Nostalgia ICMP400WD Electric Wood Bucket Ice Cream Maker, 4-Quart

Peeyooee, it stunk when I opened the box but left it out to air and the odor dissipated (i.e. no affect on flavor). Washed up the canister, dasher, etc, popped it into the fridge along with a bowl full of pureed fruit and left it there til next evening. Got home from work, assembled the churn according to directions (outside on the deck), layered in ice and rock salt, plugged it in and 30 minutes later... VOILA, delicious sorbet. My very first and it was successful. And when I say "my first," I mean my very first ice cream churn, my very first sorbet, my very first time making anything of the sort. Who said this was messy? Yeah, I dropped a few ice cubes and a few grains of salt. When I read a negative review that said it was "messy," I was expecting stuff to go everywhere. You exaggerated - there's very little, if any mess, with this churn. Count your lucky stars you don't have to hand crank a churn for ice cream these days. FYI, the canister turned but the dasher was stationary. The sorbet was completely solid in the bottom of the canister but a little soft at the top. I scooped some into bowls to eat and put the rest in a container to continue freezing and enjoying throughout the week. All the "work" that went into this particular batch was done preparing the fruit. The churn did the rest. Before you get wrapped up in the negative reviews, take it from a beginner, this is a good product. If you fail at making ice cream, sherbet, or sorbet verify that your recipe is valid. AND adhere to the churn directions when layering ice and rock salt. Don't be stingy with the rock salt. Here's my recipe: 4 cups of pureed fruit (1 fresh pineapple, 1 fresh mango, enough sweet cherries (pitted) to make four cups); 1/2 cup simple syrup; juice of one lime; 1/4 cup of coconut milk. I think next I will try to make Buttermilk Sherbet.

We bought a brand new complete electric unit, 4 qt., because I read of many issues with the 6 qt and it's dasher not fitting correctly and therefore not working as well as the 4 qt. 1. We received it a day earlier than expected... bonus 2. Everything that was supposed to be in the box was there and in excellent brand new condition - no shipping damages. 3. I washed unit as instructed. 4. We chose to make the Easy Vanilla Ice Cream recipe listed in the included manual. We followed the easy instructions and it worked perfectly. We stopped the unit exactly at 30 min and... perfection. 5. An hour later, we made another included recipe, Easy Chocolate Ice Cream. Again, exactly 30 min later... perfection. 6. Absolutely no mess. Used the unit on my kitchen table on a small towel just in case, but no leaks what so ever. 7. Very easy clean up. No hassles, small parts, or hard to clean areas. 8. The only problem we didn't think of was containers to put the ice cream in when storing in the freezer. But that's not their fault...lol. Both were so delicious and I didn't have to wonder where it was made and if it's safe to eat. The kids (13 & 8) say they never want store bought ice cream ever again. I would HIGHLY recommend this unit to anyone and everyone.

I followed the vanilla ice cream recipe inside and the sweet, cool and melty treat took me back to my childhood when we cranked the rock salt and ice by hand. You cannot get that flavor anywhere. Love the wood casing and size, which felt just like I remember. The flavor was by far superior to that of store bought ice cream, and arguably healthier for my family and I since I used only all natural ingredients. These benefits make the time, effort and expense well worth it. I planned far ahead and made it into a fun activity for the kids and I. Be sure to wash and freeze the canister overnight. Make the liquid ice cream mix and refrigerate. While it is getting cold, go buy a 3-5 lb bag of ice. Upon return, set the empty frozen canister, into the wood casing and add ice. Sprinkle rock salt over the ice. Then pour the ice cream liquid into the frozen canister and start the crank immediately. This will ensure the liquid does not start to freeze and lock the turning arm before you finish adding ice and salt. It needs to crank right away. Oh, and have plenty of towels for the bag of ice that melts all over the kitchen floor as you work. Big fun, tasty mess. Just like it used to be. Now I know why we always made it outside when I was as kid. Well worth it!

