I bought this for my kids for a Christmas present because they love ice cream. We are so happy with this. It's so easy to use my kids can run it!

Mmgreene

Muncie IN

I just got my four quart Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker a couple of months ago, so I cannot say much about the durability. So far, I love it though! We eat ice cream about as quick as we can get it around here, so having an ice cream maker instead of having to go out and buy the ice cream is a real treat. I still think there is nothing like hand stirred snow cream in the dead of winter, but as for the rest of the year, I think I will be getting a lot of use out of this ice cream maker. I like that you can control how fast it freezes by managing the ice to salt ratio. It seems like ice cream makers with the sleeves do not freeze the ice cream all the way. Being able to control the speed of the ice cream freezing makes it easier to control the taste as well. For creamier ice cream, just use more salt and smaller ice cubes. It is not too hard to clean either. It is really easy to use and the children love it! So far, I am well more than satisfied with this purchase!

dragonheart1131

Undisclosed

So I gave it an 8 because while I LOVE this thing, it did take some finesse and getting used to. I had few fails before I got it down. Now I get a fail every once in a while when I try something new and I don't get the proportions right. The great thing about this though is that when it it's failing, you have a chance to fix it. Or you end up with ice cream soup! Performance Performed like expected. Durability I have had this thing for years, moved multiple times. The only thing that wasn't durable was the little cork that you need, I kept losing it in the moves and finding it later. Ease of Use Super easy to use! Mix and pour in, turn on, and check on it every once in a while. The noise it makes is rather annoying though... Ease of Cleaning Really easy to clean, just a bunch of buckets and a stir thingy really. Capacity It makes the perfect amount for my needs. Design It's kind of a tacky white bucket with a metal canister in it. Could have a little more style to it in my opinion.

chewylk

USA

My husband and I, we both love to eat ice cream whole year round and nothing tastes better than fresh homemade ice cream. I was inspired to buy this Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker after having the ice cream done in this at a relative's place. Do not get fooled by it's name, it actually does much more than the name suggests. It lets you make some fresh homemade gelato, frozen yogurt, custard and sherbet as well. Trust me you will end up saving a lot of money after you buy this machine, just do the maths. Just a few bucks for ingredients and you will end up with a gallon of ice cream which otherwise costs a lot. Ice cream never turns out runny, unless you do not follow the instructions. It is as good as store bought ice cream except for this is made with better ingredients and you know what all in in there. It is a perfect ice cream maker for newbie like me, it comes with easy to follow manual which has some recipes as well.

anjali12

USA

You end up with a lot of interesting gadgets as gifts when you get married even if you didn't register for them. This product is one of those instances. I don't have a ton of storage space, so an ice cream maker wasn't top on my list of things to get, but now that I have one, I'm glad to have it. This is one of those things that tends to sit in its box for ages, especially when you have limited kitchen shelf and storage space. Then there was one night where we wanted ice cream and didn't feel like going to the store. It was "hmmm, I wonder if we have the ingredients to make it?!" We did, so we finally used it for the first time. I was pleased at how easy it was to make tasty, home made ice cream. With all the odd food additives out there these days it is nice to know exactly what went into your food, especially your treats (as that seems to be where the most odd ingredients are found). It doesn't come out as hard as store bought ice cream will, but it is tasty and fun! Performance It is easy to use but takes a bit of time. It is also not the best consistency for a final product but still nice. Ease of Use This is extremely easy to use.

Jenjlg

USA

We've had this Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker for some time now and it's really a neat machine. It's not expensive but you can make some pretty impressive frozen deserts. It's made of plastic but is pretty easy to use and clean. Some of the parts can be washed in the dishwasher. You need to freeze the bowl for some time like 20 to 22 hours before using. You should follow the direction to have the best chance of success. It can make ice cream in as little as 25 minutes. . . Performance It actually works very well but you must read the directions and follow them or you could have some different results that you want. Durability I haven't had an issue with this but it's made of plastic and does not seem really durable if it gets dropped or something of that nature. Ease of Use It's very easy to use but as I stated before, read the instructions and follow them carefully. Ease of Cleaning The cleanup is easy and some parts can be washed in the dishwasher. Capacity It's rated at 1.5 quarts which is plenty for myself. Design It's a good design but you must remember that the unit doesn't turn off by itself.

