Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by HCD : I received this as a Christmas gift...

And I'm so glad I did. So far I've made two different kinds of ice creams, peanut butter cup and mint chocolate cookie, and both were fantastic. It's SO easy to use and much faster than I had imagined. I use fat free milk and half and half each time in place of whole milk and heavy cream and it's still wonderful - nice and creamy without as much guilt. It melts a little faster with my changes but that's not a big deal at all.

Mixing up the liquid is super simple and takes no more than 5 minutes. I keep the bowl in the back of my freezer at all times so it makes the process even quicker, and I'm considering buying a second bowl so there'll always be one ready to go. After 15-20 minutes, it comes straight out of the machine like soft serve, which I'm not a fan of but it's helpful as far as tasting it goes, but simply transferring it to a tupperware container and letting it hang out in the freezer for an hour or two turns it into a perfect ice cream consistency.

The color is great and matches perfectly with my kitchen. It does take up a little bit of counterspace but we have a spot the perfect size for it next to the fridge and even if we didn't, it'd still be worth it. I'm not sure what the average noise level is for an ice cream maker (my first) but I didn't think this was too bad. No louder than a stand mixer and it's not distracting at all. Conversations aren't interrupted when it's on, even if you're right out side of the kitchen.

All-in-all I definitely recommend this machine. You can't beat the price and the machine itself is just so darn cute (I like the blue one, too!) It's fun thinking up all the different flavors you can make (great if you have kids) and it's pretty cool to say you can make delicious ice cream from scratch!

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by Carol MacKenzie : great

Great product. Works well. But would recommend going a little bit pricier and getting the stainless steel one. THe base on this one is plastic.

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by Alicia : Great product for the price

This is a great little ice cream maker for a first time owner. It freezes well and evenly and the cylinder stays cold for a very long time. My only complaint is that it does not have an automatic shut off mechanism for when your ice cream is finished, it will shut off before the motor burns out, but by then your ice cream is way over done!
Also, the color is on the pink side, not a true-true red.

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by Kat J : Good but a few issues

We got this as a gift and it came with an extra bowl. We keep one in the freezer at all times and swap them as soon as we make a batch of ice cream so we always have one ready. The bowl has to be very frozen or it will not work. I put the paddle in the upper rack of the dishwasher and the rest is easy to hand wash. Make sure you do not over fill it. We had a "volcano" incident where we came back and found the cream was overflowing like lava out the the bowl all down the sides and onto the counter. My experience so far says 3 cups of liquid (cream, yogurt or half and half) is the most you can put in there. You have to have the paddle moving before you pour liquid in it or the paddle will stick in place. if you take a spoon and scrape the bottom and sides periodically, it more evenly and quickly freezes the mixture and helps prevent the "volcano" effect. We found that the less fat you put in, the more quickly you had to eat the ice cream (more as soft serve.) We make frozen yogurt with pureed fruit, a little sugar and low fat vanilla yogurt. In about half an hour, we have soft serve which we scoop immediately (or it freezes hard to the sides of the bowl) and eat immediately. If you try to freeze it hard in the freezer, it crystalizes and is not a great consistancy. With higher fat ice creams, they take longer and really need to be put in the freezer to set. The mouth is easy to pour in the extras and I advise adding things like crushed oreos you want to remain "whole" after the ice cream is pretty solid (fruit you want to flavor the ice cream goes in at the beginning), The easy to remove paddle makes cleaning easy, but it also creates issues as it tends to "stick" under less than ideal conditions so I have also found that you can't make a really small batch or the paddle will not turn. For the price, it seems like a pretty good deal for those who want a convenient way to whip up your own frozen yogurt or ice cream. If you are really serious about it, I would pick a better model. Also, this is enough for a family of 4 for larger servings, 6 for a scoop each so if you are looking to make it for a larger group you might want to look at the bigger bowls.

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by TRL : Yum!

My husband and I are vegans and wanted to be able to make our sorbets with fruits from the garden/orchard as well as our own ice cream with no preservatives etc.

After reading other reviews on Amazon as well as a few other sites, we ordered the Cuisinart. We made soy chocolate chip mint ice cream in 15 minutes and thought is was delicious! It was more a soft-serve style when first done - we then put it in freezer for another hour and found it hardened nicely.

We are looking forward to trying out many, many recipes throughout the summer! Yum, yum!

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by JCMM : Simple, fun and practical

This is a nice machine for people who want the enjoyment of making their own home-made ice cream. It is particularly good for those who want to know and control the ingredients that go into their desserts. It's no miracle product, just a simple base that spins under a fixed plastic churner. It is a bit large, bulky and a little loud - i'm not sure whether it gets less loud when the cream starts to freeze, or whether we just get more used to the noise. In any case, families with kids will like it because it let's you make an event of the whole ice cream making process. The red color is quite nice and enhances the fun-factor. However this is not for people who want immediate gratification as there is some prep work involved: the base has to cool in the freezer overnight, and the ice cream ingredients have to be chilled for a couple hours prior to churning. And because the ice cream turns out a bit soft and goopy, it helps to freeze it for about an hour or so after making it. All in all, it's a simple way to get a very fresh tasting treat. At the Amazon price of $50, you get what you pay for - a simple and fun home appliance that is decently built and does the job fine.

Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Red
Review by Nichole Green "Nikki Green" : Great fun

I bought this Ice Cream Maker 2 days ago and just made rum raisin, it turned out wonderfully. Much better then store bought, because you control the ingredients, plus it's super fun and very easy to use! I would recommend this machine to anyone, again it's simple to use and the outcome is tasty.