This ice cream maker works as described and is well constructed and for that I give it 4 stars. Why not 5? Well, continue reading: I bought this because I wanted to make home made ice cream. I live in the Southwestern United States where I experience extremely hot summers. I thought to myself that home made ice cream would be the perfect way to cool down during said summers. When buying this, I also bought the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream recipe book so that I could make the perfect creamy ice cream. So how did it go? I went to the store and I bought cream ($4), sugar ($3), vanilla ($5), ice cream salt ($5), a bag of ice ($2), and cookie dough ($6). I then proceeded to mix the ingredients as described in the recipe book. However the cookie dough sunk to the bottom and got the mixer stuck. I then took the cookie dough out with a spoon so the mixer would spin again. By this time much of the cream mixture had frozen because of the surrounding ice. I couldn't take the metal canister out of the ice bucket because the ice would cave in and I would not be able to put it back in. I did my best to hand stir the ice cream to loosen it up after which I put the mixer back in. It spun briefly then got stuck again. Because some of the ice cream was already frozen, I scooped it out and served it to myself and my roommates. The result? Far too sweet (did I add more sugar than the recipe called for?). I mixed the remaining liquified mixture by hand and put it in the freezer. When I took it out the next day it was rock solid. The home made ice cream sat on my shelf in the freezer for a few weeks before I ended up throwing it away because it was too sweet anyways and I didn't feel like thawing it out for twenty minutes at a time whenever I wanted ice cream. What I learned is that it cost me $25 in ingredients just to make one pint of ice cream which was far too sweet. If I had wanted to experiment with the recipe to make the perfect ice cream, this would probably cost hundreds of dollars in ingredients necessary for the trial-and-error. Additionally, the ice cream must be eaten immediately or it will become too hard in the freezer. I am also not sure how to add cookie dough without it stopping the mixer. Could I persevere and learn how to make the perfect homemade ice cream? Sure, I guess but I ended up buying other kitchen appliances later on that were more practical (hint, get an air fryer). What happened to the ice cream maker? It sat in the garage for the summer gathering dust and ended up in my landlord's yard sale in the fall. When he went inside the house, someone stole the fondue maker even though the ice cream machine was right beside it and probably far easier to steal (less cumbersome). No one bought the ice cream maker and it was given to goodwill. Between the ice cream machine, the Ben & Jerry's book, and the ingredients I lost $75. Isn't that just great? Good thing I have tonnnns of extra money just sitting around. This leads me to my final question, if the ice cream was so sweet why am I still bitter?

Easy to use, makes 4 qt. Ice cream which honestly we fed 7-8 people with and had tons of leftovers. Taxed it recently with an old recipe that had us filling it to the brim and it worked like a champ. Easy to use instructions. Wish it had a hand crank but ice cream in 30 minutes or so? Who can complain. It looks great but does have some plastic parts so be careful. We dropped a non essential piece & it broke pretty easily so try not to drop it or it’s pieces. Which is great advice for most things! Love this purchase and can’t wait to try even more recipes.

My 9 year-old son who loves to cook wanted this for Christmas. We have had a ball making, so far, vanilla, cookie dough, oreo and pralines and cream. Every one came out better than ice cream from the store. In fact, store ice cream now tastes fake and chemically. And so easy to make that he does it with just a little supervision from me. Advice: don't judge it right out of the machine when it's like soft serve. It really isn't done in taste or quality until it has had a good 12 hours to set in the freezer. We make it the day before we want to eat it. Also, don't put whatever you want to add to it into the mixer. Finish making the ice cream, put it in whatever storage container you intend to freeze it in and then mix in your chocolate chips or caramel or cookie dough. Otherwise, those ingredients will just end up clumped on the bottom or the mixer. ;)

We have had one of these for 4 years. Purchased two of them for Christmas gifts this year for family members. We use our own ice cream recipe, but the machine works great and we like the ice cream it makes. We have a gathering every year in August and we time the ice cream so that the "ambiance" of the sound of the maker is on while we are getting together to eat and then ice cream is ready when we are done - very fun and nostalgic and no hand turning a crank!!

This icecream maker WORKS AWESOME. Some Notes: Note 1: I typically dont freeze the metal canister, what I do is mixed everything up in the metal canister, then stick it into the freezer for about 10-15minutes. It helps the icecream get nice and think at the end. Note 2: Buy The Icecream salt AT your LOCAL store. It is OVERpriced on amazon. It is like 1.87 at your local grocery store. Note 3: I would suggest getting a 2nd ice cream container to store ice cream. Note 4: Remove the plastic curning thing from the ice cream after finished. Its way easier to take out then, then later after its nice and solid from the freezer.

Would totally recommend this product. Makes the BEST ice cream ever... EVER! So smooth, takes about an hour once you set everything up and prechill the container! The machine comes with a few recipes (can make frozen yogurt, alcohol based recipes, various ice creams, sorbet...etc) and step-by-step instructions, really handy!! You definitely want a proper storage container though (I've tried a few different kinds but it needs to have a good seal on it! I bought a couple different buckets of ice cream ... ended up cleaning them after and kept the empty ice cream containers... I have found out that you can also use plastic wrap to put over the top of a container, before sealing it with a lid for some extra protection - it can get ice crystals in it if you're not careful enough). Looks just like advertised! Makes a TON of ice cream so be prepared for leftovers!! The outside of the machine is wrapped with real wood planks, probably helps with holding the temperature of the machine because it works super well!! People who have said "I don't like ice cream" have tried a scoop and then asked for a bowl!!!! If you look this machine up on YouTube, people have compared it to ice cream machines twice the price. BUY THIS MACHINE! Totally 100% recommend this... I can't wait for summer! 😊🍦

Happy to find this product on amazon.in. The ice-cream maker itself is very easy to use. Could make delicious icecream within less than 1 hour. Whole process of making ice-cream at home is fun.

Muy fácil de usar! Funciona mejor si al hielo le pones 1 kilo de sal de grano y aprox 1 taza de alcohol. Así, la mezcla endurece en menos de 30 mins

The product worked hardly for ten minutes and stopped completely. Had followed all instructions to the point ,still !!

No ON/OFF button but working great, I recommend this ice cream maker. Easy to use, ice cream are much better than what you can buy in shops! Better taste and more healthy!