Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Being a manager of a kitchen retail store gives me a little edge because I can see a few of these machines in person. Our store carries the Cuisinart Ice Cream maker that has the prefreeze bowl, we also carry the Cuisinart self refrigerated unit, and the Delonghi gelato machine. We use the Cuisinart prefreeze models for our demo's we do on Saturday's at the store. It works, but it's not the most impressive ice cream you've ever had. I wanted something better. I looked at both of the other units I listed above. The Cuisinart unit didn't feel well made to me. I took out the bowl, etc and the arm that goes across the top of the machine to the bowl feels like it will be only a matter of time before that gets broke. I decided to try the Delonghi model. I have used it several times now. I love it!! The first recipe I made was butter pecan ice cream. It was excellent and the machine had it ready in 30 minutes. It can take an extra ten minutes if you add alcohol to your recipe (and this recipe used Jack Daniels). The next recipe was chocolate hazelnut gelato. OMG...Yummy! Everything we've made has been great. The machine is very simple to use and it works great. I'm very happy with my decision and hope this helps you if you're debating between machines. I would recommend this machine. I've read that many people didn't like the Cuisinart unit because it's very loud when you use it. This machine is not very loud. I would say that it's quieter than a blender running. I can still watch tv with it running without upping the volume. It's pretty easy to clean too. There is one area that can get crumbs when you add nuts, etc. I just wipe around in there with a moist q-tip and that's about the only "problem" I can find with this unit. I also purchased The Perfect Scoop book by David Lebovitz. Excellent recipes. Haven't found a dud yet and it also has great resources in the back of the book in regards to ordering ingredients, etc. Hope this helps with your decision :)