this summer when we go camping so we can have fresh ice cream as often as we want.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Days

Strengths: The quantity of ice cream made. The ease of use. Time it takes to get ice cream.

Weaknesses: waiting for my next batch of ice cream due to the freezing of the main bucket needs to be frozen each time of use.

Summary: I can see that I will enjoy using this product very much with the set it forget it ease of use. It was pricey but I am a true believer in you get what you pay for with kitchen stuff. Maybe for this price they could include more then one bucket. I know you can buy more separately, but when i scream for ice cream everyone one screams for ice cream!

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Days

Strengths: User-Friendly and Attractive enough to leave out on the counter

Weaknesses: Housing could be smaller, and itÃ?â??ââ?¬â?¢s a bit noisy. To pre-freeze its canister for 10 hours it annoying, and I hate the fact that it is NOT DISWASHER SAFE.

Summary: Overall, this ice cream maker is easy to operate. Its directions are user friendly, and the ice cream results are delicious. It is a great unit, but a bit pricy.

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: Easy to set up.Large two quart capacity.Can add ingredients while unit is operating.Quick freeze time of recipes.

Weaknesses: Relatively long freeze time for container - at least 6 hours or considerably more depending on the freezer.

Summary: The Cuisinart has been a wonderful unit so far. The sorbets we made over the holidays were easy, quick and delicious. Clean up is a snap. This 2 quart unit is the way to go rather the 1.5 quart. Most recipes are for 2 quarts. 1 quart recipes are easily doubled. The design of lid makes it easy to add various ingredients that have to be added towards the end of the freeze. You do have to think ahead though since the freezing bowl itself must be fully frozen prior to use. We started storing the freezer bowl in the basement freezer all the time which is okay as long as it is in a plastic bag to pervent freezer burn. We can highly recommend the ICE-30BC!