Cuisinart ICE-100 1.5-Quart Automatic Ice Cream Maker

I’ve now had this machine for three months, and have used it about 25 times. This machine has exceeded my expectations each and every time. For a couple of decades, I used a low tech Donvier machine to make ice cream. The Donvier was the first widely-distributed machine that used the bucket that had to be kept in the freezer. It served me well, churning out hundreds of ice creams and sorbets over the years.

But about six months ago, we adopted a low carb regimen. After a coupl of months I was hankering for ice cream. Both cream and eggs work very well on low carb, and I had done a lot of experimentation with natural sugar replacements, so I felt confident that I could come up with a viable recipe for a reasonably desirable alternative to the high carb stuff that’s so ruinous to a healthy diet.

However, the idea of intermittent churning on which the Donvier is based just didn’t work with sugar free ice cream. Sugar is a highly structural component, especially in ice cream. Once you take it out, that changes every property of how ice cream is made. If you don’t keep the sugar free mixture moving constantly, you’ll end up with creamy soup with a few “icebergs” floating in it. And that’s assuming you don’t break your dasher trying to scrape the hard-frozen mixture off the sides. So I had two choices. I could have continued to buy one of the lower cost Cuisinart machines that churned electrically, but still required keeping a bucket in the freezer, or I could spend (much) more and buy a machine with its own compressor that eliminated the need for a freezer bucket, and which churned continuously.

When I discovered that the second type allows multiple batches to be made in rapid succession, I was sold. With a freezer bucket, you can’t do more than a batch each 24 hours, as the bucket has to be refrozen after each batch. My research led me to the Cuisinart ICE-100. Since my husband loves his ice cream, he agreed to let me spring for it.

When it arrived, I quickly unpacked it, and discovered you must let it stay in place for 24 hours before its first use. The hubs, who is a professional engineer, told me this is true of all compressors. The compressor fluids circulate around during the shipping process, particularly if the box gets positioned with the top of the machine in any configuration than up. And for a compressor to work properly, the fluids have to return to the bottom, with the aid of gravity, meaning right side up. So I sat on my hands for 24 hours. So… hard…

But it was well worth the wait. My first low carb ice cream was a classic vanilla. The texture when the machine had finished was like a Dairy Queen softserve! The taste, however, was much better than that. Think Haagen Dazs. Since then, I have added chocolate, strawberry, black raspberry, blueberry to the repertoire. All of them have been spectacular. And I’m happy to report that even with eating a lot of ice cream (the hubs puts away 2 bowls at a sitting) at we have still continued to lose weight! Diets don’t get much better than this.

The machine itself is incredibly easy to use. You put your well chilled mixture into the lightweight bucket, affix the lid so that it’s locked in place, then plug in. You press the power button, set the timer (I find it easiest just to go with the 60 minute default) and press start. That’s it! I usually check after 30 minutes, and usually, it’s done by then. You can either opt to let it continue churning until either it becomes too stiff to continue, at which point it stops churning, or just press the stop button. The compressor will continue to chill without churning, for the remainder of the 60 minutes, at which point it will turn off.

When it has reached a solid consistency, you can serve it. Or you can scrape it off the dasher and bucket into a container, cover it and set it in the freezer. If softserve isn’t your thing, I’d suggest allowing it to “ripen” in the freezer for an hour before serving, in order for it to firm up. Wash your bucket and dasher, and you can then make another batch.

The machine does make noise when it churns. We don’t find the sound level to be objectionable, even though we have placed it on a counter between the kitchen and family room, where the TV is located. We can hear the TV just fine without adjusting the sound when we’re in the family room, with the machine just 4-5′ behind us.

Another thing to be aware of is that if you opt to leave the mixture in the machine for the full 60 minutes, the bucket may well be frozen in place, making it impossible to remove it for scraping your ice cream out. I haven’t found that to be a big problem, however. I just remove the dasher (which holds the majority of the ice cream) and scrape it, then use a silicone scraper to remove any ice cream that clings to the sides/bottom of the bucket. About 10 minutes after the machine is switched off, if the bucket had become too frozen to remove right away, it is then easily removed for cleaning. And speaking of cleaning, it’s a simple matter. The bucket has only a small center spindle to hold the dasher, so some soapy water and a sponge makes fast work of it. And be sure to keep an old, sanitized toothbrush by your sink, which allows you to thoroughly clean the dasher in about 30 seconds flat. The plastic top is simple to clean, as well. The outside of the machine of burnished stainless is easily kept pristine with just a bit of Windex on a paper towel.

Once you complete making your ice cream, unplug the machine, or a blue light on top will continue flashing until you do.

All in all, this machine is a wonder of modern engineering. A quality machine, well made and simple to use. It’s basically a mini version of what previously had been available only commercially to make smooth, velvety ice cream. The ICE-100 brings this capability into the home, with no salt, no ice, and perhaps best of all, no mess.

