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Marks & Spencer Ice Cream Maker
by chrisheels
The Marks and Spencer Ice Cream Maker is a 'fully' automatic ice cream maker, which means there is no bowl to be frozen overnight before using it. It contains a refridgeration unit which chills the bowl as it is churning and makes great ice cream or sorbet in about an hour.
===Features===
The machine is quite large ... due to the refridgeration unit. The main block of the machine is enclosed and there is a ice cream bowl, paddle, lid and motor unit that are all removable by pulling them out vertically.
A small mini lid in the lid means ingredients can be added whilst the ice cream is churning. This mini lid is quite small and it can be a bit tricky to pour an ice cream mixture through it (although perfectly manageable with a funnel)
The bowl is cylindrical and holds around 1.5 litres (A decent amount) it has a wire handle making it easy to transport around the kitchen.
The paddle is plastic which does seem little flimsy, but I haven't had any problems as yet.
The motor unit is a simple block which clicks easily into place.
===Build===
The build quality is perfect, although I do have a few issues with the machine in this area. Firstly, the stainless steel has got some slight rust spots on the surface where i have wimped it down with a wet cloth. These rub off easily, but maybe making use of a proper cleaning product would keep it looking good for longer.
To get the ice cream container in and out you have to pull the motor unit off vertically and remove the paddle. This is fairly simple, but can be a bit fiddley to re-assemble as you have to get the paddle lined up well in order to slot the drive shaft of the motor into the top.
===Functions===
The functions on this ice cream maker are minimal. There is an on/off button, and a time select button.....that's it. The time ranges from 10-50 minutes (for some reason skipping a 20min option) which is usually enough to achieve a well churned sorbet or ice cream.
===Results===
The results very much depend on the recipe you are using. So far I've made and excellent chocolate ice cream several times, a perfect pinepple sorbet (2 pineapples cut into chunks and a cup of sugar blended and thrown in the machine) and a terrible apple sorbet from apple juice which split into frozen ice and concentrated apple juice.
I find that the machine churns ice cream or sorbet well, but it does still need a few hours in the freezer afterwards to really get the mixture firm.
===Price===
I paid around £120 for this ice cream maker online. It sells for around £140 on ebay at the moment which seem to be the only place I can find a current price. This is far cheaper than most fully automatic ice cream maker machines that include a refridgeration unit (often well over £200) an I think a very fair price for not having to pre-plan when you want to make ice cream.
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Cuisinart ICE30
by reaboss
i bought this a few months ago, and i am happy with it so far. i use it twice a week and have few complaints,but i must say it does have a few design flaws that i have to workaround.
pros
-looks good and doesn't take up much space in the kitchen
-easy to use,store and set-up so anyone can use it
-value for ... money since its relatively cheap
-easy to clean
-makes enough ice cream for about 5 people
-time efficient as it runs approximately for about 30 minutes
-recipes that come in the manual are simple to make, but if you want more variation then i would recommend buying "The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More"-by Bruce Weinstein also available on amazon.
cons
-it is a bit noisy
-{design flaw} better to freeze the bowl for at-least 12 hours before using it
-while it take a short period of time to make the ice cream , the preparation can be time consuming e.g sorting and mixing the ingredients before they go into the machine.
-the ice cream melts quickly after making it
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Kenwood IM 200 Ice Cream Maker
by Sarmac86
I bought this ice cream maker as a birthday present for my husband and he was absolutely delighted with it! As there are only the two of us I thought a 1.1 litre ice cream maker would be big enough, and I didn't want to spend too much on something that wasn't really a necessity so this seemed like the perfect choice. I was very impressed ... with the small booklet that was in the box, which had plenty of recipes (healthy and not so healthy!) for us to try. Fortunately I read the instructions before wrapping it up, as the bowl which the ice cream mix goes into has to be kept in the freezer for at least 24 hours before use. The ice cream mix should then become solid whilst it is being churned in the bowl without needing to go into the freezer.
It took a couple of attempts to get used to using this - we found it quite difficult to get the ice cream to the right consistency. On the first attempt it froze quickly but became quite solid and difficult to get out of the bowl, and once it had been left in the freezer overnight it was almost impossible to scoop. The second time we added a little alcohol to the mixture, which meant that the mix took longer to freeze (and didn't become solid) but was much easier to scoop and just as tasty.
We have occasionally had a problem with the churning blade becoming stuck in the mixture, although I presume this is more to do with the mix not being quite right as the blade moves freely when the mixture is removed. My biggest problem with this appliance is the room that it takes up. Although it is only a small bowl it only just fits into the biggest freezer drawer that we have, which means that when we are using it there is not much room in the freezer for anything else, and it becomes a little difficult to close the drawer.
Whilst it does take some practise to get the mixture to the right consistency and it probably doesn't work out much cheaper than buying a tub of ready made ice cream once you have bought all the ingredients, it is incredibly fun to use and we love that you can choose your ingredients - so far we have experimented with milk chocolate, white chocolate, baileys and maltesers!
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