Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Review of the Lello Lusso Mussino My background - I make about 200 pints of 'artisanal' ice cream/gelato a year ... so, the kind of ice cream you get in high end ice cream shops for $9-10 a pint. I've owned a Cusinart canister style, DeLonghi GM6000 (for 4 yrs.), tried the Cuisinart ICE-100 1 time (and then returned it) and tried an in-store sample of the ice cream produced by the Breville. If you are looking to make ice cream there are 3 important factors: 1. Quality of the ice cream and/or gelato. Gelato btw, may include some different ingredients, such as cornstarch, but always has lower fat content and less air whipped into it. Most high end ice cream is more like gelato in being denser. The major factors in creating better ice cream are fast freezing to create smaller ice crystals, and, of course, excellent ingredients. 2. Reliability and service - Many home ice cream makers seem to have a 4 to 5 year life span. The more expensive the machine, the more important the warranty and available service. 3. Ease of use - Making ice cream is a little more time consuming to make than many people realize; maybe 15 minutes for Philadelphia style, and more for custard style recipes. In general, making good ice cream always requires more than just dumping in the ingredients. Beyond that, machines do vary in ease of operation and clean up, but they all seem pretty equivalent overall. Bonus factors - heaviness/portability, appearance, noise etc. are issues that may matter depending on your circumstances My review of the machines: Cusinart canister style - requires that you freeze the canister ahead of time in your freezer. If you make ice cream very intermittently, and are not fussy about the quality of the ice cream, this is much more economical. The canisters do, however , have a high fail rate (we returned 1 out of 3) and are producing ice cream at the thin upper edge of the device's capabilities; anything challenging, such as alcohol content, etc. causes problems ( soupy ice cream, failure to harden). Even with less problematic recipes, it produced a very good ice cream about 1 out of 4 times. Canister vs compressor - With the caveat that I've never tried using a rock salt machine, my firm opinion is that you cannot make top quality ice cream without a compressor style machine; a canister style one just can't do it. Actually, to be totally accurate - you also can't duplicate the quality/fast freezing capabilities of top end commercial machines with any home machine under $1,000. That said, home compressor style machines should be able to produce really excellent ice cream. Breville - we have only tried an in-store sample of ice cream produced in the Breville; it was slumping and icy. Reviewers are right in saying that all ice cream comes out soft serve - but poor ice cream has inconsistent texture and larger ice crystals; those problems do not correct themselves during the hardening (further chilling in the freezer) stage. YMMV, since we don't know whether the ice cream was well prepared. Service/reliability - 1 yr. warranty isn't impressive in a $400 machine. At the point we looked at all the reviews on Amazon, the Breville seemed to have more mechanical failures than the Cuisinart. On the plus side - Breville actually has a lot of service centers in our area. (San Francisco Bay area) Cuisinart - got it, all excited - tried it once - returned it. The ice cream (using the gelato paddle) was icy and slumping. We are now, sadly, used to much better ice cream. YMMV - one review said their first batch was a failure and the next batch was awesome. Even though we waited the requisite 24 hours for the coolant to settle, it's possible a 2nd batch would have been better. We were just too depressed to keep trying... Service and reliability - longest warranty at 3 yrs., and see Breville comment above. Ease of use - a bit 'fiddly' compared to the DeLonghi, and the paddle is a bit hard to clean. DeLonghi GM 6000 - great value for the money. I have been producing excellent ice cream for 4 years, and have made approximately 800 pints in that time. It's consistent in quality, and easy to use. The paddle is not very sturdy ( replacement costs about $15). Service - there's a DeLonghi Service Center in San Francisco... but they don't actually repair the ice cream makers. We have since identified a local ice cream maker repair shop - by calling a place on the Breville list - that might be able to repair it - but we did just purchase the Musso Lussino Lello 4080. Musso Lussino Lello - the absolute Mercedes of ice cream makers. They are very expensive, they are just gorgeous, and they make really excellent ice cream. That said, most of us then put our ice cream in a regular home freezer - not a commercial blast freezer. So, after the ice cream has chilled and firmed up, the difference in quality is not as dramatically pronounced... it's still the best home-made ice cream/gelato, but it's not hugely better than the ice cream that DeLonghi produces. Service and reliability - 1 year warranty, which is downright shameful for a $700.00 machine. Customer service is lousy (before buying, we left questions on their voice mail and have never heard back from them); the repair service is apparently very poor too, according to reviews. Very kind fellow reviewers on Amazon answered my question about reliability, and many of them have had the machines for a good long time; up to 10+ years . There is no local approved Service Center in the San Francisco Bay area; figure on mailing your machine to New Jersey if it breaks during their fleeting warranty period. After that period, a local (Breville approved ) repair shop in our area says they can probably fix a Lello, because the parts are available. BTW, the repair store also said that appliances manufactured in China often don't have replacement parts available. Ease of use - Dead simple - 2 buttons, one timer knob. Clean up is no harder than the other machines - the paddle is easier to clean, which evens things out. A final note about expense - the very expensive Musso Lussino Lello does make financial sense if you make a lot of ice cream. I figure that my ingredients, using organic materials, etc., cost about $4-5 a pint. The local top end ice cream places (Ici, Tara's) charge $9-10 a pint. For us, it will absolutely be worth it - but I think a consumer rating magazine would not hesitate to give the DeLonghi the 'best buy' rating.