We have never had an ice cream maker but had wanted one for years. I remember years ago visiting family and enjoying some homemade ice cream. The one thing that I had always dreaded was the fact that you needed a bag of ice and rock salt to freeze the ice cream. Never invested in the ice cream maker for this very reason. After self quarantining due to the COVID-19 crisis, our favorite ice cream stands were long longer a viable option. Due to our longing for some good ice cream during the crisis, we decided to pull the trigger and invest in a machine. After some research I found a couple of machines that were self contained and did not require the use of the the dreaded ice and salt. After reading many reviews for multiple manufactures and models we settled on the Cuisinart ICE-100 as our best option. Reviews on Amazon were 4.5+ with approximately 1000 reviews submitted. I did read a number of 2 star reviews (I typically ignore 1 star reviews as being not realistic complaints) and most looked to be years old and in some cases did not seem too concerning. I was leery about the ones that concerned ice cream not freezing in the middle of the batch and also reviews that mentioned loud noises or squealing sounds but I found these same types of reviews with every machine regardless the manufacturer. These reviews did put me off a little and had me second guessing but then I stumbled across on a video review a professional reviewer posted and he mentioned that one thing you needed to do was to ensure that the removable bucket is completely dry, even the gear type teeth on the bottom which can sometimes retain a little water which could potentially freeze and cause some of the issues I had read in the reviews. The second warning I took to heart was to make sure the bucket was completely dry before putting the device away for storage to eliminate the potential for a musty smell developing. With all this in mind we patiently waited for the arrival of the ice cream maker. The manufacturer recommends a 24 hr wait time once the machine arrives to allow the coolant to settle which will allow proper operation. Once this was over, we proceeded to mix the ice cream solution we found and pour it into the machine and start it up. The hardest part of the entire process was now the wait for the machine to finish.
I do admit that the volume of the bucket is small but it is plenty big for just the two of us now that our kids are all grown and moved out. Since our immediate family had all been self quarantined for well over a month with really no contact with anyone else, we decided to have them over to celebrate our wedding anniversary and what better way to do that than with fresh homemade ice cream. The machine did a great job and made enough for 4 grown adults and 1 grandchild to partake in. Everyone loved it and have asked a couple of times to come back for more. It is funny that now we have this machine we have become obsessed and have made a couple batches a week of all kinds of flavors and types. It has been fun to experiment and find new recipes that we can both help to prepare. My in-laws loved this machine so much that they had us order a second machine for them and they too have been experimenting. I have waited for 1.5 months to write this review to make sure that the machine works properly. We have been very pleased with this machine. We did have a call from the in-laws after their first use saying the bucket had become frozen in the machine and the beater stopped turning. We needed to remind them they needed to make sure the bucket was completly dry and they should even blow a little air into the little holes on the bottom to make sure the gear mechanism was dry before assembling.
One great benefit of having a self contained machine over one of the old fashioned machines with the ice and salt is the fact that we can immediately make multiple batches without waiting. I highly recommend this machine and have found that it runs with no problems if you follow the instructions for operation and take care to keep everything clean and dry. A couple of words of caution is to make sure that the bucket is not too full and that the lid is secured properly We did have a batch of Banana Chocolate chip that we were making that was a little too full and we had to stop the machine mid cycle to remove some of the mixture so it didn’t overrun the sides of the bucket. Secondly, if the lid is not Seated properly it will allow the beater to move a little and you will hear it knocking a little. Stopping the machine and reseating then beater fixed the problem.
Lastly there were some reviews about the machine being noisy. We did not find this to be true with our machine. It is not silent operation but I would compare the noise level to that of a kitchen mixer running on the slowest speed which is no problem at all.
I would highly recommend this machine as it will bring you plenty of fun and enjoyment as you find and experiment with various recipes.

 The machine does not turn on. Attaching video for your reference. Kindly replace or refund the amount. After waiting for such a long it’s such a disappointment and we are in huge loss

家庭用のアイスクリームメーカーを探していて、ポット式だと冷凍庫で凍らせてから作るので冷凍庫の場所取るし続けて作れないのでちょっと高いですがコンプレッサー式のこちらを購入。
日本語の説明書がないので到着するまで最初不安でしたが、ボタンが三つしかないので簡単。
（容量は1.4ℓですが、1回に作る量は700ccまでにしないと溢れて大変だそうです)

※容器にセットする回転の羽根が2個ついてて、1本回転羽根が付いてるのがアイスクリーム用。
２本はジェラート用。

到着してから毎日アレコレ考えながらアイスクリームやジェラート作り楽しんでます。
自家製のアイスクリームは高級アイスに負けないぐらい美味しくて、こちらを購入してからアイスクリーム
やソフトクリーム買わなくなりました。
多い日は続けて5回作った日も(^O^)
本当にコンプレッサー式にして良かったと思っています。

※購入の際には変換用アダプタが必要になります。
うちのは問題なく作動してます。
※炊飯器並に大きいので、置き場所確保しないといけません(^▽^)