Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As my title states, this is not the item you want. . .and I'm going to not only tell you why. . . but I'm going to tell you which item you DO want. . . which is SodaStream. SodaStream is exactly the same thing as this item. . . but. . . the difference is the CO2. Cuisinart comes with one very small (expensive to replace) CO2 cartridge, which it says is supposed to carbonate up to 16 bottles. The key here is "up to" because it all depends upon how carbonated you like your water. Certainly to get 16 bottles out of it, you're going to use the least amount of carbonation possible. The beauty of this item, as well as SodaStream, is the ability to carbonate the water as much. . or as little as you like. Though the Cuisinart cartridges are "recyclable". . . they are not "refillable". With SodaStream, they have two sizes of cartridges.. . a 60-litre and a 130-litre. Both are WELL above the small 16-litre that Cuisinart. On top of this, you can exchange the SodaStream cartridges at many local locations, at least in larger metropolitan cities. FYI, you used to be able to exchange them online and they would send you a return UPS label. . but that's no longer possible, due to shipping regulations, so you must now exchange them locally. The SodaStream cartridges are MUCH less expensive than Cuisinart, when you compare how many bottles you get out of them. Cuisinart shows that they are supposed to have different sizes. . . but I have found only the 16-litre size and one other. . and the other one doesn't show how many bottles it will carbonate. . . but nonetheless, you can't refill it, so it's certainly not what you want. If Cuisinart ever decides to make larger cartridges which you can refill. . . then you might consider this. . . but why wait. . . go ahead and get SodaStream now. By the way, this Cuisinart model comes with only one water bottle. You're going to need a LOT more of them. I have six, and I live alone. Unless you have a refrigerator that dispenses ice-cold water, you must fill the bottles and then put them into your refrigerator for the water to chill before you carbonate. Otherwise, if you use room-temperature water, you're going to have a mess when you carbonate, as water is going to go everywhere. FYI, SodaStream makes a LOT of different flavors to add to the carbonated water, if you like. Cuisinart doesn't make any. . . but they do have some recipes in the book that comes with the machine (which I plan to try). But you don't have to buy or make flavors. . . You can certainly just drink the water as-is (think seltzer / club soda). I usually add a packet or TrueLemon or TrueLime. If you're not familiar with these, you should check them out. They are GREAT. You can also use Mio, Disani Drops or Crystal Light Liquid. You can't use powder mixes. Some of the SodaStream flavors are good. . some are not. I recommend you try a "sample pack" to see which ones you like best. Things to know about SodaStream before you buy. . . . . . * Before you purchase, you want to make sure that you can exchange the CO2 cylinders in your area. You can go to the SodaStream website to find locations in your area. If you can't exchange the cylinders, then it's useless to have the machine. * SodaStream makes several different "carbonators" (the unit which you put the bottle in to carbonate the water). You want one which will hold both the small 60-litre cylinders as well as the large 130-litre cylinders. I much prefer the large ones, but you can't find them everywhere. * As I stated previously, you're going to want several extra water bottles. You can always purchase more, but I highly recommend getting at least 4, and probably more if you have a larger family. * You'll want to have at least two CO2 cylinders. One to be in the machine, and a "spare" for when the one in the machine is empty. I actually have several of them in both sizes so I don't run out very often, and only have to make an "exchange run" about twice-per-year. The cylinders are not cheap though, when you first purchase them. . but. . the exchanges are less. I've been using SodaStream for years. . . actually I started using it when it was called "SodaClub", before the name change. So, as you can tell, I really like it.