mikegotcha

Undisclosed

I remember making homemade ice cream with my mother when I was a kid. It seemed like so much work to me. When I got older I liked the idea of homemade ice cream but didn't want to deal with it. However, one day while browsing the kitchen isle I saw this Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker and decided to try it. It looked a lot more modern and efficient than the one mom used. It turned out that it wasn't as difficult as I remembered it. This machine made it so much easier. The ice-cream was awesome! Performance This makes ice-cream quickly and easily. It does take doing it a couple times to get the hang of it but after that it's a snap. Just put in the ingredients and ice, turn it on and let it go. It is not as messy and load as the older style one my mom had. Durability I've made plenty of ice-cream and it's still going strong. Ease of Cleaning This isn't difficult to clean. A little soapy water and dish cloth is all you need. Capacity I like to make larger batches of stuff so the capacity could be a little more. But it doesn't take a lot of time, so I will sometimes make a few batches and freeze and then we have homemade ice-cream on hand.

pennysue6

Undisclosed

Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Makers are very easy to use, very affordable, durable, and powerful enough to freeze your ice cream in time for all your celebrations. These don't weigh much altho the size is a little big, but not too big that you or anyone else couldn't carry. Performance Performance of this ice cream maker is just fine. It's not a super, duper, mean, machine, but it does what its supposed to do. It works great. I have never owned any other brand of ice cream makers than Hamilton Beach. Durability I had one for a good 20 years. It was finally time to update my model. Now they are all pretty much plastic so there are no longer any metal parts that will rust , including the ice cream tub, which is good. You can make ice cream, custards, frozen yogurts and more. There is nothing like home made deliciousness. You won't be sorry for investing in one of these, and it's not going to cost you very much at all . . . . an added bonus. Ease of Use Very easy to use. Read thru the simple instructions. Other than the ice cream ingredients, it will require some ice and rock salt. You just need to listen to the motor in case it gets jammed up on an ice chunk while churning or it stops as the cream has thickened so much that it's ready to indulge. You do need to keep adding ice and rock salt as it churns. Ease of Cleaning So simple to clean. Rinse out the bucket part that held the ice/salt bath, and once you eat all the ice cream out of the container it was made in, just simply wash it. Capacity Makes a very generous amount of ice cream. No one will go away hungry. Design I personally think the design of this ice cream maker is very simple, therefore, it makes it simple to use and simple to clean.

MyaPain

Mesa, AZ

I purchased the Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker online and used it for about three months only. The product was working fine during the first three months and I managed to make many flavors of ice creams easily. The product comes with a recipe book as well and I have tried only a few recipes as it is tough making most of them. The ice cream that I managed to make using this product was very tasty and my children just loved to eat it. However, due to regular usage of the product, one of the freezer bowls broke in the process and this made the ice cream liquid leak all over the product. It was a pain for me to clean it up and this made me realize that their bowls are very brittle. Hamilton is a reputed brand but the quality of this product is really bad. My friend too faced the same problem and the bowl broke on the second use itself. With respect to the cost, the product does not last even for six months which proves that it is not cost-effective and not durable.

bernadette2013

USA

When I made the mistake of buying an ice cream maker that required the bowl be frozen ahead to make the ice cream, I had to give it to my daughter because my freezer did not have room to put a bowl in to freeze. I went back online and found this Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker that had wonderful reviews and did not require any freezing of the bowl ahead of time. I love it! It is very easy to use. I had some people tell me that mixing ice and salt and putting it around the mixing bowl was a pain, but for me it is no problem. I have used my own ice from my ice maker, but find it much easier to buy a bag of ice and put it in a cooler to use. Lazy of me, maybe, but I like to call it more convenient. I learned from another review a few tricks that I now use all the time: 1. Cool your mix before putting it into the mixing container. 2. Have the motor properly attached and start the motor before putting ice around the mixing container. Put ice up to about 1/3 way to top, add salt, add another layer of ice and salt. Repeat layers until ice/salt mixture is to the top of the container. 3. If you are using extract flavoring, check the ingredients. If it is made with prophylene glycol it can cause your ice cream to not freeze. Prophylene glycol is an edible anti-freeze. I have found it in one of my bottles of inexpensive vanilla extract. I now use vanilla extract without it. I have been using my ice cream maker for 2 months now. I make about a batch a week and have used many recipes. Because I have a smaller freezer, we eat our fill the evening after making it, and then I put the remaining in a freezer zip lock bag that can fit easier into a smaller area of my freezer. I recommend this Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker to anyone. A family of one, two, or six! It will accommodate all. Performance Makes a perfect softer serve ice cream at completion. For hard serve, simply freeze overnight. Ease of Cleaning I hand wash the scraper insert and mixing bowl. I also wash the outer bowl with soap and water and dry well before storing.

rvgypsyjj

USA