WhynterICR-300SS 0.5-Quart Stainless Steel Rolled Ice Cream Maker With Compressor

Pros1. Very reliable ice cream maker2. Easy to use3. Makes great sorbet and ice creamCons1. A little loud (doesn’t bother me though)2. A little pricey (but worth every penny)

This is a fairly expensive appliance. You can make ice cream more cheaply than this. I have the kind that requires you to freeze the bowl. It sort of works. Usually. I have one that uses a semiconductor called a Peltier element to provide its own cooling. It's ok, and if you can't fit this one into your budget, that one is a whole lot better than the frozen bowl method. Then I got this one.There are other compressor models on Amazon that are cheaper. I honestly can't tell you anything about them. They may be every bit as good as this one; I simply don't know.What I can tell you about this one without reservation or hesitation is that, based on my experience, this ice cream maker is worth every. single. penny. This ice cream maker is amazing. It will make 2.1 quarts at a time although I'm experimenting with different recipes so I haven't gone for volume yet. I get a quart of ice cream in about 45 minutes and frozen yogurt in about 35 minutes.The machine can detect when the mixture is too thick to churn and then goes into a cooling-only mode. This feature is invaluable. From everything I've read, all of the ice cream makers produce a mixture that is in a "soft serve" state. You can certainly eat it at that point, but if you want it firmer than that you need your freezer to take it the rest of the way. This phase is critical to the texture and finish of the end product. The ice cream already has tiny little ice crystals in it, and if they stay tiny, it's great. You keep them tiny by dropping the temperature as quickly as possible; a slow drop allows them to grow. At best you would wind up with a grainy texture and at worst you end up with a block of flavored ice. That means you have to get the ice cream from the churning bucket into the coldest part of your freezer (at the bottom in the back) as quickly as you can.The Whynter's cool-only mode buys you time. Time to transfer the mixture from the churning bucket into its container - and for the love of Mike don't use cardboard! You still have to work fast, but at least what's in the bucket isn't warming to room temperature.Beyond that, this unit is very solidly made. It has real buttons as opposed to membrane, there's nothing flimsy on it - even the clear plastic cover is sturdy - and both the compressor and churning motor sound like they're working well within their design limits. I know that last may sound a little odd, but you know how some things that you buy have a whiny or hollow sound and you really wonder if it's going to last? This doesn't have that; it just _sounds_ well made. And on that topic I was a little surprised at how quiet it is. Since the churning blade is plastic (actually it's probably some sort of nylon affair but I don't know) I'd ordered an extra one of those. It arrived before the machine did, but once I had it in my hands I was fairly certain that the original would never need to be replaced; it's very sturdy as well.The frozen bowl method is a novel idea but is an iffy process at best. After it failed on me a couple of times, I was very frustrated. The semiconductor machine was a nice little stop-off, and I was familiar with the technology so I was willing to give it a go. It may be exactly what you're looking for, but it still just wasn't what I was looking for. I normally kind of stick to the middle of the road, but I was at the point that I was finished with the nonsense and wanted results. I looked at reviews, looked at the Whynter website, decided they know a thing or two about making things cold, and went for it. Again, I can't tell you about other brands, but I am highly impressed with this machine.In two weeks I've produced over two gallons of ice cream a quart at a time and this machine performed flawlessly each time. I'm not a cook, so while mixing some cream and sugar together is well within my wheelhouse, making a custard for a French style ice cream most definitely is NOT. Having confidence that my stress-laden concoction isn't going to be biffed at the end is quite valuable to me. That's why I can tell you that this device is worth it. Every. single. penny.

This is great machine. Made fresh ice cream in one hour. Not that noisy. It’s same as our bread machine. Ice cream came out perfect. Easy to clean

This ice cream maker is great. The machine is very sturdy and looks good too. Made the vanilla ice cream from the recipe book included and it was the best I've ever tasted, very creamy, smooth, and delicious. Directions were easy to follow - the unit is really easy to use. We love it.

The media could not be loaded. Over the years, I've used several different kinds of ice cream makers - sometimes hand-cranked, some with an electric churning paddle - but they've all had either buckets that needed to be filled with ice and rock salt, or a container that needed to sit in the freezer at least overnight to prepare to make ice cream. This Whynter machine is the first I've had that is entirely self-contained. Thanks to the built-in refrigeration unit, making ice cream is a snap. Just prepare your recipe, pour the mixed ingredients into the churn, and press the "start" button. Within an hour, your ice cream is ready to go - either enjoy the soft-serve texture as it comes out of the churn, or pack it into a container and let it sit for a few hours to harden up a bit. Cleanup is a snap - the churn, paddle, and lid all are removeable for easy clean up.The instruction manual is basic but simple (the machine is not hard at all to operate) and it also comes with a booklet of basic ice cream recipes. It really is foolproof and just about any ice cream recipe you have can be made in it. The control panel uses words and icons to tell you what is going on in there and many of the settings can be adjusted to tweak your procedure.It's great fun and takes a TON of the work out of making homemade ice cream. If you're a member of the extremely niche market of people who make their own frozen dairy concoctions, this is the machine to buy.A few observations:The machine comes in a really big box. I was afraid I might not have a place for it in the kitchen. Opening it revealed a foam inner liner and ANOTHER box, the actual box the ice cream freezer comes in. When you finally get the machine unpacked and settled where you want it, I recommend you allow it to stand without starting it up for at least 24 hours. That box might be sitting on your porch right-side-up, but you don't know that it rolled up to you on the truck that way. Letting the unit sit undisturbed will ensure that the compressor won't be damaged when you start your first freeze cycle.Scale your recipes down so that you are using a maximum of five cups of ingredients. Ice cream expands as it's churned, and I've found that if you use too much the ice cream will try to creep over the edge of the churn.The default settings on the control panel have been perfect for my first few batches of ice cream, but as I get more experience playing with the Whynter, I'll probably do more fiddling around with them.It is better to add your "mix ins" when the ice cream is still somewhat soft and removed from the churn and being packed into a container. The churn is very inefficient when adding things like chocolate chips, and too efficient for adding swirls of, for example, butterscotch.

I have been dying to buy an ice cream maker with a compressor for a long time and finally took the plunge. This one meets my expectations! I have used this one twice now, once with mix-ins, and one without—it worked both ways. I love not having to keep a giant bowl in my freezer. It’s very easy to set up and use. The more well chilled the mixture is to start, the better the end product will be, and ready to eat. (my photo is a well chilled vanilla mixture at the end of 50 minutes in the machine) Otherwise, sometime in the freezer will finish hardening your mixture. I’m so glad I finally purchased one of these! I love being able to make my own ice cream and control the ingredients and this makes it so much easier to do on a whim! It’s not a particularly large machine… Not much bigger than my bread machine or much heavier. It doesn’t seem to have a lot of complicated parts so nothing to really break. My favorite book for wonderful flavors is Perfect Scoop by David Liebovitz.