Growing up, I remember two types of ice cream makers. One used ice, and required filling up a basin with tons of ice cubes and salt, which took forever and resulted in very cold hands. The other required that you pre-freeze the metal basin in advance. Neither actually worked all that well, were messy, bothersome, and overall a little disappointing. The reason why there is any fondness attached to those memories at all is because I was making ice-cream with my family, which can never be a negative thing.

This ICE-100 Ice Cream Maker from Cuisinart represents a revolution in the at-home ice cream making game; the built-in electronic compressor means no required pre-freezing, no ice, no salt, no manual cranking or turning; in fact, barely any preparation required at all! Simply add the ingredients, set the timer, and press start! Furthermore, the specially designed mixing paddles and strong motor ensures that your homemade ice cream is consistently perfect, batch after batch after batch. You can also make gelato or sorbet with this machine, no special add-on purchases required!

Although it is definitely more costly than a typical at-home ice cream maker, it still a fraction of the cost of any competing products that offer a built-in compressor, and well-worth the price tag if you plan on using it more than a few times a year.

 Cuisinart ICE-100 Maker with Compressor – Features:

• NO Preparation required: Simply add ingredients and press start. No pre-freezing or dealing with ice and salt mixtures required!
  • Powerful compressor quickly freezes ingredients to perfect consistency
  • Built-in timer
  • Electronically controlled for consistent quality
• Versatile: Makes perfect ice-cream, gelato, or sorbet
• Mix-ins: Built in opening at the top allows you to add mix-ins, such as chocolate chips, fruit, or brownie chunks, without needing to stop the machine
• Recipe book included
• Makes TONS of ice cream: 1.5 quart capacity and the instant freezing power means you can make buckets of ice cream – this powerful machine can produce batch after batch!